Week 2 February 11th-19th

I have been in Malta for a week already, so difficult to believe feels longer because I have settled in so well, and have met many people from all different parts of the world. The residence host AEGEE organised an ice breaker day for all the new students, this was a great way to meet everyone and get to know each other. We played loads of games, one that we played was tie a balloon round your ankle and you had to burst as many as you could as well as keep yours safe. I was very good at this game ended up just me and two other guys left then typical guys ganged up on a girl, I definitely should have won! Was a successful day and to finish our afternoon one girl from residence called Alex who is from Canada invited loads of us up to her house and we all had a dinner party. This dinner included different types of meals and food from each of our countries, one in particular that was interesting to taste was Japanese food. This was a great way to get together and get to know each other and our different cultures.

Monday 13th was my first official day in classes, with my first class being artistic and rhythmic gymnastics. This class was a lot of fun. I was the only one out of the three of us from Stranmillis that attends this class as a module; therefore I was very nervous going alone. However the Maltese were very friendly and welcoming, making me feel part of their class. In this class I do an hour of theory on gymnastic, then go to the sports hall and carry out different routines on mats and apparatus. The first class was just an introduction about what we will be doing throughout the semester. Then went to the sports hall and got introduced to different apparatus and done a warm up routine and learnt how to do handstands properly. I really enjoyed this class and I look forward to it next week.

The AEGEE organisation organised a trip to Gozo, this is a small island situated beside Malta just 8 by 4 miles long. This trip was organised because of the famous carnival in Nadur which is held on the Sunday before lent, everyone dresses up and makes big colourful floats. We left on the Thursday 16th and arrived at a beautiful villa which had a pool and a communal area were everyone met for meals.

That first night we had an international night, everyone had to bring something that meant something to their country, we brought one potato, cans of genius and Irish flags and said we were in a recession. We got to try more food and drink from other countries for example Spain, Finland, France and of course Malta itself, this was an interesting experience as most of it I had never tasted before. We were given a tour on the Friday and Saturday and seen some of Gozo's famous tourist attractions. The most interesting was Azure window, a giant stone arch-way that stands with one foot in the deep, dark blue sea. Loads of tourists take a trip through the narrow tunnel, and look at the spectacular views of the Azure window. We watched the sunset off the Azure window this was such a spectacular experience and very beautiful to watch as it was a very clear night. Another site that was beautiful on a clear day was the Ramla Bay, this is on the north east coast and the only wide sandy beach on Gozo and in fact ramla means sand in Maltese. This is a group picture looking out onto the Ramla Bay, and a view of the sunset on the Azure window.

On the Friday and Saturday we went to carnivals, Friday was the pre carnival leading up to the main event on the Saturday night. Both nights we all dressed up in a group, on the Friday we went as flowers, and the Saturday we went as animals this was a lot of fun, also seeing all the other crazy bizarre costumes of the natives. This was a great experience and this made the trip worthwhile. There was another carnival party in Valetta when we got back to Malta on the Sunday however we were all so exhausted from the weekend and never made it.

 

Week 1 February 4th-10th first week in Malta

My Malta experience started with packing, fitting your whole wardrobe into one suitcase is completely impossible. After repacking about five times I finally was ready to head off on my journey. Arriving at the airport it was clear that Niamh also had the same packing problem even though she had two cases and hand luggage she was still over by 16 kilograms! Saying my goodbyes to my family at the airport was difficult but I knew this would be a great experience and I would gain so much from it therefore I kept my chin up and carried through to the departure lounge. The flight was delayed by 45 minutes however apart from that it was successful.

When we arrived we had a mix up with our taxis as we ordered one and it didn’t arrive, therefore having to book another one which ended up cheaper so maybe it was a good thing our taxi didn’t come for us. We arrived safely at the university residence, my first opinion was negative as the rooms weren’t what I expected as it was such a culture shock however one of the girls living in my house explained after living in the house for a while you soon get used to it and I doesn’t seem that bad anymore. We met a lot of girls from the south of Ireland and over the first couple of days they helped to settle us in by showing us where the super market was and what buses to get, they were a great help. Did I mention we have a pool right on our door step!

Niamh and I made our first trip into Sliema along with the girl I share a room with. This was quite the adventure as we got lost so many times, first of all we were standing at the wrong side of the road to get the bus, and then when we finally realised and got the bus at the other side of the street we asked the bus driver to let us know when we were at sliema however he forgot and we ended up in Bugibba therefore having to stay on the bus until it turned back to sliema, even though we got lost it was a great way to see different parts of Malta.

On the Thursday of our first week I had my first day of university, I couldn’t wait to see the place and meet other Erasmus students that were doing our course. We weren’t in for that long as it was just a welcome meeting to give us our timetables and other information about the course, but it was still good getting to walk about to get used to the university surroundings. The classes that I will be taking are teaching implement games hockey and softball, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, human anatomy and basic concepts of biomechanics and issues in psychology PE, sport and leisure.

On Friday the 10^th it was Malta’s festival of St Paul’s shipwreck which is Malta’s most important historical event. To celebrate this event there was a carnival in the city of Valetta it was amazing to see and join in with their culture.