Ok, this will be quick. I have to get to class, buuuutttt, i'm in malta AND my class is taught by an Italian. Theres no real concept of time here. its nice. I've been pretty sick all week long. i'm getting better now though. I got familiar with the pharmacy and stuff. Sunday we had an International bbq out on Golden Bay. it was really nice. we all brought food to grill and they had torches and music and someone else brought a guitar and we went swimming at 8 oclock at night and got sand all over everything. the water was so warm! we had a really great time. I did lose my watch, that kind of was a bummer. I gave it to a friend to hang on to while i went swimming and she dropped it somewhere in the sand and didnt notice. So, it is gone for ever. it had a brand new battery in it too! dang. I'll have to buy a new one i suppose. Its very disconcerting not knowing what time or day it is and which is left and which is right. I dont like it. We're going to the market on Sunday though so maybe i'll be able to get a cheap one.
The weather here is still wonderful, though i keep hearing murmerings about rain. So far its very nice. its starting to cool down a bit so, at noon its quite tolerable to go outside and walk around. you know high 70s and 80s. the great thing about Malta is there is very little humidity. so, when you're in the shade its very nice, even at noon. its the way it should be. okay now, i should probably scamper off to class now. I hope everything is going well. I'm trying to decide if i want to come home for christmas or not... its a hard decision really.
ciao!
Last week was pretty laid back. I went to all of my classes. None of the professors ditched out or anything! We're reaching the middle of october and I'm just having my first courses. Welcome to Malta. Classes seem like they should be okay. They ask for a lot of work though. i have to write 2 page papers every other week for a few of them. and a lot of essays. fortunatly not many of them have a final exam. so, that will be nice. I think so far my favorite is Shooting the Mob. its very interesting... lots of film clips and mafia gossip. My Italian class seems like fun too. the professor is very fun.
On Friday the university hosted and International Cuisine night. I was on the US team and we made Chili Dogs. They were very popular. I tasted some food from Gozo, China, Israel, and Jordan. The Canadians made Pancakes. We were all very very full by the end of the night. and messy. Chili Dogs are not clean! The guys brought a football too. We were throwing it around and a Chinese guy came and asked me to teach him to throw it. I cant throw a football! So, i sent him over to Ann, from South Dakota.
Saturday, I started my Scuba lessons. It might take some getting used to, but i think once we get out of the pool and into the ocean it will be a lot of fun. There's a lot to learn. We were in the pool from 11am to 7pm... it was a very very long day. I scrapped off my knuckles trying on wet suits... that neoprene is vicious!
Sunday, a group of 10 of us went on a Cruise around the islands. We went around the entire island and we stopped in Comino for 3 hours. They also fed us lunch. i had my first encounter with capers... lets just say i wont be running out to buy a kilo of those things! yuck. we got transportation to and from the residence too. it was quite a good deal. the whole thing cost about US$27. I also sampled some Prawn Cocktail flavored chips... basically they tasted like cocktail sauce. i dont think they'd go over too well in the US. They werent bad though. We left the Residence at 8am and got home about 6pm. it was all day in the sun and surf. i got a ton of great pictures. I'm going to burn my pictures onto a CD and then i will post some of them on the web for you all to see. I know how to do it i'm just a bit lazy. Soon though, i will post pictures.
Today I have more Scuba and again on Thursday. Thats pretty much all i have for now. feel free to write or email when ever you want.
Okay, i had a pretty good weekend. Friday we went shopping and i bought a shirt and a dress. people here dress up a lot more than we do at home, so i feel kind of underdressed everywhere i go. Then on friday night we went to a party hosted by the university. it was very fun. there was a dj and dancing and we met a bunch of new people. then on saturday we relaxed by our pool all day long. and then in the evening we walked to the local pub and watched the Slovania/Italy soccer match. it was pretty intense. the italians were the favorites but in the end the game was 1-0 slovania... so, it was a quiet night. i think if the italians had won my neighbors would have been up to the wee hours of the night celebrating. but, no one here is from slovania so we all got to go right to bed after the game. sunday we were going to go to the blue grotto, but ended up in Marsaxlokk, at the fish market. it was huge. so much fish! but i didnt buy any because i thought we were going to the grotto. well, our group got separated so i was with Emiliano (from san diego), Pavel (from Bulgaria), and Layla (from Australia) we shopped a bit and then Pavel wanted to go to the beach. i wasnt prepared for the beach and it was a 20 minute walk away so Emiliano didnt want to go either. so all four of us went to Valetta for some soda and then back home. where we laid by the pool all day long. that was about it. for the weekend. kind of disappointing. next saturday i start my scuba lessons. i'm very excited.
this morning i went down to the local supermarket (i've seen bathrooms bigger than it) and bought some milk and bread and water and juice and when i went to pay i realized i'd left my money in my other pants! so, i asked the man if i could leave my stuff and go back to get my money. he said, i could take my things and just come back when i could. it was so nice... i dont know of many shops in the US that would allow you to do that. I came straight back with the money, but there was so much trust there it was amazing. thats how people are here though. once you get past their tone of voice they're very nice. it sounds like they are always yelling at you even though, they're not. I miss home a lot but i'm doing fine here. I hope you all are well.
alright, a lot has happened. I finally got my university internet set up so i can post more regualarly. I've been doing quite a bit. Saturday we went to Sliema for shopping and swimming. i bought a few gifts for people and we ate a good lunch and then we looked for the beach... there was only one very large flat rock... we decided we'd had a long enough day so we went home. on sunday we went to Comino. first we stopped in valetta. they had a huge market going on so we shopped. i forgot about the market so i didnt bring enough money so i didnt buy anything. then we got on the bus to go to Comino. when we got off one of my friends yelled, "Hey Minnesota! you forgot your bag on the bus!" But, i had my purse with me... a previous passenger had left a plastic bag containing a backpack (something i'd been searching for all week) on the bus under my seat! so, i'm borrowing it. Comino was beautiful. just like in the pictures. the ferry dropped us off on a beach on cominetto so we put down our stuff and swam in the clearest blue water i've ever seen. it was very salty and we floated for ages. there were all kinds of little fish swimming around too. then for lunch we took our money and swam about 100 meters to Comino where we got really cheap and really big hamburgers and hotdogs. then we swam back to our beach and laid in the sun. it was so relaxing. the next day we had class. i found my class doesnt start til next week and then i found a whole new list of classes so i had to remake my schedule entirely. i went to class yesterday and the professor didnt show up... so, i wasnt too shocked when i came to class today and found that it doesnt start til next week. thats been the happenings of the past week. the weather is very hot 80s and 90s mostly.... no rain. beautiful. i wish i was by the pool right now actually.
