Malta

Lori leaves in 2 days and then from there alot of people start to leave it's kinda sad cause I've become really close with them and now alot of them I won't see even again or at least only once or twice more.  Emiliano made dinner for Lori, Leila, himself and me yesterday that was the last time well ever get together like that cause Leila is in gozo until Friday night with a class and Lori flies out on Saturday.  He has been cooking for us alot lately...really good cook!  We have to bake for him though so it works out fair.

Had an exam last night till 7:20 pm there were no buses and it was pouring and really windy and cold so Chris, Emiliano and I called a cab it was 3 dollars so it wasn't bad and none of us wanted to walk in the cold, dark and wetness! 

Going to see Romeo and Juliet over the weekend.  Hopefully it will be nice...I'm excited!!!

It was really windy the other day and power went out for much of Malta but the residence has a back up generator so we didn't notice.  The weather has definately been interesting lately! 

Funny/interesting note: I find that the Maltese guys wear alot of hair gel and over exams i have noticed that not so many have been putting it in their hair.  I think they're stressed and to busy to fuss with their hair it's actually quite entertaining for me! 

For exams they have procters the proffs are not there.  Sometimes they'll come in fo ra mintue but others won't.  We write in the lecture halls instead of in our class room where we normally take the class...2 papers and an exam on Monday and then only 1 exam and paper to go!  Things are looking up!

Finished 2 of 5 exams.  So far so well. 

The girls sleep over went over really well.  We had guvyn(sp?) It's an Austian hot wine it was really nice. 

I was talking to one of the guys on exchange here from Sudan last night and he was telling me different things about Sudanese politics and he mentioned an interesting point that when the US or world aid (I forget) sent in food and supplies they were bombarded with people so they clained that they were starving and so forth adn he said alot of it is the case where they're not stupid people and if you're going to give them prepared food for free they're going to take it!  Not that there isn't alot going on but that some of it is misunderstood.  As well the US reporters had reported on mass amount of rape occuring because in arabic (local dialect) force and rape are the same thing so when people were talking about being forced it was misunderstood.  It was a really interesting conversation he mentioned about the beautiful scenery and the wild life they had had until everything that's going on started. 

He also mentioned that when the Iraq oil fields were bombed they had alot of Juvenile diabetes start.  He didn't know if it was coincidence or something that was in the air and water after that or what.  He has since moved and has been living in Dubi and it's he's forth year studying in Malta.

We had our last supper as one big happy family in the flat.  Chiara, Lori, Federica, Leila, Rafeale and me.  Fede made pasta and I made teabiscuits and brownies.  The whole thing was so nice.  Lori leaves for home on Saturday and Fede left after her exam yesterday for Rome(home) until Sunday to visit her boyfriend, it's his birthday!

When I was off to write my first exam Chiara was in bed ...up late studying!  She left me a note that said up in the ass of the whale (they also say in the mouth of a wolf)  it's like good luck in Italy becuase saying good luck is bad luck.  Then you respond I hope it dies!  I have yet to learn how to say it in Italian though. 

I'm learning a lil Maltese too!  You know me of course it's the stuff vital to life in Malta! lol  However, I can only say it I can't write anything!  Although, I believe I am going to take intro to the language next half!

The Italian's were telling me that they're not used to written exams.  When they have exams they only do orals in front of their whole class! They said it's much harder than the evalutation method here...except for the fact that now they have to do it in english which is not their native language. Obviously! 

It's rained yesterday.  I woke up and I was freezing!  I put clothes on over my clothes!  Lori had the bright idea to boil water in the kitchen to make it warm! Mira and DeeDee from Bulgaria were over visiting the nite before.  Mira painted my nails again...DeeDee made me practice my Bulgarian.  I have to say I'm getting pretty good.   We're having a girls sleep over on Saturday night in our flat after a birthday potluck for Daniella.  Plans keep getting changed because of exams.

   I think the cats are in heat cause they sound aweful sometimes at night.   One of my exams was rescheduled until the following week so that's good cause I only have 1 that week so I'll have a getter time frame to study.  

I'm making some Peanut Butter cookies today for the Bulgarian's cause they've never had them before well except when I made them just before I left for Christmas break.  

The sun is back again today and it's not so cold.  I've been able to get alot of work done on my papers which is good.  Unfortunately after today I have to hit the books and leave the papers go until after my exam on Wednesday.  

DeeDee was also telling me that in Bulgaria on the 14th they celebrate Wine Day or something like that because it is traditionally Bulgarian where as St. Valentine's Day a Catholic thing is not...Bulgaria is Orthodox Christian.  

