I have a long list of work that I should be doing and limited hours to be doing it in but I thought I would take some time to procrastinate... This is what life has become like at university. Living away from home means that I've got so many more distractions and no one to make me sit down and study (although Callum does a pretty good job of taking my phone away and locking me in my room until I get "in the zone"). Regardless, I wouldn't change it for the world!
Before I came to university I didn't want to get my hopes up and be disappointed so I told myself that whoever I live with will be really messy and we might not click and that I'd probably get really homesick. In reality, although the kitchen occasionally needs a tidy, my flatmates are better than I could ever have imagined. They have become like a second family to me and although I'm missing my parents and Betsy, I haven't really felt homesick at all. My social life has never been better (which is probably why I never get any work done...)
The only thing that has taken some adjusting to is the work load. Taking a gap year meant that I lost the routine of studying and having the motivation to concentrate and although it's getting easier as the term goes on, I still struggle to get work done after 4pm (strange, I know). Saying that, I don't regret my gap year at all. It taught me a lot about my self and it's a year of my life that I will never forget.
A little high note to finish on: my first published piece of writing is in the Courier newspaper if anyone wants to take a look - there's a web link as they publish it online too.
If you go to pages 14-15 the article is The Rules of Bitching.
When I announced to my friends that I would be moving to Malta after year 13, as happy as they were for me, their initial response was: "What are you going to do in Malta? Isn't it for old people?"
Despite there being many elderly people who live in Malta, there is obviously a whole bunch of locals who were born here and are - believe it or not! - around my age. So yes, there are lots of things to do over here and here is my list:
1. Hit the beach This one is the most obvious because Malta is an island in the Mediterranean where summer begins in May and ends in October. (I was still swimming in early November last year to be honest.) There are plenty of water sports available around the island or you can just swim to heart's content in the many designated swimming areas.
Golden Bay
2. Splash and Fun Another water related activity except this one doesn't involve the sea for anyone who gets freaked out by fish. Plus it has awesome water slides, a wave pool and countless sunbeds for burning under the hot Maltese sun.
3. Malta Marine Park Swim with Dolphins and make friends with Sea Lions, Parrots, Iguanas etc. Do I really have to say anymore? Who wouldn't want to swim with dolphins?!
4. Lazy Pirate Boat Party For all my alcoholic friends, there are plenty of these "excursions" to pass as a "cultural activity" - the Lazy Pirate just being one of them.
5. Normal Boat Trips And by normal I mean ones that actually want to appreciate the culture, like sailing to Blue Lagoon, Comino or Gozo or around Malta. You will find plenty of people on the streets on the sea front scouting for potential bookings for boat trips. Prices vary depending on the company and the trip.
6. Eden Super Bowl Ten pin bowling complete with cafeteria and arcade games. Unlimited bowling - 14euros each Monday to Friday. Can't get a better deal than that!
7. Eden Cinemas Just like in most countries, Malta has a cinema - more than one in fact!
8. Paceville Malta's main area for bars and clubs, offering a diverse selection of music, fast food outlets and Gentleman's clubs.
9. Shopping Despite Malta being small and, as everybody seems to think, isolated, the island offers a large range of shops where you can buy anything you want. Yes, my friends, we are not cut off from civilisation. We have New Look. We have River Island. We have Debenhams and many, many more. We have plenty of Italian shops too.
Sliema
10. Horse Riding Open all day - I highly recommend going on a sunset ride. The route goes along the west side of the island, providing a beautiful view of the sun on the horizon.
Golden Bay Horse Riding
11. Paintballing I'll admit that I haven't tried this one... Only because I'm scared of it hurting me! I'm sure it's fabulously exciting.
Paintball Malta
12. Go-Karting Another one sure to give you an adrenaline rush!
Badger Karting
To be honest, I just wanted to make a point, simply because my friends seem to think that there's nothing to do here when actually, most of what I've listed can be done in the UK too. (I wouldn't recommend going to the beach in November in Britain...)
So don't assume that we're all going down to the local pub to play bingo. There's plenty to do so get yourselves on the next flight over and I'll show you how we have fun - Maltese style.
It has been a while since I have actually written a post about my gap year so I thought I would write an update for anyone who is interested.
First of all, the most important thing I MUST mention (which you probably have heard about already anyway) is my new puppy!! Don't worry, I'm not going to go on a bender talking about her because I do that enough already. (Just in case anyone wants to follow Betsy's journey you can read my mum's new blog ''If dogs could talk'' at www.ifdogscouldtalk2014.blogspot.com ) But I will say that she is the most beautiful and lovable creature I have ever met. So yeah, she's awesome.
Second of all, I started a new job waitressing, again, at the San Antonio hotel at the beginning of may. I lasted a month and decided that it was too tiring being constantly on my feet and then coming home to find I have no mental capacity left to study. So that was the end of that. I have been looking for somewhere that involves sitting down a bit more, like being a cashier or something, but no luck yet.
In the meantime, I've decided to start taking writing more seriously and I'm considering joining Ad Sense with Google. I wasn't sure whether to post snippets of my writing onto my blog - if anyone who reads this could let me know if it's a good idea or not then I would be very grateful!
The temperature here has dramatically risen within the last seven days and my sweat glands were definitely not ready for it although I am very happy that my tan is now returning.
I'm very excited about what the summer has in store for me. As always I'm missing my friends very much (and being very naughty not keeping in touch more often) but now that I'm not out working anymore, I have lots more time to Skype!
