Now, we have settled into a routine there. Every day, at 5 p.m., we go to the beach (but we are afraid to swim because of the jelly fish!) or to the swimming pool. It’s very pleasant after a hot day! And after, we speak to our families via Internet! Moreover, I find that the way of life here is cheaper than in France!

The school is very nice; we met a lot of people! And I like the different things I am asked to do during the internship!

I love the centre of Bugibba, I think it’s a very beautiful place and I love to walk by the sea side. I’m looking forward going to the Blue Lagoon on Saturday!

- 27th May 2009

As the days go by I like this country more and more!

At the beginning, I did not feel very good when I realized that I had to stay here for a month and a half but now, I feel brilliant because the country is very nice, and so are the English courses and the internship.

Last weekend, we went to Paceville on Friday and Saturday night - it was very nice to see a lot of people in the streets!   This city is very active!  On Saturday we went to the diving centre, it was great but a little frightening too because of the different way of breathing with the oxygen mask. We also went to Sliema; it’s a very nice city for shopping!  On Sunday, we went to Splash and Fun where we had a lot of fun but we also ended up sun burnt!

I think that the English courses and the internship are very important because my English has already improved in just one week! Everything that we learn is interesting; I don’t see the time passing by.

The way of life in Malta is very pleasant because of the language, the weather and the sea! I want to take advantage of each day I spend here!

- 25th May 2009

After this first period of sightseeing, I came to Alpha School in the early morning to pass the Assessment Test. After that, I had my first General English lesson; it’s very different from France because here there are no more than ten students in a class. I find it very pleasant because we can speak for a long time with the teacher, and so improve our English. I like courses too because they don’t seem too long and they include a nice mix of cultures, as the students come from different countries. It’s rather great because we can meet other students and become friends, which was the case with two girls from Belgium who are in the same English class.

Now about the internship, it’s interesting too because I have to speak and understand English to understand what I have to do, but I have to speak Spanish with the future students, this is good practice for me too.

My Activities in Malta

I found there are a lot of great things to do here, and at cheaper prices than in my country. For example we did diving (which was very impressive because of the quantity of fishes and the solid blue colour of the water!), will go on boat cruises to see the Blue Lagoon, did horse riding, went shopping in Sliema, went to the aquatic park Splash and Fun, and visited a lot of other cities… In conclusion, I fell in love with Malta and I highly recommend this country!

Hi, my name is Marianne, I’m 18 and I’m a French intern at Alpha School of English. I started yesterday and I am here for 6 weeks. I am a management and languages student, and I have to do internships during my study, that’s why I’m here.

With this blog, I would like to share my experience of living in Malta and learning English thanks to the lessons and my job.

Day of arrival in the Country

After some turbulence on the plane, I arrived in Malta with my friend Pauline (also an intern) in the afternoon of Friday 15th May. My first impression was rather good because of the climate, which is rather warm and sunny. Indeed, I was a little surprised by the driving here (on the left side) because it’s the opposite in my country.

One other interesting point is the size of the island which is very small and can be crossed very quickly, it is rather pleasant. I was happy to arrive in Bugibba; I really love this city because we are next to the sea, it seems rather quiet when compared to other cities and there aren’t too many people.

When we arrived at the flat, I felt a little sad because I realized that I would stay without my family for six weeks, but in the other hand staying alone in a flat, managing a budget for food, activities and so on seemed like an adventure. The apartment was great: it is rather spacious, functional and near to the centre of Bugibba.

On the weekend after our arrival, we visited several cities: St Julian’s and the capital Valletta. I enjoyed St Julian’s because it’s a place where young people meet, full of life and movement, and as well with a great view of the sea.

On Sunday I visited Valletta: it’s a historical sight. We saw the Parliament building and the fortresses by the sea. There is also a great market next to the city’s gates, a lot of little streets… It’s a great place to visit.

