Today our teacher proposed watching the film during the lesson. I think that it’s a good idea to see films in class. She had three different films and we had to choose one of them. We chose an English film, “Keeping Mum”. There was a very good cast: Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Patrick Swayze. We asked our teacher to use subtitles so we could not only listen to the speaking language but also read some expressions that we didn’t understand.

It was a very particular and interesting experience to see the English film in company of international students who sometimes have a different way of perceiving things. It wasn’t so bad, but I expected more from this actors.

From the first day in Malta I have heard talking about Blue Lagoon, the most beautiful Maltese beach. Obviously, I was interested to see this place with my own eyes and to take some nice photos. After our first English breakfast that we took in one of the seafront bars, we caught the bus full of tourists (nothing unusual) that brought us to the port. At first we couldn’t find the boat to go to Comino. Then we realized that there is no one public means of transport that travels from Malta to Comino. There were only small private companies that effect sea communications between the two islands. So we chose our little motorboat that belongs to the diving society. My fault was to have a seat on the front of the boat. It was so fast that I couldn’t hold well and was jumping all the way to Comino. The beginning of the day was perfect! After 3 minutes of the motorboat I was destroyed… But just as I saw the beach and the water color I recovered. Only after few minutes I realized that there wasn’t any place for us. All the beach was occupied by children and adults that were playing, shouting, swimming, eating, drinking, talking, getting a tan, quarrelling, laughing and (finally) sleeping. It was a real mess! My advice (in fact, two advices): if you want to go to Blue Lagoon, go there only during the week and after 4 p.m. otherwise you risk to destroy your back on the rock (as you won’t find the place on the sandy beach) or become as red as a lobster (as the sun is too strong).

Yesterday we went to the cinema in the centre of the city. For such a small place like Bugibba it’s rather big with, if I remember well, eight halls and several floors. There were many French and German students that were standing out of the cinema waiting for the beginning of the films. Despite a big number of people the choice wasn’t very large: American thrillers, horrors, cartoons and some comedies. Nothing of this list was of my favourite genre, but for educative purposes I decided to choose a comedy with Eddy Murphy. We were a little worried about the language but my Maltese friend convinced me that all films in Maltese cinemas go in English even without subtitles. Like in Italian cinemas and unlike in Russia Maltese cinemas make a break between two parts of the film. So we had a time to warm up a bit because in the hall it was too cold due to the air condition. I noticed that Maltese like air conditioning a lot and make them work very hard…

Malta is very small. You can cross the island in 30 minutes. When I saw the map I thought that Gozo, the biggest Island on the North of Malta, was very far from St. Paul’s Bay. In fact, it’s 20 minutes by boat. The bus, full of tourists, brought us to the small port from where the boats leave to Gozo. The thing that struck us at the entrance of the boat was the mess between cars and foot passengers who were taking the boat. The smell of diesel and fear to be run over by cars chased us away to the deck. During the trip we were admiring the blue sea and panorama of Rabat with its churches, buildings and rocks. The highlight we wanted to see were the fortifications on the highest point of the island. It was like a long labyrinth with prison and some cannons. Then we took a taxi and we did a visit of the entire island. At the end of our tour we arrived at Ramla bay, one of the most beautiful beaches in Malta.

I think we were very lucky to be in Malta just this week. We could see a very important catholic feast of the year – Assumption of Madonna. This year the 15th August was Friday so the Maltese had a very long weekend. The preparations for the feast and the first ceremony began a day before - Thursday. After the school we caught the bus to Mosta and went to visit this small Maltese city that was the first one to organize the celebrations. The centre was closed for traffic so the bus left us at the beginning of the pedestrian zone. The main street was decorated with electric light bulbs of different colours, flags and statues of Saints. We were impressed by the number of statues made of wood in imitation of marble. The band was playing religious hymns and the procession of priests were singing and holding flags and a relic. Then my Maltese friend explained that every city has its own band but during the big feast they invite foreign bands from others cities. We also saw some people wearing typical knight’s clothes. At the same time we heard fireworks explosions even if there weren’t yet dark. It was like being in the middle of the big scene in the open area and to take part in the folklore show with a lot of different actors.

