Paceville

So, some of you may know that the reason that us four girls are out here is that we’re doing an ERASMUS placement. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s essentially a yearlong exchange programme for universities in Europe.

So far we have noticed LOADS of differences in Coventry University and the University of Malta, and I’m sure there will be a blog post on that eventually (probably sometime in Feb after our January exams).

However, as the saying goes; all work and no play makes jack a dull boy! (or girl)

So this blog post is about the social side of our placement, which essentially revolves around one place. Paceville!

Paceville is the nightlife capital of Malta. With pubs, clubs and bars, there is something for everyone. But we thought we would talk about our top three places to go.

Plush Lounge

This is the first place we head to on a night out. A bar with a balcony that overlooks the main strip, and the best cocktails in town. Plus, they’re 2 for 1! Our favourite cocktails are Kiwi Lagoon, Cosmopolitan and Strawberry Passion.

Tip: If you want a table on the balcony get there early (11.30ish) as it gets busy quickly.

Hugo’s Bar

This is another bar that we enjoy going to quite regularly, and obviously it has the best name ;). We recommend the 12 shots of Redbull and Vodka for 13 Euros, but remember to share as they’re very strong. Once you’ve had your fill of drinks, head upstairs to the club and have a dance.  With a great atmosphere and pop/dance style music.

Nordic

Our last favourite place is a club. We can’t really comment on the drinks as we are normally full up on cocktails and shots by the time we stagger into here. It’s quite a small place but one of the most popular on the strip. The music style is pop-rock and indie, perfect for singing along to.

Overall Top Tips

•  Paceville is generally a safe area but like anywhere you need to keep safe. Stay in a group and keep an eye on your drink.
• Take some napkins in your bag as none of the toilets have toilet roll.
• Haggle with the taxi on the way home (we always do, and get a really good deal).
• Look out for people handing out vouchers outside of clubs, some of them can be great deals.
• Returning to the same clubs can be nice, but you may be missing out, so don’t be afraid to explore.

So those are our favourite places. We hope to keep on discovering new places and maybe in the next few months we’ll have some different ones that we’d recommend.

G x

Valletta

After being in Malta for almost a month a visit to Malta's capital city was well over due; especially as we look across to Valletta from our balcony everyday. So set out early one Sunday morning under the impression that this was the best time to go (according to Stacey). Those of you who know Malta well will have already noticed the mistake in the previous sentence (hint: it's not that students don't get up early on Sunday mornings). As a religiously Christian island, Malta is pretty much deserted on a Sunday. Considering that in England most things generally operate as normal Sundays, this is something that's taken us a while to adjust to. Arriving in Valletta, we found that there wasn't many people around and none of the shops were open. After wondering around for a while, we learned that although there did used to be really good markets on Sundays (OK we forgive you Stacey), they aren't there anymore. Eventually, we found a small market, a short bus journey away, and even started our Christmas shopping. If you want to read our post about that market then click HERE!!!!

The following Friday we went back to Valletta for a proper visit. Walking down the long narrow streets, there was plenty to look at. Instead of standard street lamps, there were rustic lanterns hanging from wires high above the roads. It was hard to believe that the large doorways decorated with pictures of saints and other religious figures, were actually peoples homes. There was even a police box - the Maltese version of the TARDIS.

Popeye Island's Haunted Village

Hey Guys

Hope you had a super spooky Halloween. We definitely did! We celebrated our Halloween on the 1^st Nov so that it wouldn't clash with our uni work.

We chose to go to Popeye Island’s Haunted Village, and boy was that place haunted! Popeye Island is the place where they filmed the Popeye film, and afterwards they changed the set into an adventure park.

 Our evening started with us dressing up at home. Being abroad we had limited supplies, but I think me managed quite well.

We received a few funny looks for people on the bus but we didn’t mind. In fact we just stared back at them until they hurried to the back of the bus to escape the crazy people covered in makeup.

Once the bus dropped us off we had a 10 minute walk down a road with no street lights (singing Avril Lavigne and The Killers at the top of our voices to stop us getting frightened). We turned up at the village and were met by carved pumpkins, skeletons, hanging dummies, bats, cobwebs, and actors who all jumped out and chased us.

It was terrifying!!

Luckily we've recovered now, and we’re pleased that we have a whole year to go before we have to scare ourselves silly again.

