Week 18 4th-10th June

They day had arrived the first ever written exam in Malta for human anatomy! I have to say I wasn't nervous all week then I woke up with butterflies in my stomach! I didn't know what to expect with the questions and how they would be worded, therefore I was a bit worried about that. I also learnt 14 topics very well and the other three not so much which meant I was nervous that they would come up and the others wouldn't. It was now too late as we waited in the room for the exam to start. As I opened the paper a big smile appeared on my face with the jot to see that you had a choice of seventeen questions and you only had to do ten which meant I got to choose my strongest revised topics. The questions were also worded very simple compared to back home as they were very straight forward for example describe the structure of the ankle joint and another was what is posture? Therefore I was relieved and I think I have put in enough work and wrote a lot in detail to have done well, so once again fingers crossed!

On the Tuesday night my friends parents arrived therefore he wasn’t in the residence as he would be with his family for the week. Therefore the guys that he lived with thought it would be hilarious that we all wore a T shirt that he owned and get as many as we could to join in and then take a picture and tag him on Facebook! This was so funny and the picture looked well it was so colourful as you can see in the picture below. When he seen the picture he too thought it was a great idea and didn’t expect anything which was weird because they were always getting up to no good! Therefore he took the joke well and joined in with the laugh. As well that night my friend Joanne from Northern Ireland had come back to Malta after visiting home to see her friend as her dad was to carry the Olympic torch! She said it was an amazing once and a life time experience to see and was glad that she went home to witness the historical event happen. With her she brought back some of my favourite pickled onion Tayto crisp as it was my birthday the next day, therefore when it hit 12 I was allowed to eat them (it was worth the wait).

The next day was my birthday, finally not a teenager anymore as I turned a big 20! I wasn't going to do anything for my birthday as loads of people had exams that week and wanted to revise, however my friends were having none of it and decided to bring me to paradise bay and wasn't I glad they did as it was beautiful! Paradise bay is well secluded and is set in a natural cove. It is located on the northern part of Malta close to Cirkewwa. This beach is excellent for snorkelling and is popular with a younger crowd where there are often parties on the weekends. Despite being relatively isolated, there plenty of facilities available. The water was so clear and the sand was perfect as it was smooth and a white like colour. I am not usually a big fan of the beach however this was amazing and I definitely would come back here. Therefore my birthday so far was off to a great start and I was enjoying my day tanning and spending it with friends.

Later that night it was decided that we hit Paceville to celebrate my birthday. As I was on skype to my parents the girls were getting up to know good planning something (nothing ever gets past me). Not that it wasn't obvious as they were blowing up balloons in front of me and people were for some reason heading up to the famous 103 house. I was lead up the 103 roof and there they all were to surprise me with a party! I was so overwhelmed and was so happy that they had done all this for my birthday. They even made a cake and bought me presents, I really didn't expect this and I thank them so much for making my birthday so special in Malta!

However my birthday celebrations for once didn't stretch over a couple of days as it was back to revising. I had my gymnastics written exam on the Monday therefore it was more work for another couple of days, however I didn't mind so much as it was my last! I found it difficult to revise for gymnastics as we didn't have much to help us revise just pages on the components of fitness used in gymnastics. We also weren't given a clear understanding on what the exam would be on therefore I was very unsure and decided that I just had to go into the exam and use the knowledge that I gained from the practical sessions.

On Friday my roommate and I decided to go into sliema for some shopping and bounding time as she was leaving the next day. We thought it would be good to spend one last day togther and say a proper goodbye. I had fun spending time with her and we enjoyed are day out! 

On the Saturday it was the big group picture that we were all dreading as it meant everything was coming to an end! It was organised that everyone from residence grouped together around the pool and a member of staff from the residence got on the roof and took a Birdseye view picture. This turned out beautifully with almost everyone there as a big group, almost brought a tear to my eye! This is my favourite picture so far in my Erasmus experience as it showed how everyone got along and how much we would miss each other. What made this day worse was that it was my roommates last day and it was time to say goodbye. This was difficult for me as I had spent so much time with and she was like an older sister as she had taught me a lot especially as I lived with her. We knew we would stay in touch therefore we seen it as see you again rather than a goodbye.

