Hi there! Return to “real life” is upon me and after a 2-month hiatus, I actually need to do some work again. While it’s a real 8:30-5:30, I feel like it’s not nearly as bad when I’m doing it here:
I’ve finished my first full week at AquaBioTech and I’m really enjoying it!
Monday was basically all paperwork and getting the HR rundown where I learned my blog is my contract's worst nightmare. I’m not allowed to take any photos inside the facility and I'm not allowed to talk about any work done at the company for the next 3 years (with the exception of my thesis of course)... So From Katie to Katherine is going to be quite limited in terms of content for the next 4 months...
The rest of the week I got to spend time with the fish, meet my new colleagues and do lots of training!
All of my colleagues are super nice!! About a third are Italian, another third are Spanish and the other third are assorted other locations, but all are very friendly!
I’ve been with the basic aquaculture team this week, but starting Monday I move into my office and start my work with the R&D&I team!
Georgia and I figured out a pretty good after-work routine on Monday. I got home and went for a run then we got our bathing suits on and went for a sunset dip in the Med followed by ice cream and then came home for dinner!
The other evenings have been pretty mellow, cooking dinner or trying out restaurants in the neighbourhood and relaxing.
This weekend we went out exploring. On Saturday we took a ferry trip across the channel to the second island of Malta, Gozo.
We first checked out the Ggantija Archaeological Park. Here there are remnants of structures built in 3600 and 3200 BC as well as a museum with artifacts, animal bones, and explanations of the animal rituals performed here. These >5000-year-old buildings are older than the pyramids of Egypt, and the world's second oldest manmade religious structures! It's so impressive how these buildings were built and the fact that they're still standing, considering that the wheel hadn't been invented yet and there were no metal tools around!
Altars were built in several apses in the temple and there have been many pieces of pottery, statues and rocks with "paint" on them retrieved from inside.
Our next stop was Ta Mena, an estate in the middle of the island that had really good Trip Advisor reviews about their wine & honey. Our Uber driver was not as impressed on first impression… As we arrived he said “So umm my map shows that this is where you are you be dropped off… is that correct...?" and when we said "yes", he said, "Be careful". Not exactly what we wanted to hear but we walked in and met the SWEETEST old lady! She told us all about how they make all their own jams, honey, beeswax, liqueurs, sun-dried tomato spreads, wines, olive oils, and grow countless fruits. She passed us 6 bottles of their liqueurs and told us to help ourselves. Then she got us snacks! She made us crackers with the tomato spread and olive oil and we had a great time! We ended up buying some to take home and then we continued on to the city of Victoria.
We found a really nice Italian place for lunch and I tried a beer brewed in Gozo! It was Casa Vostra Hoppy Crust by Lord Chambray and it was really good!
Then we walked around the city a bit more before hopping back on the ferry and returning to the big island!
On Sunday we had a chill day of more island exploring! We started with a visit to the Marsaxlokk market. It was really cool to see and it was crazy busy! Just about everything was for sale, fish (or many assortments), clothes, fruits & veggies, and pastries.
Pro tip: no matter how good these pastries look, do not buy them before knowing how much they cost. Georgia went to pay and it was only after that she realized we paid €58 for 4 pastries and some pistachio cream...
To get our mind off of the complete scam that we walked into, we walked to St. Peters Pool. We hung out for a couple of hours soaking up the sun before heading back home and getting ready for the upcoming week!
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