More Malta
Its finals week here at Malta University. I have 3 exams and 1 paper. Finals take 2 weeks, so its almost like a mini vacation. yesterday i took myself shopping. I was going to go to the catacombs but i didnt make it past valletta... something about the SALE signs drew me in like a moth to a lamp. I didnt buy much though. it was such a nice day i almost regret not going to the catacombs, but then again i'd have been underground. i was craving some Red Baron frozen pepperoni pizza the other day. so i went and bought like the only unadultered pepperoni pizza i could find (most of the pizzas here are margarhita or shrimp or salmon or ham... aparently the sterotypical american
REALLY likes ham.) I found it, bought it, cooked it up. sank my teeth into it and after 2 bites i realised, this pizza doesnt have any sauce! no sauce at all. just grease. that was disappointing. it was good pizza, but not what i'd anticipated. oh well. i also discovered that the Texas Barbeque flavor pringles taste exactly like B-B-Q flavored pringles back home! this was a surprise because so far i have noted differences in the taste of powdered fake cheese and lemon skittles when compared to like items back home. and they dont have grape skittles here. they have black currant. but dont worry parents, i'm not spending all my money on pringles and skittles. i eat good food too. like last night i had fish sticks! :-) and thats all from Malta. stay classy San Diego.
This is Malta
The other day I was walking home from school (yes I walk sometimes) and a little car drove by with a dog in the driver's seat. I thought about this for a few minutes before I realised, the dog was actually in the passenger's seat and I'm still not used to people driving on the otherside of the road. I may never get used it it in fact.
Last night was probably one of the most entertaining nights ever. I now have an idea of what life was like before TV and radio. It was my last day of classes and when i came home i was incredibly bored. Around dinner time i went to my friends' flat, flat 123, and Brett was cooking himself some dinner. he was boiling sausages and an egg in a pot. Emiliano, Brett, and I stood around that boiling pot of water watching it, and watching it, and watching it. Eventually some of the impurities began to form on the surface of the water and it began to foam slightly. Some areas of the pot boiled more rapidly than others. We also noticed the egg stayed in the same place while the sausages rolled around lazily occasionally breaking the surface of the water. then we came up with the genius idea to float a boat in the pot of rapidly boiling water. Emiliano searched around the kitchen for something that wouldnt melt and we found a little plastic man from a KinderEgg. plopped him in there and watched him loll around in the bubbles. Finally hunger overcame brett and he turned off the water to eat his dinner. This is what we do. the other night we sat around the table and watched someone bounce a basketball for several minutes. any type of movement or activity draws us in like moths to a light bulb. We also play a lot of cards. I've learned poker, texas hold 'em, black jack, kings corner, crazy eights, and hearts in the past 4 months. I still can't shuffle though. I've read 3 books in 2 months. Our only connection to modern media is through David's computer and his extensive library of pirated DVDs. we've watched nearly all of his movies and so now we must either re-watch them, or start renting movies. And, we can get more MTV than one person should ever need to view by going to watch the TV in the lobby. I dont know what i'll do when i go back home. i think it might be sensory overload. i'll be able to watch a zillion channels, movies, go on the computer, listen to the radio or CDs on the stereo, stores will be open all the time, fast food is just down the street! if i can be happily entertained here without all that stuff how was i ever bored at home?
I'm Back
Well, I'm back in Malta. Everything went just fine. My clothes smell to high heavens and my room is a mess with all the junk i brought back in my bag. i had a huge stack of mail waiting for me (thanks guys!) and an empty apartment. Most all of my friends were back in Malta when i got home so we all sat around and traded souvineers. it was nice. then i stayed up pretty late writting letters and putting away all of my stuff. tomorrow is laundry day to the max. and tonight i'll work on my journal, which i filled up over this break. thats all i have for now. the semester is winding down. and i have a lot of papers to write. *blech*
Happy New Year!
New Years eve was pretty fun. a little bit scary, but fun. the city had a huge celebration with a dj on a stage. we found ourselves in a sea of people! more people than ive ever found myself in before. whats more is in the streets they lit off palettes of firecrackers and fireworks. so, right after we hit midnight ann and i made our way back to the hostel to watch the celebrations from 4 storeys above the street. it was quite fun. we ate candy and oranges and watched all the people. The 1st, everything was closed so we walked all over the city to find a pancake house. it took all morning. then we basically stayed in bed reading.
yesterday we went to Arnhem. its a really pretty rural city and they have a national park and a muesum. you have to go through to park to hit the museum and if it hadnt been so cold i would have insisted on taking a free bicycle on a ride around the park. but as it was, it was freezing cold outside so we walked around the museum. they had a lot of very famous painters there. and renoirs the cafe.
today we did our souvineer shopping around town and we went to a market. tomorrow we're going to meet my friend Leila at the Heineken for a tour. and then we're going on a canal tour. and that will be our last day in Holland :-( then its back to the grind.