Week 17 28th-3rd June

The day finally arrived it was my practical exam for gymnastics, the exam I can honestly say I was nervous the most about. What made it worse was the fact that my roommate that was supposed to do a floor routine for Niamh and also myself was in Poland so I had to perform two routines for Niamh and I got my friend Emily to do mine. So that was a panic in itself. However when it came to my practical it wasn't as bad as I had expected and I think it went rather well considering the rush we were in to find a replacement. I have to say I really need to hit the gym again after performing two routines I was exhausted! After the routines we were asked questions about how we taught them, for example one of my questions was to demonstrate how you would support your performer when teaching them a double cartwheel (two cartwheels in a row) I think I demonstrated this correctly as I knew how to support a gymnast when performing a single cartwheel so I used this knowledge. I hope everything went as well as I thought so fingers crossed for the results!

This week was very much concentrated on my Human anatomy exam which will be on the 4th June, so it was study, study, and study every day. I didn't mind this much as I love this topic and it was the module I would like to succeed the most in. Revising for this was interesting not what we would do back home as we all sent our posters to each other and revised off them. This was a good idea as we knew all the topics would come up on the exam however there was only ten questions and we had seventeen to revise, therefore we had a lot to learn!

On the Friday my friends from Erasmus decided we all needed a break from studying so we decided to go to bowling. This was great fun and a lot of the others hadn't ever bowled before. I also learnt that in Canada they use smaller bowling balls and less pins so it was rather amusing watching them play the game! In fact after a couple of goes they were actually better than me which was embarrassing. We all had a great night and enjoyed doing something different together.

The fun didn't stop there on the Saturday in was our residence pool party as many people were leaving the next Saturday to fly back home. Therefore everyone thought it would be a good idea to hold this event. We booked a DJ and there was a BBQ and most of the day consisted of throwing each other in the pool like big kids. The weather of course was amazing as always and the atmosphere was fantastic watching everyone get along and come together for one of the last times!

On Sunday all the fun was over and it was back to study as the exam was now only 24 hours away! For once I wasn’t as nervous as I knew I had done all I could and it was just a matter of reading over my notes and making sure I had looked at all the topics. Therefore it was an early night for me in preparation for my first written exam in Malta!

Week 16 21st-27th May

This was our final preparation class for our gymnastics Practical and I was getting pretty nervous! In this class we were free to do our own thing and work on the routines that we had for the examination. Niamh was one of my gymnasts as I was one of hers. Our other partner was going to be my roommate however as she wasn't part of our class and had her own lessons to attend she could not make it to our practice. This wasn't a problem as it meant that Niamh and I could concentrate on each other’s routines. We decided to perform each other’s ribbon routines as they were easy to choreograph and learn in the time that we had in class. After this class we had both made up our own choreography and taught each other as much as we could. Overall I found this class very helpful as we could see what space we had to perform and could have a sneak look at the other students routines (we didn't copy promise). All we had to do now was to pick out instrumental music and choreograph a floor routine.

On the Tuesday night we decided to order our first ever Chinese to the residence, we hadn't yet done this as we were warned that it isn't very nice and is nothing like the Chinese delivery back home. However we weren't bothered we thought how bad could it possibly be. Well it started off horribly we rang the place and after giving them our order and gave our address they said we don’t deliver there! So we had to re order elsewhere. So we were waiting for our food and waiting, waiting still, an hour passes still no sign! Finally an hour and a half later it arrives we thought this better be worth it! It turned out that Malta Chinese food actually isn't as bad as everyone says, maybe not just as good as back home but we enjoyed it.

