Week 1

As routine sets in, I've decided to switch the blog posts to weekly.

Work

Even though this was my first week of work, there isn't much to say. Because it was my first week at work, there definitely isn't much to say about my leisure time. I suddenly find myself feeling almost at home, and that comes with a familiar lethargy. Going to the store after work, cooking a dinner sizeable enough to use the leftovers as lunch for the next day, showering and finally falling into bed. I did not get switched to a bottom bunk, so my space is a lot more closed off -- curtesy of various towels I've hung from the top bunk. The space however is much more limited, and I cannot sit upright. Together with the only window of the room being part of an extra alcove, the room is dark most of the day and lends itself to lazing around. In contrast to my travels last weekend, I've done absolutely nothing this week. Even the weekend, the weather is cold and windy, and I don't feel much like going out.

At work, things are going nicely. The people are great, and the handing out of full-time certificates is constant. Many students did not attend their graduation, and they now come in in waves, sometimes sending one delegate to pick up multiple. My desk mate/mentor and I are starting to find a nice rhythm in dealing with students together, splitting up the work. I've been shown how to find part-time certificates as well, but it's often difficult for me to locate them still. The same goes for old certificates from years ago. 

I also handle phone calls, through right now I mostly take down messages and transfer calls to the correct person. While the work itself is easy, it's acquiring the background knowledge that strikes me as difficult. The kind of questions and requests we get are incredibly varied, and there's clearly a lot of systems behind everything that I simply have no grasp of. Alternatively, I lack the resources. The pc tower at my desk had mysteriously gone missing after being sent to maintenance months ago, so pc access is still being set up for me. Especially not having excess to Classter, the software the school uses to keep track of students and courses, means there are a lot of things I cannot check up on.

Free-time

All in all though, I enjoyed my first week. I spend the breaks down in the plaza, together with my classmate, and the weather is actually decent during the week. Windy, sure, but still sunny.

While I didn't do much during the weekend daytime, I did run end up spending the evenings out. My friend from the hostel had a friend from home visit him, and I accidentally ran into them after getting my groceries, Somehow this ended up with my trekking along to a restaurant with my backpack full of food, and spending the night out. While we unfortunately failed to find a restaurant offering Traditional Maltese cuisine due to a lack of reservation for a clearly popular niche, we did end up finding a nice seaside place, where we spent a short while before heading out to a not-so-nearby pub. The pub turned out to be a really great place; small, great music, lovely atmosphere, nice people and an interesting selection of  international beer and ciders. Even as someone who's not a big beer fan, I enjoyed the theme.

The next day, I once again tagged along and we ended up at my friend's favorite restaurant in the area. While just generally a selection of good food, the place did have something special for me. The ravioli filled with what is commonly referred to as 'Gozo cheese', turned out to be a very specific food I instantly remembered from my childhood times on Gozo. It was, frankly, exactly the same thing, and while there may certainly be similar dishes available everywhere in the world, it's genuinely unique enough for me to not have had anything like it since the last time I visited the island. We once again had a great evening, and arrived back at the hostel to meet two new arrivals in our room, who were also great to chat with. We enjoyed some time up on the rooftop terrace, before the cold chased us back in.

So while the lack of personal space, and living out of my suitcase are very unpleasant factors, I'm kind of glad I ended up at a hostel now, as I think I likely wouldn't get out as much on my own.