I had thought that during my three months in
Malta, I'd publish a blog post every couple of weeks and that I'd give regular updates about life there. But it all went by so quickly, and I was so busy with other things most of the time! To be honest, I feel like I've been playing catch up with this blog since October last year, and I haven't been able to devote as much time to it as I used to.
So I still have a lot to write about my time in Malta, and I've decided to put it into one massive post, which will cover my digital marketing internship, living in Malta, and of course travel!
My Internship
Of course, the whole reason why I came to Malta (and why I came back to Europe from Chile) was to do a digital marketing internship, in order to get my foot up on the career ladder in marketing.
Growing up, I always thought I'd become a "career woman" and be very successful in my working life. As a child and throughout most of my teenage years, I was determined to be a musical theatre performer in the West End, and then in my late teens and early twenties, I had a goal of becoming an interpreter or translator for the EU or UN. Obviously neither of those things happened (though if anyone is offering a West End role, I'm still up for it, haha!)
But between the ages of 21 and 22, I completed a
Year Abroad as part of my languages degree, and it really changed my whole outlook on life and made me reevaluate what I wanted. I'd always loved travel, and considered it to be one of my main passions, but prior to my Year Abroad, I hadn't done that much of it. During sixth form college and my first two years at university, I worked very hard and felt like these were just stages that I had to get through in order to get to my "real life", where I'd have a good job and money for fancy holidays. So, it's fair to say I didn't enjoy those years that much (which is a shame, looking back).
But the Year Abroad was unlike anything I'd done before. It completely took me out of my comfort zone, but I threw myself into the experience as much as I could, travelling whenever possible, experiencing new things, and feeling like I was really living life for the first time. And towards the end of the year, when I was studying in
Chile, I met Claudio, the love of my life (ironically, I'd always thought it highly unlikely that I would ever find a relationship like this, compared to having a successful career).
After all this, the traditional career route didn't seem so appealing. I just wanted to travel, do something fulfilling and creative, and of course, be with Claudio. So after graduating, I became a teacher of English as a foreign language, started teaching online, and secured a job at a language school in Chile. Unfortunately, due to the Covid pandemic, my move out there was delayed by nearly two years, and by the time I actually got there, my priorities were starting to change again. The job wasn't what I expected, and although I had a wonderful year of travelling around
South America and living in my first apartment with Claudio, the fact that I wasn't earning decent money or progressing in my career did weigh upon me.
So, I started developing my skills in order to pursue a career in marketing, taking courses in digital marketing, social media for business, web analytics, and Excel. I also applied for marketing jobs across Chile and Europe, and was lucky enough to land this internship in Malta!
During the internship, I worked for a marketing agency, which meant that I had the opportunity to work with lots of different clients, from restaurants and hotels, to logistics companies and business advisors. Because of this, the work was very varied. I did a lot of copywriting of social media posts and blogs, in addition to other tasks, and generally enjoyed the work a lot. My colleagues were all really nice, and I liked the office environment and learnt a lot from my time there. I want to use this experience as a launchpad to continue along the pathway of marketing and copywriting, and am currently fully immersed in my job search, which will hopefully soon lead me to another exciting opportunity!
Living in Malta
In a way, life in Malta was the opposite to life in Chile. In Chile, I had a sort of married lifestyle, sharing a nice apartment with Claudio, but with unstable work. In Malta, I had a "proper" office job, but apart from that, I was very much back to a student lifestyle again. All of us interns who came across to Malta on the Turing Scheme were put up in a student residence/hostel, which was definitely a lot shabbier than it looked in the pictures we saw before going! Aside from the power outage problems I mentioned in
my previous post, I also had issues with mould and constant flooding in my bathroom. Fortunately, unlike some of the other interns, I did not have any cockroaches in my room, though I was always worried that they would show up one day!
On the other hand, the hostel did have a swimming pool! It was also nice to live in the same building as all the other interns, so we could go and hang out next to the pool and play cards or do quizzes after work. There were 12 of us in total, and we ended up all getting on really well, which was lovely. We had some great times just hanging out at the hostel or the local pubs, and going to nice places together. There were also one or two crazy nights out! I miss everyone already, but hopefully we'll all meet up again at some point in the near future.
