Blogs from Malta, Malta, Europe - page 13

What a great day of sight seeing!!! I went to bed at 8 pm last night, and had a wake up call for 6 am (why???). Slept in until 7:30. Got my gear together and headed for the old town of Valletta just a few blocks away. I opted out ot the expensive hotel buffet breakfast and got an ok "ham roll" from the street vendors for one euro. First stop was the Cathedral in the center of Valletto (main town, walkable). I found it last evening on my 4 hour "walk of the lost." I had a map but somehow I ended up at every end of the town except mine! (My great uncle Walter Williams said: "If you have a tongue in your head and money in your pocket, you can go anywhere." The ... read more

At least eight out of every ten people who I knew had been to Malta hadn’t recommended it. They told how it was dry and barren, there were no good beaches, it was very built up, and it’s baking hot. True, if you go in July or August, it will be baking hot, dry and barren. True, you can barely get a razor blade between the hotels at the resorts. And true, it mostly has a rocky shoreline with only a few, albeit stony, beaches. I think those eight out of ten people were after a beach holiday of the type you get on other Mediterranean islands such as the Balearics or the Greek Islands and, for them, Malta doesn’t match up. Fair enough, I can see their point, but that’s not the type of holiday ... read more

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

So, we woke up this am and it was pouring with rain! :( But another buffet breakie turned things around after i woops put too much mixture in the waffle maker and spread batter everywere and i mean everywhere! the poor cleaners! A lil girl was waiting next to me and her dad said to her now you live and learn from that lady's mistakes! haha i was like thaaanks! Great tasting waffle though! the chef thought it was hilarious and really didnt care so all fun and games! We then headed back to the girls' room cos sarah had excited come up with the plan of an easter egg hunt! So one by one we went outside the room like we had been kicked out and everyone else hid 7 eggs in the room! Was ... read more