Diary of a Gen Z Student: An Aperol-fuelled girlhood pilgrimage to Italy is as close to Knock as I’ll get

Being on a girls’ holiday is one of those things that makes me so glad I’m not a lad. I’m no expert, but in my nightmares I would imagine a lads’ holiday as a haze of kebab shops, pints and running into each other at speed or something

Jane Cowan: "Girl psychotherapy may not be medically recognised, but it does have healing powers." Picture: Jane Cowan.

One of the first things you’ll be told when you’re travelling to Italy is that it’s sacrilegious to order a cappuccino after 11am. A cappuccino contains too much milk for consumption in the afternoon.

The Italians are obsessed with their digestion. No, no, instead you must eat cheese-stuffed pasta, multiple scoops of gelato and a ‘digestiv’ shot of limoncello after your dinner. Now, this is an approach to health I can get behind. And for the past week, while I’ve been on a girls’ trip to Italy, I have been embracing the local lifestyle.