It was also interesting to experience life in another country, and one that's very different to the places I've lived before. Many people dream of living on a Mediterranean island, so it was fun to have that experience! But to be honest, I can't see myself living there again - although I enjoyed my time there, it isn't the easiest place to live. The only ways to get around the island are taking overcrowded buses or driving through busy traffic on roads that aren't designed for it. The island is generally overly built up and doesn't have the resources to deal with its huge population of both residents and tourists. I also really missed seeing green spaces during my time there, as it's such a dry place! But having said that, I loved certain aspects of living there, like the sunny weather, going to the beach and swimming in the sea when I wanted, and being able to pop to
Valletta after work. One thing's for sure: I'll definitely go back there on holiday in the future!
Another fun thing about life in Malta was that I took some singing lessons for the first time in 11 years! I previously took singing lessons at secondary school and reached the level of Grade 5 (passing all my singing exams with distinction or merit). But when I was 16, I moved to sixth form college and mostly gave up on performing arts. By this point, I'd had too many disappointments, was tired of the competitive nature of musical theatre, and had come to realise that there weren't many opportunities for someone living in a rural area with no industry connections. I briefly joined a musical theatre group in my first year at university, but didn't have a positive experience, so decided to give up on the dream for good after that.
But in recent months, I've found myself missing singing and musical theatre, and I've realised that it doesn't make sense to entirely give up something you love doing, just because you're not likely to have a career in it. I've done karaoke a couple of times recently, and rediscovered the buzz of performing live (even if it's not quite the same as performing in a theatre!). But I realised that my singing technique really isn't what it was 11 years ago! So I decided to take singing lessons again at some point, which I eventually plucked up the courage to do in Malta.
I had four lessons with Stefania, my singing teacher, and have really noticed a huge improvement in the control and power of my voice. She's given me some great advice on singing technique, which I'll continue to follow. (Now I'm carrying on taking lessons with her, but online from the UK.) Overall, it's great to be singing again, and I've found the lessons really fun. I will definitely not be giving up this hobby again!
Travel
Of course, this is a travel blog, so I need to write about all the places I visited around the island! Even though Malta is a small country, I didn't quite visit every single corner of it, but I managed to get to all the places I most wanted to visit. Here are my highlights:
Sliema
Sliema is one of the the touristic hotspots of Malta and has lots of bars and restaurants along the seafront. It also has amazing views across to Valletta.
Balluta Bay
This beach in St Julian's is the first place I went swimming in Malta! The sand is artificial and a bit strange, but the beach in general is very picturesque, with the Carmelite Church above it.
The harbour at Ta' Xbiex
The second place I went swimming was this rocky beach in the harbour at Ta' Xbiex. As it turned out, it was a very nice place to look at but not such a nice place to swim in! Shortly after I started swimming, I felt a sharp pain in my chest, and looked down to see a jellyfish attached to me! I managed to shake it off and got out of the water as quickly as I could, hoping the pain would fade away soon. However, it actually got worse and worse and started spreading through my body. Luckily, some nice people at the beach gave me a cool-block to put on it, and I also got some good advice and a steroid cream at the pharmacy.
Here's a picture from shortly after it happened and one from later that evening. It was pretty nasty and it hurt a lot for the rest of the night! But fortunately, the next day, most of the pain had gone. Three months on, I've still got some scars, but I suppose at least it's an interesting story!
Sant'Anton Gardens
When my mum and uncle lived in Malta in the 60s, their mum used to take them to this park a lot, as it's one of the greenest areas in the country. Six decades later, I came here to see it for myself and also really liked the place. This is where you can find San Anton Presidential Palace, which is a beautiful building. But my favourite part of the park had to be the green pond where lots of little turtles live. They were adorable!
Exiles Bay
After my jellyfish sting, I discovered
this website which tells you which beaches in Malta are safe to swim at. The first beach I swam at following the sting was Exiles in Sliema, as it was listed as safe on the website. It's quite a beautiful part of the island, with great views across to St Julian's and a big statue of a cat!