I was talking to Chiara today and we were talking about what usually goes on at a sleepover and some of the games we'd play for entertainment she knew right off!  You know, since we're technically too old to have sleepovers anymore we are going to play really mature games like Truth or Dare and I never!  The only rules for the girls coming to the sleepover are Pj's & a blanket, Chocolate or something with sugar and wine.  With alot of the girls leaving it will be a nice way to say goodbye!  Lots of fun!   

The debate on Turkey joining the EU turned to a heated event with a major divide in opinion on whether they should be allowed to join or not.  There was a local journalist speaking with the position that they should not be considered as part of the EU.   He believes that they are still major violators of human rights and that there way of life is far to different from that of the rest of "Christian Europe".  A proffessor of mine was also on the panel speaking in favor of Turkey joining the EU.  He belives that they have made major improvements to their way of life and standard of living and that they could be a major boost for European relations and so forth.  Where the problem arouse was with the students passion in their own opinion.  Their arguements were well established but as soon as they really disagreed with a point they would begin shouting in Maltese.  I, however do not know much in regard to the Maltese language so I don't know what was said.  They would then settle and revert back to english.  To note, the Maltese speak loudly even when they are talking about simple things it's just their style and sometimes you are under the impression that they are yelling, although in this case I do believe even though I do not know what was being said that they were yelling. 

The weather is much cooler these days.  I wear a jacket to uni and in the computer labs where I check my emails and write my blog I still find it cool.  Today there was heat on in the lab so it was a very exciting day for me. 

My Italian flatmates had a lunch in our flat yesterday and it lasted for 6 hours.  That it pretty typical for them if it a larger get together.  We are planning on having a "girls night" in our flat before the people that were only here for the first semester leave.  As well, we are going to have our final pot luck for the semester on Saturday.  It's sad to have things changing so much over the next couple of weeks but...I will lose 2 of my flatmate, I will be gaining at least 2 more new friends from who knows where in the world and that is something to look forward too! 

Exam time in Malta.  I have a paper due tomorrow and they want it passed in on a disc and paper.  Rather annoying I think.  Ah well I don't know how much they care about my opinion.  Nothing much going on these days but when we take a break from doing our papers and studying for our exams we start making up crazy card games that really have no point.  I think everyone gets a little crazy around this time.  The computer lab is also busy so it takes a lot longer to get a computer to go on line and to work on papers but all you can do is wait. 

Talks are in the works for RyanAir to fly into Malta which is exciting news because otherwise it is really expensive to fly into and out of Malta.  However, who knows when this deal shall come to a conclusion. 

Leila hasn't been around much lately I'm sure it's just because she's busy with papers and exams but she is at our place everyday and the guys even if it is just to work on her home work so I am kind of concerned!

Oh I don't know if I mentioned that the bus fair has gone from 15 cnets per zone to 20.  Not a big deal but I thought I should note it! 

Anyway, I don't really have much to say I think I'm just doing this because I don't want to do any school work but I really should so I'm gonna be a good student and get back to it!  CHEERS!  

Had a great holiday at home visiting with everyone.  My flights went pretty well.  I had a snow delay in Halifax for about 2 hours and an hour delay on my flight from London to Malta which made for a really long wait in the airport because I was already 3 and a half hours early for my flight.  I had planned on going to visit central London but because my flight from Hali was late and it took so long to get my luggage and to the Tube station it was too late.  There was about 2 hours of Turbulance on my lfight to London so there was no service, however I was trying to sleep anyway so it wasn't a big deal. 

Things are quiet back in Malta because everyone is tired from their travels and it's back to reality exams start in 2 weeks with papers due in the mean time.  Fun stuff.  The weather here is still really nice the sun is hot however the breeze is not.  In the evening my wool sock come in very handy when I am trying to sleep.  I have since to have any new animal friends in my room which I have to say is a nice treat. 

Everyone had really good travels over the Christmas break.  Leila in particular had the most interesting I'm sure.  She was deported from from Prague (I think that's where it was) because she is technically a South African citicizen until she finally gets her Austrailian papers (she's been living there for the past 5 years) so she need a visa and she found out once she got the that she had the wrong one.  She laughs about it now!  Oh and Brett was supposed to do alot of traveling with his Euro Rail pass however he flew out of Malta but forgot his Pass in Malta so he was stuck in Budapest for his whole break...he said he still had a nice time.  Some of the people stayed in Res and they all said it was fun they went swimming in Golden Bay on New Year's Day they said it wasn't that cold!