Greets from Dublin!

Greetings blog readers from my room in Dublin. Today was the day I left my life in Malta to start my life here in Dublin. This morning I woke up feeling OK…but then it quickly went downhill from there, and then the mood lifted again…by the time I arrived at the airport I was feeling better. I started chatting with the Irish lady who happened to be behind me in the queue. She was sooo nice :D…She came to Malta for a wedding, and one of the ladies with her had a son who is coming to DCU this year too…and he will be staying at Shanowen too (however she is not sure if it is Shanowen hall or Shanowen square).

Then went for check in…obviously I was overweight haha…17.5kg…so I removed some things (placed in the hand luggage), and managed to bring it down to the required weight (my hand luggage was that much heavier however :D)…and I removed some things to give to mum.

I said my goodbyes and up to the queue I went. I happened to be just behind the same lady in the queue…then went on the plane, and a friend of the same lady was sitting next to me…we chatted a bit and relaxed a bit. After 2.5hours on the plane, apprehension started to set in (probably as we encountered some turbulence). I landed, got my luggage, and proceeded to go to the bus. I made it to the bus stop I had to stop at (thank you bus driver and nice lady 😀 ).

I then walked to the residence. I was a funny sight…I am sure some people thought I was crazy!!…But made it whole, settled into the room, went to Tesco to buy some things, came home, ate (pizza in the microwave hihi). I also chatted with my mum, Ann, and Bernard and gave them a web cam tour of my place. I am currently talking to Bernard on Skype whilst he searches for master’s courses he might follow next year, whilst I am writing my blog :D.

The room is quite nice…and I think it is suitable for my needs…I only wish I had a pillow…but I thought I would not have one…so tomorrow or this weekend I will go buy a pillow…and a Duvet…cos it is getting a bit cold now the night is setting in. However I will survive tonight.

I am glad I am now here in Dublin…it was so stressful with not knowing. Now tomorrow it is off to Uni. I have already met my supervisor and she seemed super nice. I however look forward to meeting up with the new students and starting my new adventure…BRING IT ON I say.

Preparation in full swing!

My departure to Dublin is fast approaching…in 3 days’ time I will be on the plane there 😀 Even though I have known for some time I have to leave, it is only now that I came back from Strasbourg that it is finally hitting me. This is likely due to the fact that I am currently letting go of my old life and preparing for the new. Today I went to Uni and threw away all my master’s degree samples, I also gave a soft copy of my thesis with changes with my tutor, went to buy a big sister for my luggage (till now I rarely needed much luggage…and my hand luggage was what I used…whether I put it in the hold or as a hand luggage…but this time I need to use maximum space and weight allowance, so I bought my hand luggage’s bigger sister) and I also bought some reading books to take up with me, just in case I cannot use the public library immediately. Last Saturday I also bought sheets (these are not provided by the residence), new toothbrush etc. I hope I do not forget anything behind…but anyways I can always buy from there 😀

However no packing has actually occurred yet…I am a last-minute packer…knowing that this time it is for quite some time…I will probably pack the day before…but that is all 😀

Strasbourg Day 1: Getting there

Greets from my humble abode in Strasbourg

Day 1 of my September Trip 2: Strasbourg experience is nearly over and here I am writing from my Apart-Hotel Room. I had a very good flight to Frankfurt, where I knew one of the air hostesses (or whatever guy hostesses are called)…he lives 2 roads away from me back in Malta and we were good friends once upon a time…and the couple next to me were really nice…a lady from the US working with the US government in Germany and her Turkish-German partner who were returning from a 9 day trip to Gozo. The lady was a chatter box like me…or more than me I think…and so the flight passed by quite quickly. At the airport however I had a bit of a scare…no luggage aaaaa. I spoke to the representative who saw my luggage receipt tag and said ahhhh…you have checked in for the Airport bus to Strasbourg…your bag will not come here but on luggage rail 16…off we go to 16 but hmmmm…it was not moving…he tried calling to check about it and they said it is not in their system :(…he then started to input my details in the system of lost luggage :(…but then he called to check again and they said it should be coming to no. 16 in about 10-15mins…so he told me to go wait next to carousel 16, and keep him informed. So I off I go to wait and finally…yes…my luggage came wippie (this was around 30mins after all the others had gotten their luggage…and he told me next time never let them check in for the airport bus as,  well…cos it ends up in transit and then it comes out later).

Luckily I had 2 hours until the airport bus left (now 1.5hours hihi) and so off I went to wait for the bus. I immediately found where the bus leaves and then started walking around….hmmm…I saw a guy looking at me…he looked Maltese and I thought I remembered him from the plane…so I said…Int Malti? (are you Maltese) and he said yes and we started talking. Apparently he knows my sister slightly haha cos he worked with her when she worked in a pharmaceutical company. He has now changed job and he was going to Strasbourg for a 5 week course related to his work.

At 8pm we went towards the bus stop, and whilst putting our luggage on 2 different people heard us talking and said…Intom Maltin?…(and we suspect there was another lady who was smiling whilst we were talking hihi). And surprise…one of the guys was coming to the same course. So we boarded the bus and we chatted a bit and then settled in (we had 2.5hours on the bus).

Once we reached Strasbourg we all said our good byes and made our way to our places. I got a taxi (walking around Strasbourg at 11pm with my luggage was not something I cherished) and arrived at the apart-hotel. I inserted the codes as informed (the reception is closed during the weekend) and found my key and made my way to my room. But hmmm where is the bed?…Then I noticed the large sofa with a lot of space inside it…so I pulled it apart and dadammmm…I have my bed.

The room is quite nice and big…I also have a fridge a cooker and a microwave…they will stay as they are however hihi. I entered my bed, read a bit then slept a good night’s sleep.

My New Baby in Malta

…or so I at least hope 😀

Well, Mina, was visiting London, where she stayed at my sister’s place for some days. She (luckily) had some available luggage space so she brought my new baby HOME! She arrived in Malta yesterday evening, and I will hopefully meet up with her sometime in the coming days…will see how it goes…WEEEEEEEEEEEE