In Exiles, there's also a bar on the beach, where you can sit out on the rocks and listen to live music. I went there with the other interns during our last week, and I'd say it's probably my favourite bar that I went to in Malta, because the setting is so amazing.
St Paul's Bay
Some of the other interns and I had a nice Sunday in St Paul's Bay back in June. First we went to the aquarium, where we saw some lovely tiger sharks (one of the members of staff was feeding them and cuddling them like dogs!). Afterwards we went to the aquarium's restaurant, where I had a very tasty smoothie and poke bowl. We then spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and paddling at the beach.
Manoel Island
This island is located next to the Gżira/Sliema seafront and is joined to Malta island by a road. It has an 18th-century fort, a duck village, and great views of Valletta.
Qui-Si-Sana Beach
This is another nice beach in Sliema that I went to after visiting The Point shopping mall on a public holiday at the end of June.
Marsaxlokk
One Saturday, I took a trip to the south of the island, and started by visiting this fishing village. It's considered to be one of the best places to visit in the country, and while I personally don't think it's an absolute must-see, it is a pretty place to wander around.
Pretty Bay
After visiting Marsaxlokk, I took the bus over to Pretty Bay in the town of Birżebbuġa. This beach lives up to its name, with white sand and plenty of palm trees. It is next to a shipping port and also has lots of planes flying low overhead, which some might see as ruining the area a bit, but which I found quite entertaining!
Tarxien Temples
Along with visiting Ġgantija Temples in
Gozo, I visited Tarxien Temples on Malta Island. Like Ġgantija Temples, Tarxien Temples are part of a
UNESCO World Heritage Site (Megalithic Temples of Malta). It's pretty amazing how well preserved they are, considering that they are thousands of years old. I especially liked the sculpture of the legs, which shows how we've always made art, even in prehistoric times.
Paola
When taking the bus to the temples, I passed through the town of Paola and saw this stunning church that I just had to go back to look at later. It is one of the biggest churches in Malta and the level of detail it has is incredible.
Paola also has a beautiful mosque.
Chinese Garden of Serenity
This is a real hidden gem and is also within walking distance of Tarxien Temples and Paola. You would absolutely not know you're in Malta while walking through this garden! It's a very tranquil place that really makes you feel like you've been transported to China.
Paceville
This neighbourhood of St Julian's is the bar and nightclub capital of the country and was one of my favourite places to go and hang out at the weekend.
Spinola Bay is a really picturesque area and is actually near where my mum used to live!
St George's Bay, at the other end of Paceville, was my go-to beach, as it's a short bus ride from the hostel in Gżira/Msida and is nearly always marked as safe on the jellyfish map. It's surrounded by hotels and a big shopping mall and has quite a party vibe to it.
Portomaso Marina, in the middle of Paceville, is the Monaco/St Tropez of Malta! Here you can find luxury shops and plenty of yachts.
Floriana
Floriana is the town that comes just before Valletta and should definitely not be missed! It has some beautiful architecture, including Saint Publius Parish Church.
Mellieħa/Għadira Bay
This is the longest sandy beach in the country and is a popular destination amongst tourists from Britain and other European countries. I went there one Saturday for a long swim after finishing my coursework (I had to complete a digital marketing course during the internship) and enjoyed feeling like I was on holiday!
Mosta Rotunda
The Mosta Rotunda Church was one of the places that my mum recommended to me. It has the third largest unsupported dome in the world and is the largest church in the country. For a fee of five euros, you can go inside and even go up into the dome itself - the view from above was absolutely astounding!
Interestingly, during WW2, a bomb came through the dome but failed to explode, which is seen as a miracle.
Even though there was a lot of construction work going on around the church, it was still one of the most beautiful and memorable places I visited during my entire three months in Malta.
Ta' Qali National Park
Buses in Malta are notoriously unreliable, and so it was hardly surprising that the bus home that I was waiting for in Mosta didn't arrive. After I'd been waiting at least twenty minutes, a bus showed up that was going to Ta' Qali National Park, so I decided spontaneously to go there instead!