- 18th May 2009

After my visit to the capital of Morocco, Rabat, one of the biggest cities of the country, I expected to find a large town with numerous habitants and animated urban life. But Maltese Rabat is something very different and doesn’t look like Morocco’s capital. It’s a very small city with the central square and a church. From the center there are some streets that lead you to different touristic places like Catacombs of St. Paul. I have never been to such an attractive and mysterious place. Curiosity and at the same time a fear, made me follow the narrow passages and go across lines of empty graves. There weren’t a lot of tourists so the catacombs seemed more fearful and dark. I saw a lot of Christian catacombs in Italy and Ukraine. But i think these one were the most interesting and original. My advice: don’t take an audio-guide: so much superficial and useless information that you will get tired to listening to it.

I had a wonderful experience to travel with a scooter across all the island. It was a really exceptional trip. I think that in these two days I discovered more then in my tree weeks stay here. But now I’d like to speak about Maltese roads and drivers that seemed to me both very particular. Roads… well, travelling on the scooter, you feel it’s imperfection stronger. I hope you understand what I mean… even small holes, stones and broken asphalt make you dream about comfortable limousine with air condition and soft seats. But thanks to our adventures I forgot about these small discomforts. We had some troubles on the road but Maltese drivers were very kind with us and always helped us. When we got lost I only asked information to the near car’s driver about the right direction and the man proposed to accompany us where we had to go. The same situation happened several times during the day. Don’t think that we weren’t able to understand alone. The problem was the road signs. It was so difficult to find the right indicators or the towns’ name that we were looking for. But there were other things that I really liked on Maltese roads. For example, the inscription with huge white letters on the asphalt: SLOW. I have never seen something similar in other countries. Or, the long cycle tracks that connect two big cities. Only one observation: in two days I haven’t seen any cyclist on them.

Today we had a very interesting lesson organized by our teacher. She offered us some popular Maltese specialties with Kinnie, which is a local beverage. At first we read a text about Maltese cuisine where most famous and typical dishes were presented. It was a very curious history about the origins of Maltese cooking with a description of ingredients and explanation of way of cooking. Then we had to answer to our teacher’s questions about the text. At the end Corinne offered some cookies: pastizzi with ricotta and mashed peas, crackers with salt and rosemary and Maltese cheese – “Gbejna”. It was very nice breakfast à la maltaise. After reading and discussing, I realized that there are still a lot of new specialties that I didn’t try. Corinne suggested us some popular places in Malta where we can taste delicious sweets and buy the crusty local Maltese bread. L-ikla t-tajba!

I have to confess that before coming in Malta have never heard about Maltese language. I thought it was a variety of English because of political domination of Great Britain on the island. I was very surprised when I read in a guide that in Malta there are two official languages: English and Maltese. Some other information that attracted me was the history of the language that is very complex and full of interesting facts. When I arrived in Malta I heard Maltese people speaking their own language and I was very surprised by its particular sound. It was similar to the Arabic language because of frequent use of “h”, I think. When I watch Maltese television I have a strange impression that I understand a lot of words without them making sense. It’s because Maltese speaking insert a lot of Italian and English words in their speech. Our teacher explained us that Maltese people prefer to count in English because it’s easier and shorter. Maltese numbers are very long and difficult to pronounce. I liked a lot Maltese songs: it’s very nice to listen to the singers that sing in Maltese.

Wherever I travel I am always particularly interested in two things: food and music. Well, unfortunately I didn’t have an occasion to taste typical Maltese food yet but of course I’ll do it before my departure. Regarding the music… it’s more difficult because of so different kinds of music that I hear in some of the local contexts. At first, I should notice: there is a very popular melody that I hear every day and everywhere on the street, in the shops, from the cars and on the radio. My friends and I call it a “popular Maltese summer hymn”. It’s a sort of dance music with modern rhythms and a very recognizable melody. Secondly, once I heard instrumental music playing near the restaurant of typical Maltese food. I didn’t know some string instruments similar to guitar. It was a very nice and calm music. My third experience of Maltese music was the concert of young singers on TV. I don’t know if one can call this type of music typical Maltese. It was a European standard popular music in Maltese language but it was not interesting and particular for foreigner tourists.

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.