The Adventure truly begins!

Officially 2 and 1/2 weeks into the experience I am still in love with Malta. It is an insanely beautiful chaotic little country bursting with surprises at every corner. The Maltese are a people who seem to be in love with the old and the new at the same time combining it into one big party.

As my mother reminded me, I am in Malta to go to school, and I'm glad to say that I finally have a permanent class schedule at the university. This proved to be a two week ordeal of bureaucracy at its best; endless stacks of paper work, miles of walking to find the signatures of someones secretary, and hours of waiting in line outside the international office. However, though exhausted I have succeeded in choosing the most eccentric and interesting classes in my college career.

They Include:

Women in the Bible

An Introduction to Islam

The Personification of Evil (taught by a real catholic Exorcist)

Slave Narratives

Medieval Malta

Shakespeare: Comedies

Romantic Poets

Sociology of Gender

Anthropology of Gender

You may notice that several of my classes have a fairly religious theme. This is largely because you can't walk ten feet in Malta without tripping over a church. On Gozo (the smaller sister island) the people take pride in the fact that from each and every church on the island you can see at least one other church. There are three very nice churches within five blocks of my residence. Since arriving in Malta I have actually only been inside one church, which has a maltese name I can not pronounce, but it is the big dome in Valletta. It was simply awe inspiring. I have never seen a place so lavishly decorated. The great domed room had the power to create absolute silence.

I have been enjoying the chance to immerse myself in Maltese culture. So far their have been two festivals which I have attended. The first was the feast of Saint Paul's Shipwreck. This was held in Valletta (the capital) and involved colorful banners hung in the streets and people throwing confetti and candy from their balconies to the children (The first few photos are from this) The second festival was Carnival on Gozo. Unfortunately there are no photos of this because it was explained to me that my camera would either be stolen or crushed in the chaos. They were right, Carnival is halloween for grownups. People crush into the streets where live music is being played and dance around large floats. The problem with the floats is that if you get to close to them someone will grab you, pull you onto the float and hand cuff you to another person until you dance for a while. Very fun!

Last weekend I visited Marsaxlokk (pronounce Marsha-slock) which is a fishing village. The village is particularly well known for its colorful boats called Luzzu which are the traditional fishing boats of the area. You will notice int he picture that the boats have eyes painted on them. These are supposed to be the "eyes of osirus" and are painted on the boats for luck.

Malta is an amazing place, I'm having an excellent time and will post more soon!

Lija, Malta

I have now spent four days in Malta and am in complete sensory overload. Malta, to say the least, is not what I expected. The best description i have is that it is like Italy combined with Costa Rica. Beautiful cathedrals, light colored stone buildings, flowering plants, terraced fields, winding narrow streets are all part of Malta. There is also a chaotic mass of humanity covering every bit of it.

My first bit of advice for anyone who may be wanting to visit malta is DO NOT DRIVE and also look EVERY direction before crossing the street. The driving is insane and compounded by the narrow twisting streets. Though the Maltese are charming when met on the street behind the wheel they seem to be more interested in how many points they would get for hitting you with their car. I love the chaos of it. It makes each trip to the market a daring journey, each voyage to the bakery filled with danger.

I have been lost in Malta a total of 5 times in 4 days. These moments of being lost have created some of the best experiences so far. My favorite lost expirience includes the discovery of a 24 hour bakery on a street near the residence. A loaf of bread is about 40 cents and tastes wonderful, better than any bread we have at home. The food has actually been a wonderful surprise. Meat pies with rabbit are very popular. There is also a lot of pasta and sandwiches. This will be much better than my previous west african diet.

Yesterday I visited Sliema with a group of friends. This is one of the most beautiful places I have been so far. It is located on the opposite side of the bay from Valletta and has a spectacular view of the boats and cathedrals. The included pictures are all from Sliema.

Tomorrow I begin class and the adventure really starts! I am still in shock that I am actually living here for the next five months and not just a few weeks. I will write again soon.