i am such a mess right now.
i can't believe it is the last day.
i am running around doing a million errands,
when all i want to do is stop time.

look out s.t.p. -
ima comin.

come and goes (in waves)

well. i am currently in the process of studying for exams, writing final papers, showing my mom around malta, packing up my life, and saying goodbye to friends. there are far too many things going on, but i am enjoying every second (while, besides the studying part). i am so excited to be done with school here, and to come back to everyone in the states! but letting go of malta is definitely going to be a challenge. it's been really nice having candy here because it makes me re-see malta with her, as she experiences it for the first time. i hate that we can get so accustomed to seeing things that they are no longer beautiful. **my profound thought for the day** and now, i must go fill my brain with doric temples and commemorative relief sculptures for my classical art & archaeology exam on tuesday (i told you my life doesn't make sense here...). i miss you all and can't wait to be together again! xoxox, claire

another picture of the american party.

basically, i am procrastinating from studying for finals. but don't worry - everything is going swimmingly...!

Rhyme for the Summertime

hi everyone! i'm sorry that last blog didn't give much information. things here are getting busier and busier, and i'm having a hard time coming up with blog topics! anyway, i have uploaded some pics from the aforementioned activities.

cliff jumping on the island of comino

scuba diving in the pool

banana boating in golden bay

this past weekend, my fellow americans and i threw an american party for the residents! it was an afternoon barbacue, poolside fun, flip cup and beirut, the star spangled banner, rice krispie treats, pb&js. it felt like memorial day, fourth of july, and american college all rolled into one afternoon. i think people really learned what it meant to celebrate as americans!

Jodi and our Obama cut outs.

chaos

me gracefully turning a push into a dive.

in other news, candy comes next week! i am so excited for her to see this place! i also have lots of studying to do, as well as lots of packing. however, it's 90 degrees here, and there is a pool ten feet from my bedroom door. needless to say, it is hard to get things done.

i can't believe how fast the time has gone. i will be home in 2 1/2 weeks (17 days!!). get ready for summer day playdates and night time adventures! miss you and love you. mom, i'll see you soon! xoxo, claire

highlights of the past 2 weeks:

- intense sunburns.
- dressed up as a sheep for sardinian day
- started to panic about exams
- began my figure drawing class
- went banana boating in a school of jellyfish
- celebrated cinco de mayo
- played limbo
- learned more italian ("chicha" = cutie)

and realized today that i leave in exactly four weeks....anyone with any advice as to how to prepare for this? lemme know...miss ya'll and love ya'll and can't wait to see everyone.

in your city

well well well. this will be my feeble attempt to recreate my spring break adventures. i don't think i can truly do it justice, as these experiences are honest to god once-in-a-lifetime ones. but i will try.

egypt:

as i boarded the plane for cairo, i really had no idea what to expect. i couldn't believe i was actually going to egypt. as excited as i was, there were bits of uncertainty as i recalled every warning i had received about visiting this country as a group of young women. looking back now, the warnings seemed a little over the top. yes, there were times when we were less than comfortable. i can't tell you how many times "the spice girls!" was shouted as we walked down the street. it is also common practice for men to tell you how much they would give to marry you. in case you are wondering, i am worth one million camels and half kilo banana. we visited the egyption national museum, which was overwhelming to say the least. later we attended a nile river boat cruise, with egyptian food and lots of belly dancing. the next day, we visited all the pyramids and an open air museum.

we reached the large pyramid site and sphynx by camel ride - which is exactly how it needs to be done. i always pictured the pyramids in the middle of the sahara, only reachable by a long carivan of camels. however, from the front, you can enter the pyramids right off the city streets. aah, tourism. while in egypt, we also travelled to alexandria, a city on the mediterranean coast. we visited the catacombs, the national library, and the national gardens. everything was so beautiful.
as much as i loved egypt, there was always a slight feeling of tension while we were there. i didn't realize it, but it was like i was holding my breath the entire trip. i realized this only after i stepped off the plane, and found myself in greece....

greece:

we spent our first days in athens. before leaving, so many people kept talking about how dirty athens is and how after a few days i would be ready to leave. so not true. i loved this city so much. athens is definitely giving paris a run for its money. it was gorgeous. there was so much to see. the metro system was the easiest i have ever used (and chicago's is in english...). the people were helpful, generous, and kind. the food was better than you could imagine. and the entire city smelled of flowers. i have never been so intoxicated with a city's scent.

i spent a lot of my time in athens shopping. we went to the national archealogical musuem, climbed a mountain, went to starbucks multiple times (there isn't one in malta...) and went to a mineral bath with healing powers.

we did a walking tour of all the important sites - the ancient agora, the acropolis and parthenon, the theater of dionysos, the temple of zeus, the first olympic stadium, the national gardens, etc etc etc...unfortunately, that is the day my camera died... i will have to steal those pictures from the other girls before i head home.

