First day on the island

The day I arrived in the Maltese Islands was an adventure. It was my first time really traveling far on my own with a connection flight and I was nervous but also confident. I made a friend on my first flight from Dulles to Frankfurt and we both really wanted to try a German beer, but it was 5 am in Frankfurt and everywhere we went was only serving breakfast :/ Maybe next time. I then had a 3 hour layover until my flight to Malta. That all went well then I had to find myself to the ferry and from the ferry I met up with a professor from the program. 

I hadn't slept 24 hours when I arrived, but I wanted to make the most of my day! We ended up going to a farm animals blessing festival in a nearby town. A priest came by to bless all the animals that were out in the town square. There was a marching band and a talent show afterwards, it was very nice. Here is what I saw throughout the afternoon/evening:

This man with his beloved parrot. Farm animals consisted of pets and animals for labor and eating as well. I missed a picture of him clapping but he was clapping and singing to make his parrot dance and the parrot was having a good time entertaining all of us.

Beautiful horses live on Gozo. Horse racing in carts like this are very popular here.

These kids did a song from Avenue Q (a bit questionable at first but it turned out cute). The view behind them is of the valley which is gorgeous and there were many other performers throughout the evening, very talented kids.

We walked home from the town to our town. It was a half an hour walk and it was very nice. To the left of this picture you can see Victoria which is the capital of Gozo. It sits on a hill in the center of the island so you can see it from any town and get to it easily from anywhere on the island.

This is the view from the roof of our apartments. Gorgeous. Anytime of day you can go up there and be mesmerized. We live so close to a gorgeous bay. Pictures of that shortly no worries.

We call the flat roof of our apartments the Baroof because it is a combination of a bar and a roof. We eat and drink up there all night. Dinner starts at 8 and we take turns cooking or staff cooks for us, we occasionally will go out. The food here is amazing. But it is hard to stay away from things I should stay away from like cheese and carbs. I will not worry for the next three weeks tho. Food is an important part of culture and that is what I am here to study right..

I tried to go to bed early the first night but it was difficult because we have some very interesting conversations on the Baroof after hours with our wine, beer, sangria, food, etc. Anthropologists make for good company.