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Making Lists 07 | Things I never thought I would miss about London by Michelle

So it seems that we are having an Italian themed Making List series over the past couple of weeks! But this time it is more around moving to Italy & missing London! Something that I can relate to so very well (minus the Italy part). Don't get me wrong I LOVE Sydney, and I have so much more of Australia to discover, but something I didn't quite expect so fast is that I have found myself craving London like never before... I miss home & my family in the South of France, but I definitely left a piece of my heart in London! But enough about me...

I'd like to introduce you to the talented Michelle from My Creative! We met at the beginning of last year through Freya (again! Thank you darling girl for introducing me to all of these amazing women!) Michelle is one hell of a photographer, her photos have appeared in several magazine such as Cereal magazine! She is seriously the sweetest talented girl.

Michelle had the brilliant idea to run a photography workshop based around the community feel of blogging, they include a meal & a lot of chatting & meeting new people! I unfortunately haven't had the pleasure to attend one just yet, but I'm counting on it when I'm back in the UK. You should check out her page for more details, I think her next one is in April for all of you Londoners!

Michelle has moved to Italy a few months ago to follow her fiancé who got a offered a job there, she's finally living her dream! Here she made a list about the 6 things from England that she misses the most.. along with some stunning photographs she took on film!

I'd say moving to Italy has been a life long dream. When I was about 13 I tried to teach myself Italian (boy do I wish I had kept that up) and dreamt that I would one day live in Tuscany. I am not quite in Tuscany but I have made it to Italy and am absolutely loving it though I have only been here about four months. I knew that although I wouldn't miss the uncertain weather and daily commute I would miss London when I left. But, here are six things that I didn't think I would miss as I adjust to a new country:

  1. Marks and Spencer's soup. Italian's aren't big on convenience food and I can totally appreciate that but sometimes you want to spend a Sunday on the couch and be able to have a healthy bowl of convenience soup rather than the crisps you end up eating.
  2. People who move over on the sidewalk. I don't know why but the Italians just don't make slight adjustments in their chosen trajectory to allow you space to simultaneously move while passing each other.
  3. Carboots and charity shops. I kind of became addicted to 'thrifty' shopping while living in London. I don't think there is a better shoppers high than a successful day at the carboot. The town I live in has a monthly antiques market and a couple streets with antique shops but they are a bit steep for my thrifty budget.
  4. Non-Italian foods in the supermarket. We have been known to go over the border to Slovenia to pick up things like coconut milk at a price that won't make you cry. I am working on being more Italian in my cooking but sometimes you just want some things that you are used to.
  5. Routine of a 'day job'. I've never been a fan of working in an office but I have to admit I am still adjusting to not having to go out to work everyday and creating my own routine. 
  6. The ability to walk into a store to browse magazines before I buy. I don't know if this is true for the whole of Italy (perhaps it is different in bigger cities) but the only place you can buy magazines are 'newsagents' where the magazines are kept behind a guard on in front of the newsagent them-self. I haven't seen any browsers so imagine this is not the done thing.

*All photographs in this post are by Michelle Young