G *

Malta Bird Park

Last week my sister and cousin came to stay, and whilst they were here we went to Malta’s National Bird Park.

I have mixed feelings about this zoo, it was sad seeing some of the animals in enclosures, but the place was clean, the staff were friendly and the park provides a source of education in a country where illegal bird hunting is common.

Once we FINALLY got to the park (Claire led us on a wild goose chase for nearly an hour) we were able to see some of the amazing exotic birds that Malta has. From the scavengers to the hunters, the pretty to the peculiar, and the camouflaged to the colourful, there was an array of different birds and animals to see. 

 On our way around the park we managed to catch feeding time. We had particular enjoyment watching the park keepers throwing fish at the Pelicans.

G x

White Appliances Fiasco - part 1

“But can they still be white appliances if they’re not white?” Claire Cooke

There’s no denying it. We LOVE our apartment. We love the sea views and the giant sliding doors that lead to our balcony. We love the large rooms and the fact we have ten times as many sofas/armchairs as we really need. We love the (two) huge dining tables. We love all the hidden cupboards and rooms and doors that lead to nowhere.  We love how close to the shops and restaurants we are, as well as the main bus station so we can visit the rest of the island.   

However, sadly nothing is perfect, and it didn’t take us long to realise it.

One evening the girls and I were all sitting in the living room. It was about 12 o’clock and Jenny said that she was going to head off to bed, so we all said good night. Then, less than two minutes later, Jenny walks back in.

“Girls, I think there’s a problem” she says very calmly

“We have a leak”

What!! We all jump up, in disbelief at Jenny’s relaxed tone. Where?

We follow Jenny over to her en suit to find a huge pool of water on the floor. Our water heater was dripping, but as we had been out all day none of us had been around to stop it. One bucket and a load of towels later we had cleaned up the mess, but still had a major problem.

Luckily for us our land lady is really efficient and organised for a plumber to arrive the next morning. He took one look at the heater, and pronounced it dead.

“I’ll bring you a new one tomorrow morning”

So now we have a brand new water heater. It looks just like the old one, but at least it doesn’t leak!

G /\/\/

Relocating to Rita Street

"May the roof above us never fall in, and may we good companions beneath it never fall out." - Irish Blessing

September 25th, 2012
The day we first laid eyes on our new home.
Our house hunt in Malta had got off to an okay start. We had only seen one other apartment prior to viewing this one, so we didn’t really know what to expect. Being told that four bedroomed houses are difficult to find, we wasn’t expecting much.
Ana, the estate agent showing us around, had told us that the property we were about to view was one of the best four-beds that she had seen on the market in a long while. Excited much?
On arrival, Ana introduced us to the caretaker of the building which our apartment was in. Cen-su was him name, being adorable was his game! It’s the Maltese for Vincent, but we prefer Cen-su, after all, we are in Malta! He walked us around the apartment, taking us in all the different rooms, showing us how things work, portraying the friendly character he is.
Now we knew this was only the second property, but it was proving a winner.

September 26th, 2012
The day we made sure.
After viewing all five different houses, one particularly stood out. So we decided to view it again, just to be sure.
Meeting Cen-su for the second time, gave us a sense of security within the building, which is good right? Needless to say, he was pleased to see us four again. Splitting off in different directions, the apartment was inspected head to toe. We were sure, for sure.

September 27th, 2012
The day we met the landlady.
All excited and assured, we made another trip over to our soon-to-be home. This is when we met our landlady for the very first time. Again, Ana was there to introduce us to Mrs Pace (pronounced Parch). She didn’t quite fit my typical landlady image, more of a traditional, strict, Maltese grandma; but you're to never judge a book by its cover. She was lovely. We never had to ask a single question, she knew exactly what we wanted to know, after all this is not the only apartment she owns. We soon learnt that not only does she own the whole block of apartments, but she owns the most of the major pharmacy branches in Malta & Gozo. Impressive, and good to know!
This was just a brief meeting, where we paid our deposits to secure the apartment, as she had other people interested in viewing it. It was then that we organised our move in date.