I had read that the park had great panoramic views of
Mdina, and that was certainly the case.
The park was scenic but weirdly deserted - I think I only saw one or two other people there, even though it was the weekend. (Maybe it was because of the heat.)
Anyway, I stumbled across this little petting zoo there, with lots of adorable animals. The donkey and the dark grey rabbit were particularly sweet and friendly!
Golden Bay and Għajn Tuffieħa/Riviera Beach
At the end of July, my sister and brother-in-law and my brother-in-law's sister and her family all came to Malta on holiday. So I took the bus over to the Radisson Blu Golden Sands hotel in Golden Bay to visit them there.
The hotel is huge and very fancy, with multiple restaurants and swimming pools, kind of like a cruise ship.
We started the day at the hotel's private beach. This was during the middle of the heatwave when it was over 40 degrees, and even the sand was burning hot. So we spent plenty of time actually in the water itself, which was very nice.
Afterwards, we went to one of the hotel's restaurants for lunch. I had dolmades with pitta breads, hummus and baba ganoush - very Mediterranean and very good!
In the afternoon, I walked the short distance to Għajn Tuffieħa or Riviera Beach, which felt like a bit of a trek in the scorching heat. But it was worth it! This is the beach that my mum and uncle say is the best in the country - back in the 60s, it was very secluded, and they used to go there for picnics. Nowadays, it's certainly not secluded, but it's still beautiful. I'd say it's my favourite beach that I visited on Malta Island (though I'd put Ramla Bay in Gozo slightly ahead, because it's less crowded).
Three Cities
The Three Cities are perhaps the one place in Malta that I didn't explore as much as I would have wanted to. They are located across the harbour from Valletta and are as beautiful and historic as the capital city itself. You can go across to visit them by ferry, which is what I did one day after work. I didn't have much time to explore, as I was meeting the other interns for dinner in Valletta at 7pm, but I enjoyed walking around the area and admiring the views from the ferry. I planned to come back another day but didn't get round to it - I'll have to come back in the future!
The Blue Grotto
My last bit of sightseeing in Malta was to a place I'd been meaning to visit for weeks - the Blue Grotto, so called because of the blue colour of the water inside in the morning. So I kept planning to visit on weekend mornings, but as it's in the far south of the island and takes an hour or two to reach by public transport, you have to leave reasonably early to get there while it's still morning. But on Friday and Saturday nights, I'd usually either go out or I'd stay up late talking to Claudio (the 6 hour time difference was a bit of a nightmare!), so it wasn't easy to get up early the next day.
But on my last weekend, I knew I had to finally get round to going there, so I made the long journey down to the southwestern corner of the island. Unfortunately, there were very heavy winds that particular weekend, so boat trips into the grotto itself weren't running. But I was able to go to a viewpoint to see the grotto from above, which was pretty spectacular. The surrounding countryside was also beautiful to see and reminded me a bit of Gozo, as it's quite unspoilt and tranquil compared to the central part of the island.
After seeing the grotto from the viewpoint, I walked down into the town of Wied iż-Żurrieq for a quick swim in this rather picturesque inlet. The water was quite choppy because of the wind, but it was a nice place to swim.
Well, that concludes probably the longest post I've ever written on this blog!
Looking back at all these places I visited makes me realise what a paradise Malta is. Even though there were times when I longed to see some grass, and of course there were all the issues of living in the hostel, I still felt like on was on holiday on many occasions (and I certainly plan to come back to Malta for a holiday one day).
Overall, I'm really glad that I chose to take on this adventure of living and working in another country - I do love having these kinds of experiences and I hope that it won't be the last time I live abroad. As it stands, I've applied for various jobs in London, other cities in the UK and various places in the rest of Europe, so we'll see what happens.
Currently, I'm back living in
Wiltshire with my parents and going on occasional day trips to places in the local area. So the blog will be kind of back to how it was in 2020/2021 - at least for now! I plan to write a post every week or so while I'm here, until I'm in my next location, wherever that may be.
I'll be writing again soon. Bye for now!
