Spring Break in MALTA!

Malta is one of the most amazing and strange places I've gone. It's very small (all three islands together are less than 2 Washington D.C.s, according to the CIA at least) but there are enough things to see and do. There was the perfect balance between sights to see and time to relax on the beach, especially since many of the sights are on the beach. It's also a really strange country because it is such a combination of everything and seems very contradictory at times. People speak Maltese (a weird combination of Italian and Arabic), Italian, and English (almost everything was in English). It felt really weird to be in such an obviously European/Mediterranean country speaking English. Most of the locals also had really American/English names like Justin, Alison, Billy, etc. It was strange. The landscape is really mediterranean and beautiful and the buildings are all the same dusty light yellow-brown color. They are apparently doing a lot of building though. From the terrace of our hostel, I could see 14 of those giant cranes. Malta was also strange because there would be this really old church right next to a Pizza Hut. There were a lot of American chains but a lot of strange local places. There were also a lot of British and Irish bars and pubs. It's a really popular place for European tourists and we never saw any other Americans there. Apparently a lot of young Europeans move there to learn English and/or get a job. 

Day One: 

We left early Sunday morning. The big curve ball was that Saturday night/Sunday morning was Day Light Savings in Italy. I changed my clock before going to bed only to discover the next morning that it changed itself too so I ended up trying to meet Jillian at the tram stop at 4:30 AM instead of 5:30 AM. Better that than what happened to Will though. He didn't wake up at all and ended up missing the flight and trip completely. Our group ended up being Me, Jillian, Michelle, Maria, Marina, and Erica. When we landed in Malta we discovered how little we had planned stuff out but it all worked out really easily. We caught the only bus from the airport and went to Valletta and then asked which bus went to St. Julians (there were 5 or 6) and managed to get off at the right spot. 

From there we had no map or idea where our hostel was (nor could we pronounce the street) but we asked and got sent up the right street. They told us to just go up the hill all the way to the top. Right at the point of frustration with the hill, we saw Hostel Malti! The owner, Chris, was really nice. We had our own room since there were six of us. After settling in, Max, a Swedish guy staying at the hostel, took us around the area and showed us the restaurants and beaches. We ate at this really great place on the harbor called Paparazzi's. We then lay on the beach for awhile and relaxed. Then we all walked to Sliema where there was supposed to be a short ferry to Valletta. We were walking along the promenade next to the water and asked a police office where the ferry was and he said "You have to go closer to the sea" and pointed inland. After that fabulously confusing tip, we found the ferry which had stopped running for the day and instead caught a bus to Valletta. We went to see the main Cathedral which has some Caravaggios, but it was closed. Jillian and I went to the Archaeology museum instead which was having a Mucha exhibit. We went back to the hostel and got ready for dinner. The other people from the hostel joined us. Jitka (Czech), Romeo (Amsterdam), Marco (Zurich), and Max (Sweden). Our group couldn't agree on a place to eat and we all went to different ones. Jillian, Romeo, Marco, and I went to the pizzeria. It was a strange dinner all around. The food was kinda gross. There were so many flavors and things on the pizzas. We learned that Romeo was from Surinam but grew up in Amsterdam and was in Malta doing an internship at an Import-Export business, whatever that means. Marco was there just for the weekend. After dinner, we all met up for ice cream and then went back and tried to watch a movie but were all too tired.