Paceville, Gozo, finally getting alittle settled
Trip Start
Jan 30, 2008
1
7
27
Trip End
Jun 23, 2008
Lija,
Malta
Monday, February 11, 2008
This is it... this is a great semester. Im going to recommend to every single person i come across that they spend atleast a couple of months completely experiencing another culture. I cant believe it hasnt even been two weeks yet, i already have some best friends who ill be traveling to Barcalona, Brno, and Prague with in April. I already need to start planning another trip to europe next year to visit my friends in Denmark, France, Swedian, England, Italy, Spain, etc. And those are even the guys in the states and Canada. So since i last posted on Wednesday night, there has been so much happening and plenty of stories... let me begin, ill try to keep it brief for those just peaking...
-Thursday-
Second "real" class, its my public policy class on "supernation institutions", its taught by a young Maltese guy and im the only foreign student in the class(first so far) so he had the tendency to start his thought in Maltese(sounds like Arabic and Italian..
Gozo's main city - Victoria
. VERY hard to understand/learn) and then finish in what i guess was English. Thankfully the Maltese are helpfully in class and i have a kid next to me transcribe everything the professor said. Hopefully it'll get better, i talked to the professor and he said he'd work on it. Very interesting class and it gave me some insight into the EU already. Thursday night was great, The clubs in Paceville(one of the top 10 party cities in the world of club music and crazzzy) hosted international welcome student night. It was a loooong night but its great to go out with all these kids you live around with and see in class and can obviously legally drink(16+) and dance with.-Friday-
No classes on friday for me, so i spent the day doing yoga in my room, reading alot, sending class info back to get approved by UVM. Cooked an amazing dinner with a great group of guys in our flat(seems to happen every night, everyone starts throwing stuff in - someone with pasta, someone with fish, etc, and we create these AMAZING meals). We have a (sortof) full kitchen with three mini European fridges (large enough for 2-3people's food for a week), a rack of cubes, two stoves/ovens and a sink. Its great... it really is a highlight each night to see who is around and who wants to come... We went to paceville again for the night.
-Saturday-
About 4 of us(Jake-San Diego, Dan-roommate from kansas, Stephen-from reno) all decided that we were going to explore every saturday, we would force ourselves out of bed early and explore the island(s). Today, we decided to split, jake went horseback riding with a couple of other friends. Dan, stephen and some girls from another flat all decided to go to gozo(malta's little neighbor of an island, its small, out of the three islands that make up malta its the middle one, its north and very easy to get to by bus then ferry)
Inside the Cathedral, gozo
. We easily got a bus up to the ferry, pretended we were residences of gozo and got the ferry for 1.16euros, we then jumped on a bus on gozo to the main city and explored. Grabbed a little lunch at a sidewalk cafe, walked through alittle market place and picked up a gift for mom(hmmm... i wonder what it could be). We then tried to catch 3buses around the island but found out that the island of gozo pretty much shuts down in the winter months(nov-march). So instead, we explored alittle and boy did it pay off. We found a cathedral built in the roman times but on ruins of even older/on the ruins of even older, etc etc, amazing! The photos tell all. It is one of the highest points on the island and you could see the water from all four sides of the walls(a fort was built around it for protection). We caught a late ferry back, and then bus back to the Residence. We rested for a bit, thought it was going to be a slow night but instead decided to play spoons with about 15people and after having to teach/translate the instructions in 6languages we had a great time! Then decided to go out again to pacevile and had a fun night celebrating one of american girls' 21st birthday.-Sunday-
What i had been waiting for all week long, and what i had been reading about for the longest time. We( a huge group from the residence) all got together and took a bus down to Marshalokk. Every sunday, it seems that everyone on the island goes to this little town to either buy or sell something(and anything) at this market. It was amazing, absolutely one of the safest/cleanest (scratch that)/diverse/unique marketplaces ive been to. Its just one line of stalls and at least a mile in length. Broken up by category(produce, clothes and most importantly... FISH). I spent about an hour going through this section with my mouth wide open..
Monday night dinner!
. i ended up buying something i know(dorado royal, and barboni... we sell these for about 25-35$ a fish back home... i got each fish for about 1.20euros, alittle fresher too). Jakeo went all out and bought all the unique shellfish he could find, an eel for a euro, and a full octopus for a euro(he kept asking if i knew how to cook this stuff... i just kept answering yes, ahah). We got home, and i showed the boys how to cook the fish i bought and made a great community dinner.-Monday-
Early class. Got to experience my first traffic jam, terrible here... everyone owns cars and wants to drive everywhere. Classes are good, i really like taking classes that give very different views on some similar things ive taken in the states. I have one big problem here though... the maltese dont know how to shut up in class and full on TALK in the middle of the class. The professor ends up asking everyone to quiet down every 10minutes, its really hard to understand/pay attention to the topic at hand. Headed home, the weather was terrible so it was indoors for the rst of the day. Jakeo called me over and we prepared over about 2hours a seafood risotto that you could die for. We got some good photos... Lets just say cooking is my favorite thing here. Got to talk to mom and papa on the phone(thanks guys, its was realllllly nice to hear your voices). Now bed time... Love you alllll, Hope all is well!
Comments
Great to talk with you Justin
Justin, The main article in the Sarasota Florida travel section was on Malta. It is so interesting to learn about this amazing island(s) from my readings and from you. Thank you. Great reading. Papa and Nana are proud of you! Love you very much (and I can't wait to see what my gift is!!!)
insight into the EU
You must be busy, Justin, as there've been no more blogs. If you have time, I'd love to hear a bit about what you are learning in classes that surprises you, like the insight into the EU you spoke of.
Wonderful trip and great that you can share it with us. No blogs in my day, so I have piles of the lettersI wrote to my mom from by 6 months in Europe.
Be well, Love, Christina
snowed-in in Columbus
Here we sit on a snowy day in Ohio reading your travel blog and feeling oh so jealous!!!!!You do a wonderful job of making your experience a pleasure to read and salivate over! Can't wait until you write about your trip to Gambia and how it compares to your experience in what sounds like the international student 'paradise' in Malta. We wish you all our best for a continued great time and lots of learning....
Love, The Sappers