Really, I've been home for almost a week and still didn't sit down to write anything about my school trip to Malta. But here I am now and I'm going to tell you what went on on that little island in the Mediterranean.
Day 1-Sunday:We met up on a Sunday at the airport to go to Malta. It was still pretty early, well, it was 10 o'clock... But it was Sunday, so it was early! We were supposed to meet at a certain time at a certain time, and, at said time, all of us had been there. All of us, except for our teacher. Yup, we waited about twenty minutes for her and already we had a really tight schedule. We ended up being REALLY late for our flight, but we made it and, thus, were on our way to lovely Malta.
We arrived at about 4 in the afternoon at our hostel and got our rooms. The rooms were more like little apartments, without kitchens, of course, but we had a little privacy in each room, even though doors are really a foreign word in this hostel. We were lucky to have a bathroom door. Instead our toilet was leaking, but that's another story.
Anyways, we got our rooms and made ourselved comfortable, well as comfortable as you can get in a country you don't know and in a room where hygiene is not that big of a word. I was in a room with one of my very good friends, Valerie, and three other girls, two of them, who were really nice, though 'I don't have too much to do with them. The thirs however... let's just say that I was a LITTLE annoyed with her after a mere few hours. But I'll tell more about it later.
The rest of the day was spent with cooking and having dinner. We had made smaller groups before going on the trip. Each group would have day, where the group had to cook dinner and prepare for breakfast the following morning. Food really wasn't that big of a problem, most of the time we had really nice food.
The first day ended pretty early, we all were tired from the flight and the ride with the bus from the airport to our hostel.
Day 2-Monday:On Monday, we drove woth the bus to Malta's capital, Valetta, a really small, but pretty city at the northern coast of Malta. We had a guided tour through the city and learned a lot about the island's history. We also visited the city's cathedral, St.John's co-cathedral. Let me just say, this church was AMAZING! The art work in the building was marvelous, honeslty breathtaking.
We also had a harbour tour with a little boat and saw all those little bays around Valetta. Really nice.
After we came back to our hostel we had some free time, which we used to try out this awesome pool we had in the hostel. It was huge, really, but the water was so cold!!!
Day 3-Tuesday:The next day was mostly spent with riding the bus. We first had to go to Valetta, which was a bus ride of about 45 minutes. After that we had to take another bus to a little fishermen's village called Masaxlokk (do not ask how it is pronounced!). There, we visited a fish farm, which was, to be honest, horribly boring. Also, it was blazing hot and there was absolutley no shade anywhere!
Back home we had to ride the bus for even longer, which, in my opinion, was not possible! Before we went back to the hostel, two friends of mine, me and, yes, the girl from my room, stayed at Valetta to grab a bite to eat and to do some souvenir shopping.
Yes, this girl from my room was accompanying us, much to our chagrin. She didn't even ask if she could go with us, but just tagged along. I was really starting to get mad at her. Especially, because she dragged us in some trashy souvenir shop, because she wanted to buy a I <3 Malta shirt, but in the end didn't even look at the shirts, but more was nagging us about all this stupid stuff that was in the shop.
Day 4-Wednesday:Wednesday, we had to get up really early to take a bus to Birzebbuga, where the Playmobil factory is.
For those of you who don't know, Playmobil is a toy for children. Playmobil are little figures of people with they're accessories and whole play worlds.
This is a Playmobil handymanIn the factory, we were able to see the figures being made. All of the figures that are sold around the world are produced in Malta. A very important thing for the little island.
After seeing the production, we also were able to play a little with the toys. Let me just say that I felt like a five year old again and enjoyed every minute of it!
After we went back to Valetta, we again had time to do what we wanted. We ate in Valetta again and then I had to go and buy myself a new pair of headphones, because mine broke.
Again, my LOVELY room mate came with us. By that time I was ready to throw her against a wall, because she wasn't only following me and my friends EVERYWHERE, no, she listened in in our conversations and made stupid comments about the things we were talking about. Really, that's just rude!
Thankfully, the two other girls in my room were so nice to cover for us whenever my friend and I would not be in our room. When the girl, let's call her Annoyaton, would ask where we were, the other two would say they didn't know, even though they very well did. Thank the heavens for nice people!
Day 5-Thursday:Thursday hadn't any trips planned for us, because we had been allowed to have two days to our own. I ended up going with all my friends, and Annoyaton, to a little craft's village, Ta'Qali (pronounced: Tali), where we had the chance to see pottery and glassware being made. I bought a bracelet and a few charms for it, there.
After that, we moved on to Mdina ('Medina'), the old Maltesean capital. The little city was lovely to look at. Little alleyways were everywhere and everything was surrounded by a large fortification wall. In fact, the whole city a fort on a hill. We had the greatest view over the island from up there. Really. For me, this day was the best of all.
Day 6-Friday:For Friday, there was only a little trip planned. We visited on of the desalination plants of Malta. I'm sure it would have been very interesting, hadn't our tour guide been horrible nervous and had he been better to understand. Like that, however, we just trotted along, looking at a few fish in some tanks. Plus, it again was blazing hot. I felt, quite litteraly, like butter on some hot fish... I was melting!
After we had lain down a bit over lunchtime, we drove to Sliema, were we went shopping. There is a grand shopping mall with a lot of shops, some of them unknown, but very good. We spent the whole afternoon there. Unfortunately, Annoyaton tagged along again and we didn't have that much of carefree time than we wanted to have.
Day 7-Saturday:Saturday was our second free day, and we decided to go shopping again, but not before sleeping in a little. We had to get up early every other day, so we thought we could at least sleep a little longer on one day. sadly, at about 8 o'clock, there was a really stupid bird that was hammering against our window and we weren't able to get back to sleep then.
The whole day of Saturday we spent in Sliema again, doing some more shopping. It was a really nice day and it wasn't too hot, so it was perfect for shopping.
In the evening however, it became really cold and we still had to eat outside, on the porch. We all came out of our rooms, with blankets and towels for our legs. I for one, didn't pack for weather like that!
For me, the day ended pretty early, I just fell asleep, with all my clothes on, while in the room of our heavenly room mates, a party went on, because one of them had her birthday the next day so they wanted to celebrate a little.
Day of departure-Sunday:On the day of our departure, we had to get up really early, because we were picked up to go to the airport at 6.25 am. We all were really tired and tried to get some sleep in the waiting area of the airport or on the plane, but I wasn't able to sleep because I felt nauseaous because of the smell of breakfast on the plane. Note to myself: do not order breakfast on a plane. It's most likely to be horrible. It was horrible, for me at least. I just don't like english breakfast!
After a little turbulance during the flight, we landed safely home at about 1.30 pm and made our way home.
All in all, the trip was nice. We saw a lot of things, had fun times, and not so fun times, but that's normal I think, with every journey you make.
Until then,
xoxo Annie
PS: Reese's NutRageous? BEST CANDYBAR EVER!!! =)
