Day 1

Today I had my first day of orientation and I met all, wait for it, 9 people from my program. Huge eh? There are 3 Maltese students, 5 Americans and yours truly. I discovered that my university is not where I thought it was; I thought it was in Msida, in fact it is in Valetta. One of the reasons that I wanted to live in the university residence was because there was a shuttle bus to the school everyday which meant that I would not have to navigate a foreign city- you know I suck with directions. Of course this all changed when I found out that my campus is in a completely different city. Thankfully I used Google to find out how to get to school and I got there without a problem- this is a huge deal considering I only know one way to get to most places in Canada. Here’s a map so that you can see the huge difference that this makes: 

 *Sorry that the map jumps off the page a bit but you get the idea

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind living in residence even though it does make for a bigger commute, it also means that I get to meet a lot more than 8 people from other countries and programs and not spend 450 euro a month on a flat.

I think you’ll be proud to know that I spoke Maltese today... well not really, but I’ve figured out how to pretend to be Maltese so that I get the attention that I want. Let me explain. I was on the bus today and I wanted to make sure that the driver was going where I wanted to go. While I was asking him a question he decided to strike up a convo with another bus driver on the road. So when he was done, I said what all Maltese people say when they want to talk to someone (I apologise in advance this will be funnier for people who understand Maltese):

Me: Ow, hei! Does this bus go to Lija? (all said in an intense Maltese accent of course)
Driver: Mela
Me: Perfect

Mission accomplished. And I didn't even need my book!

When I arrived back to residence today I found out that I have a new roommate, her name is Alessia and she is from Italy. She is very sweet and I think we will get along just fine. I promised to help her with her English and she will teach me some Italian. Nice.

So that’s it for today. Back to school tomorrow and hopefully attempt to get my Maltese passport... I’m sure I will have to go back 12 times before anything gets accomplished.