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.
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