Malta   
24 March – 30 March  2012

This year, from 24 to 30 March, our class, the 4 BK finally had the chance to go on a language week in an English speaking country. We unanimously decided to spend this week in Malta, although we knew that this could be a challenge, since not many other classes have been there before.
Nonetheless what we experienced overwhelmed us.
Our journey started on Saturday, 24 March at about 7 o’clock in the morning when we met in front of our school. A trip to the airport and a 2 ½ hour flight later we finally got to smell the Mediterranean air and feel some sunrays that were nonexistent at this time in Austria.
Our host families were located in Pembroke, Paceville and St. Julian’s. We were assigned for them in groups of two or three and brought there by bus.
After the arrival at those families and getting to know them, we had enough time to explore the localities and find the way to the shopping mall, the “Bay Street Complex”.
In the evening we were shown around by our “guardian” during this week, Tomas.

Sunday is when the real fun began. After meeting at the ESE language school we went to the island of Gozo by ferry, which was an interesting experience. Although the weather was cloudy, the sights were impressive and the view out to the open sea simply amazing.
A special tourist bus took us to all four corners of the island, including a boat trip around part of the cliffs and a small café that sells the best chocolate cake of Malta.
In the evening we had until 10 p.m. to go shopping or make use of the many entertainment opportunities like the local cinema, bowling center or karaoke bars.

Monday was the first day with school in the morning and a trip to the fishermen’s village Marsaxlokk, continuing to the “Blue Grotto”, were we once again went on a boat trip.

Tuesday included a half-day Valletta Tour, the capital of the republic. In the evening we went bowling with the whole class.

On Wednesday some of us had the opportunity to participate in a Jeep safari, which was quite costly at 30 € for four hours, but it was worth every cent.
During this trip we went along the whole Southern coast of the island and there were a few stops at the highest point of Malta, the city of Rabat, where we got to taste the local pastries, the so-called Pastizzi, which are puff pastries filled with cheese or peas and even a one hour break at “Golden Bay”, the most beautiful beach of Malta.
The water was cold and we had to watch out for jellyfish, but it was a great experience.

Thursday was our last full day in Malta. We went on another half day trip to Mdina and Rabat, two old cities in the center of the island.
In the evening, we had dinner at the local Hardrock Café with the whole class.

Even though Friday was our last day in Malta, we still had to go to school, where we created a magazine that includes articles about our experiences during this week.
Around midday we had to leave for the airport and arrived home late at night.
All in all, Malta is an amazing country with very hospitable and friendly inhabitants, impressive culture and nice weather. Living with host families “forced” us to speak English in a good way and the English lessons in the morning helped us improve our skills as well. We will go there again for sure if we get the change since we made a lot of friends there and we can only recommend the island to others.