Our last ever class in Malta on the Thursday! This experience of Erasmus has flown in with the last class being Management. In this class we learnt how time management has high importance in any business or organisation and two main issues are punctuality and meeting deadlines. This was interesting to learn about as you don't realise just how important being on time is. Therefore I took a lot from our last class and will try and be as punctual as I can in future! At the end of this class we also had to give in an evaluation of what we thought about this module. This was my favourite class as it was very well brought together and taught with great structure in every lesson and everything was relevant to the module title. Therefore my evaluation was very positive.

As it was coming to the end of the semester and exams were soon beginning we thought it would be a good idea to hold an “I love Malta” night. This is when everyone would buy a T shirt and write each other messages to say how great it was to meet them and maybe even write a few memories. To our surprise there was massive turn out and almost everyone had joined in this was a great night that was full of joy and sadness and one of the highlights so far in Erasmus, as in this night I realised how many friends and different people that I had meat and that I would miss, therefore it taught me to make the most of the time I had left with them.

Saturday night I had a tough decision!  Was going to the last ever boat party, go and see the famous Fat boy slim or stay in and watch the Eurovision song contest? Well wasn't a tough decision of course I was going to sit in and watch the Eurovision! This was a fun night as whoever was left in residence that night all came together and supported our own countries (I was supporting Ireland and UK).

 Overall I had a great week and made the most of it as I knew it was time to get my study hat on as exams were getting closer.

Week 15 14th-20th May

This week was the second and last block week for human anatomy. As we had learnt all the material the Monday class was to prepare us for our presentations for the next day. What shocked us when we were given our preparation was he left it to the last minute, as in the day before which would never happen back in Stranmillis. We also found out we had to pay 35 euro to print a poster out and this wasn’t made clear to us. We were not pleased at the cost of this as we are students that can just about afford to live abroad as it is and therefore got annoyed, however what could we do but to just get on with it and pay the money. Niamh and I were clever however as we found somewhere that printed it cheaper for only 20 euros (typical bargain hunters) so we weren’t too bothered paying this amount.

Today we also met up with our lecturer Melanie who was over on a placement and of course to check if we were doing ok. It was great to see a friendly face from our home university and tell her all about are time in Malta so far. As you would probably already guessed we had plenty to talk about, good and bad, but of course mostly good. We gave Melanie some advice for her stay for example the bad time keeping (also known as mala time) the bus system and of course the best tourist places to visit. We said are goodbyes and hoped that she had a great time.

It was Tuesday and therefore presentation day! My presentation was on posture and I don’t think I had ever been so nervous about a presentation, and I never get nervous as most people know I love getting the opportunity to talk. I think I was so worried because I had never done a poster presentation like this before and therefore it was all new to me. I think also because it was in front of the Maltese in our class and I felt the pressure of making a good impression on them and the lecturer. However I braved up and completed it with everything running smoothly, therefore I panicked for no reason. It was very interesting watching the others do their presentations as I could see what they do different. I learnt from others that I it's good to not always read what I have put on the poster but try and learn it off by heart so you can make more eye contact with the audience. This is something I find difficult but by watching them it has encouraged me to do this in the future.

The rest of the week was to prepare us for the exam and what it was going to be like. We found out there would be ten questions and they would all be based on the title of each presentation, therefore we had to revise each other’s posters meaning revising  seventeen topics on human anatomy. This was the end of our block week all was left in human anatomy was to study for the exam.

This week was very much taken over by university work meaning less of a social life which isn’t too bad especially for my bank balance.  So in my free time it was just lie by the pool and top up my tan, which doesn’t seem that bad at all.



At the weekend my social life picked up just a little as we had our University Residence sports day! this was great fun and everyone got into their country teams (some mixing there race). The biggest game was the tug of war over the water this was very funny to watch! I didn't participate as much as I usually would especially in the tug of war as I am a bit of a wimp! However it was great to cheer everyone on, and I got confused if I should cheer for the Ireland team or the UK team, however after Ireland winning the tug of war I was now "Irish" typical glory hunter! over all it was enjoyable and was great seeing everyone from each country comng together for this event!