Today our class teacher proposed to play an interesting game outside the school. We went to the seaside with another class where we went in small groups of three-four people. Every group had to invent its own name. We used our imagination and wrote: Oriental Knights. Why Oriental? All members of our small team were from Russia and Ukraine. The word “Knight” is inseparable, obviously, from the Maltese reality.

We had a list of objects that we had to find and take photos, so the cameras were necessary. Bus, church, road sign and bench weren’t very difficult to find around us. But the first word was really hard – crab! We had no idea where it could hide. After some minutes of discussion we took the decision to ask the locals. We saw a small group of Maltese people that were talking. They told us that the crabs go out of the water only at night and that it was useless to look for them at 11 o’clock. We insisted on the importance of our difficult task and so one of them helped us to find our treasure. It was a small crab hiding in the water and waiting for the best moment to go away on dry ground. Our rescuer took it in his hand and showed it to us so we took the photos.

And we won!!!!!

After our city experience we decided to go out and broaden our horizons. So we were advised to take the local bus near the school that leaves frequently. The great adventure is that you mustn’t look for the tickets. In the Maltese bus you can buy it on board. The price is similar to the pharmacy’s ones in Russia – with detailed cents (1,16 €). So before taking the bus, prepare your change.

We took only 15 minutes to arrive at the beach. The long wooden stairs led us to the sea. The fist impression we had: finally we found the sandy beach! After three days spent on the rock central beach we were happy to sit down on the hot yellow sand. But than we were surprised: all the water was full of seaweed. It was difficult to go in the water and move on the water’s edge. The beach was dirty of empty bottles and papers. The rubbish was everywhere. After a couple of hours we decided to go back. The last bus left the Bay at 7.15 p.m., so we risked to walk until Bugibba. Fortunately we asked the driver of the bus if he could give us a lift. It was so kind of him to help us. We were very disappointed with our Golden bay experience, but than our Maltese friends explained that it depends on the day: sometimes the wind blows in the beach direction and brings the city’s rubbish.

It’s incredible! The sea is so near to your house that you can walk there every time you want. You can see it from every point in the city and you can’t get lost in the small streets because you have a very good reference – the sea. In St. Paul’s Bay there is a beautiful seafront promenade where you can go for a walk from the morning till the evening. At night the seafront is full of restaurants and open-air bars. You can hear all genres of music: from American country to Italian dance music. All nationalities and languages mingle in the central square of St. Paul’s Bay. If you are a fan of beer you will love the tasty local beer – Cisk. All the sea-bars offer pints of this fresh frothy beverage. Some younger students prefer to spend their evenings on the beach plunging in the velvety black water. You can choose you own ways to have fun. St. Paul’s seafront offers you a lot of options!

Taxi. Have you ever been in an airport in Moscow? Have you ever survived the taxi drivers’ attacks at the exit of the hall? In Malta’s airport you can forget about these negative experiences: the organization of the transport is perfect. You wait some minutes in the queue and you pay a fixed rate that only varies with the destination. You can’t become furious over the negotiations of the price because you just take your receipt and sit down in the taxi.

Traffic. Tree days ago I returned from Moscow. I hope you’ll excuse me for my obsession with this problem but the difference of the reality is too great to ignore. One of the biggest problems of our cities (not only the Russian capital, obviously) is the traffic. 30 minutes on the Maltese roads have reassured me that car disasters have not become the inevitable norm in our time and age.

Colors. In Malta you can forget all about gray, dirty, cold colors. Yellow, ocher, blue and green will greet you as soon as you step on the island. It has a very comfortable atmosphere with warm colors and pleasant smells. The palms and sand remind you forcibly of the paradise islands that tourist agencies present in glossy magazines. Welcome to the dream!

To be continued…

As part of my secretarial studies, I have been carrying out a six-week placement in Alpha School of English, Malta and it has been a great opportunity for me in many ways. I had to help the Sales and Marketing Manager with various tasks and therefore had been able to put in practice what I have learnt throughout my school year. I worked on different things, e.g. presentations, databases, letters, mail, Internet research. All these tasks are related to what I am currently studying and have been a good work experience. That placement in Malta also greatly helped me to improve my language skills since I have been surrounded by English – speaking people. Besides, I have been given the opportunity to attend English classes which definitely helped me to get more confident in English. Plus, carrying out my placement in Malta has been a chance to discover the island and get to know a new culture and way of life.