SlavicNerd

In case you don't realize why I'm here, I'm here for a week-long management training program called 'Take Off!'. 12 of us from various EC centers were selected to come - EC Central, Malta, Boston, Toronto, New York, London, and USA (me!). Throughout the week we received training on various performance-related skills and were split into two teams to develop a project and present it to members of the board. Our team's project was to find a way to target EC's staff, students, agents, in communicating our 4 core values. I'm not a fan of more abstract tasks like this, but in the end our team one and it was a fairly well-thought-out proposal. It nonetheless caused major stress. The program itself consisted of interactive lectures on things like self-awareness, unlocking creativity, time management, etc. The ... read more

Day two started off on the later side, with a housekeeper knocking on my door and waking me up around 11:30am – oopsie! I wasn’t feeling too hot, but Malta’s most impressive church, St. John’s co-cathedral, was only open until 12:30 so I had to book it if I wanted to be able to see that. Luckily it was only a couple blocks from my hotel. Built between 1573 and 1578, the church has equal status to St. Paul’s Cathedral in Mdina, hence the term “co-cathedral”. It was constructed as the conventual church of the Knights of St. John, and despite its rather plain façade the interior is spectacular. The blue walls studded with Maltese crosses were for some reason the most beautiful part to me, but opulence was everywhere. The floor was a patchwork ... read more

Our final full day started off late and slow on account of having gone out the night before. We thought it a perfect late morning to spend poolside, so we put on our suits and headed on down. We grabbed a table and ordered a couple frozen drinks - a marg and a piña colada- along with tostones (fried plantains) and little mofongos stuffed with chicken a la criolla and guacamole. Nothing like fried food and alcohol to get the day going! Afterwards we lay out in the sun for a while before heading back up to change and shower. Next stop was back to Old San Juan for the last time to clean up shop there. We waited some half an hour for the stupid bus, but still, I'd much rather wait than drown in ... read more

It's certainly been a while, but saludos from Puerto Rico! Last night just before ten we headed to Logan where we found it deserted, the one perk to our red-eye. Only our flight and another to DR were still leaving that late. We were slightly delayed, but ended up landing around 4:45am after an uneventful flight during which we hardly caught a wink. We sat on the tarmac for quite some time, but once off the plane we quickly got our bags and headed to the taxi stand. At this point it was 530am, pitch black, and check-in was at 4pm... Getting to the hotel was quick, and we were greeted by a very nice concierge woman who helped us leave our bags, told us where we could freshen up, etc. We did a bit of ... read more

Our day and a half in Andorra, where all we did was basically relax, was rather uneventful. I closed out my bank account, we visited my school where the English department had a little goodbye thing for me, and we of course visited some of the "sights". Wednesday afternoon it was already time for part 3 of our trip, Barcelona. Coming back to the city for the umpteenth time and still feeling excited made me realize how much I've come to love Barcelona over this past year. When studying abroad in Spain I somehow never managed to reach the eastern part of the country - moron! Barcelona, and other cities I have yet to see like Sitges and Tarragona will definitely form part of my next trip to Spain. We got into the city around 6:15 ... read more