Traveling again around Europe

Mid September finds me in Malta. I’ve actually not had much of a desire to visit Malta in my life, but a chance came up to take a tour here with a past professor and a singer I like, and I couldn’t help myself. And, I’m glad I didn’t. Malta is gorgeous, and I think I could live here. I like this island life so far, and the Maltese are friendly as well as easy going. It is, of course, quite humid, and I miss California’s big ocean waves. However, lounging on the limestone along the Mediterranean Sea is pretty wonderful. This tour too is luxurious. The hotel’s spa and pools and views are just so ritzy.

They feel perhaps ritzier than “normal” because of the last week in which I’ve been sleeping in hostels and on couches and extra mattresses. Of course, the romping around Barcelona and Milano and Italy was completely worth the showerlessness and such. I found some salsa dancing places in Barcelona and Milan, hitched a ride from a new friend on his moto, cooked on a wood stove delicious leek soup with Iris in the Italian countryside, and simply learned how to trust the goodwill of Europeans as well as my intuition.

Overall, it’s been an amazing adventure so far. I continue to be surprised by how inexpensive it is to fly from country to country. I’m also grateful for the synergistic timing of events and meetings. I barely made my train ride from Milan to Bologna. And, I arrived in Malta just in time—I mean minutes—for the first school tour gathering.

I also LOVE that Iris, a friend from Whittier and Whittier Christian no less (!), and I were able to meet up in Bologna. That was truly a miracle. She came from Romania, and I from Milan, and we just walked and ate and cooked and ENJOYED the uniqueness of our lives and the difference between Whittier and Italy.