October 4th, 2012
The day we signed the contract, and got the keys.
Just a week later and we were back again meeting with Ana and Mrs Pace. Running a bit late due to unforeseen events at the cash machine (no name mentioned, Jenny!), we still managed to make a good impression on the two professionals sitting right in front of us. Jeeeeez, there is a lot of paper work to this! You could have heard a pin drop when silence filled the room as we analysed the contract. Yep, everything was all in order to proceed. Contract signed, first month’s rent paid, agency fee paid, keys handed over, the place was finally ours to call home.

October 5th, 2012
The day we broke a chair.

Market time

On Sunday we visited a market, and although it wasn't what we were expecting, we did find a couple of stalls among the tourist tat that sold some hidden gems including; honey, old watches and Maltese lace.

We're hoping to head to Valletta soon and experience the markets there. We have high hopes!

G xoxo

Ponchos and Purple Lightning

Yesterday we experienced our first rainstorm in Malta. We noticed that it had cooled down considerably and there were these huge grey clouds rolling in towards Sliema. It was very impressive, and I managed to take some pictures. Little did we know what was coming!

It started to rain very gently but all the people on the street started pulling on coats and ponchos. At this point we should have guessed what was coming, but silly old us just had a giggle at the people who we thought had over dressed for drizzle.

Then BAM, the next thing we knew it was raining cats and dogs (or rabbit and lampuki). The roads were flooded within five minutes, the sea turned choppy and boats struggled to come in to harbour. The wind picked up and the crane next to our apartment started swinging round (much to Claire's distress). Than all of a sudden we heard thunder in the distance. It didn't take long for the thunder to reach us, and it was loud! Then came the lightning. None of us have seen lightning like it before. It was purple! Seriously, purple and pink lightning!

I tried to record a video of the storm when it was just starting, and although it doesn't show the severity of the storm, you can get a rough idea. Also, apologies for the number of times I say the word 'like' in this video, I have obviously spent too much time with Jenny(!!)

G ~

P.s. Trying to photograph lightning is hard...so I stole this image from Google, but it's pretty similar to what we were seeing.

"Just another good night out"

A few nights the girls and I experienced some of what Malta has to offer in the way of nightlife. We made our way to Paceville (pronounced 'Parch-i-ville') and had a 'whale' of a time testing the bars and clubs there, they were 'brill'-iant. However, on our way home at about five o'clock, we were obviously in the right 'plaice' at the right time as we encountered some fishermen who had just returned from sea. Stacey and I got chatting to one of the guys and he showed us his catch. Now Stacey and I love seafood, we are true fans, if you catch my 'drift' and we were 'reel'-ly impressed by the fresh fish and thought we'd buy a sea bream for the 'halibut'. It did cross our minds that we should 'mullet' over for a bit, but we were pretty 'battered' from our night out so we just 'dived' right in and bought the fish.

Now, as far as drunken trophies go, we think this was a pretty impressive and well as super tasty one. We had the fish that evening for dinner and it was delicious.

Our rating for the fishy drunken trophy.... 7.75/10

G <3

A quick tour of Melita

Hello! Come in and welcome to our humble abode.  Its our smaller-on-the-inside, the-staircase-will-scare-you-to-death, temperamental-shower, but lovable home for the first two weeks of our stay.

It may be small, but it has everything we need. Downstairs is a kitchen/dining/living room. For the average couple who might be staying in this charm filled house, there would be plenty of room. But for four girls who brought TWELVE bags with them, floor space is limited to say the least. To get from the kitchen sink to the sofa, which is a mere 3 meters, you have to dive over at least two suitcases, squeeze round the table, try not to trip over Claire's belongings strewn across the floor, just to have a sit down. And that's assuming the sofa is clear itself and not piled high with laptops and hairdryers.

Then there's upstairs. If you can brave the glass staircase that squeaks at every step, remember to not look down, and hope to not meet anyone else going in the other direction, you can make it to the next floor. Here you will find the bedroom, with a double bed, and the majority of the cockroach gang. There is also a bathroom, equipped with toilet, sink and bath/shower.

Up the glass stairs once more and you get the second bedroom...if you can call it a bedroom. 'A room with two mattresses on the floor with no space to spare' would be a more accurate description. To reach the surprisingly spacious outside terrace you must long jump over the mattresses, force open the two sliding doors, slide past the clothes horse, and set your self down at the table to enjoy the warm evenings.

Overall we love our quirky little home, but wouldn't be surprised if in 4 years time, it featured in Brazil in the 2016 Olympics.

G x