our ferry trip out of athens was both sad and exciting - we were heading for the islands! first, we went to mykanos. this island is smaller, so it's easier to see more and absolutely beautiful. it had the greatest city center, filled with little souvenier shops and restaurants...along with gucci, prada, bvlgari...the beaches were beautiful too. we didn't have the greatest beach weather, but we stuck it out anyway. we totally lucked out with our hotel choice, and stayed in the most beautiful little resort. it was hard saying goodbye to mykanos too!
finally, we ended our trip in santorini. this place was everything i wanted greece to be. we ate amazing souvlaki and tzatziki and baklava, drank mythos, and laid on beaches. we took a pirate ship to walk up a volcano. we swam in a hot springs. i saw that perfect, white greek city everyone sees when they picture greece. we rode four-wheelers around the island stopping at beaches along the way. and i saw the most beautiful sunset i've ever seen. we also got to experience greek easter. it was a huge celebration on saturday at midnight with candles, and singing, and fireworks.




my entire spring break was a dream. looking back on it now, i realize how incredibly lucky i am - not many people get to see everything i was able to, and i'm only 21! so many adventures. so much laughter. so many new experiences. i know i say it all the time, but i can't believe this is my life sometimes. i have to remind myself that yes, this is happening to me - not someone else.

as far as everything else goes, i'm now back in malta and getting ready for the end of school. i have a few weeks before final exams, and i am starting to get a little nervous for them. however, end of exams means time to head back home! i don't think i have ever had such intensely opposite feelings over one event before in my life. on the one hand, i can't wait to get back to the the states. i miss everyone so much. i want my old bed. i miss chipotle. on the other hand, the idea of saying goodbye to the people here or my little fantasy world that i have here in malta completely breaks my heart. it is going to be a very interesting flight home.

i miss you guys. hope everything is well with you all. i think of everyone back home often. hope to hear from you all soon, and can't wait to see you guys again!

xoxox, claire

hi everybody! i'm heading out tomorrow for my weeks of adventures - so i just wanted to say a quick hello before i depart. wish me luck! i hope all of you are having an amazing spring. happy easter! i promise to do a post as soon as i get back.

egypt, greece, here i come!

xoxox, claire

failures

hello my friends. i am so sorry that this thing has not existed. i've been so bad at keeping up! for what it is worth, the internet here is so terrible, and every time i think about doing a post it deters me....ANYWAY. fun things to report on. let's go chronologically:

sicily.
sicily was so insanely fun. after the rude awakening that the car we had rented turned out to be a stick shift, we thought we were out of luck. no one drives automatic in italy (or europe in general). keep this in mind if you come visit. however, we were able to find one with the help of a new friend and plenty of euros, and we hit the road. we travelled along the western coast to the southern town Agrigento. here we visited the most incredible collection of greek ruins. we were told that it is the best place to find greek architecture outside of greece, and i can definitely believe it.

we drove through the countryside, stopping at fruit stands and to take pictures along the way. sicily has the best fruit in the world, by the way. our drive was full of winding roads through the mountainside and shouts of "i can't believe we are here!". We stayed in Palermo the next two nights and our days were filled with wandering the streets and visiting churches, catacombs, markets, and gelati shops.

after Palermo, we headed back to Trapani on the west coast for our flight the next day. along the way, we decided we couldn't miss the chance to go to a sicilian beach. we literally stumbled upon one, and spent the afternoon trying to get tan and jumping around. *apparently jumping pictures are huge everywhere...*

one of the best things about sicily was the sicilian people. they were the most helpful and generous people i have ever come across. we received free food and plenty of help with directions everyday - it was incredible to see how different a population can be, simply because of where they are from. the hardest part about the trip to sicily was having to get on the plane! however, i had to get home and prepare myself because...

visitors!
this last week my sisters terese and anne, terese's boyfriend aaron, and my boyfriend kurt all came to malta to see this little country i now call home. it was so much fun having them here. i brought them to all my local haunts, and i think they finally understand what i mean when i say malta is the most bizarre place in the entire world.


unfortunately, i was having so much fun with everyone, that my camera barely made it out of the bag. which is really sad because before they left, we spent a weekend in paris!

paris.
paris was everything i have ever imagined it to be. i've loved every place i have had the chance to travel to, but they are always pretty different from what my imagination has created about them. paris looked exactly how i thought it would; paris tasted just how i thought it would; paris smelled like what you imagine paris to smell like. we packed a lot into the short time we were there: notre dame, sainte-chapelle, hotel de ville, the Rodin museum, the d'orsay, the louvre, the touleries, the petit palais, sacre-coeur, the pompidou centre, pere lachaise cemetary, ahh. i could go on...

everywhere i went, i kept falling in love with paris. walking around in that city simply feels different. paris was rainy and cold, it was expensive, and it was hard not knowing french - and i still loved every second of it. it was hard coming back -- both because of paris, and because it is where i bid adieu to my sisters and kurt. ho hum. but it was such an amazing trip. i'm so glad you guys came!

oh, and look what kurt and i stumbled upon! the picture! no one had told me it was on a theater building...it is so creepy....(for those of you who don't know the back story, sophie found this painting in paris. the quality in this isn't the best, but if you look closely from left to right, you will see sophie block, brigid o'rourke, kurt schmidt, bob galligan, mark mccloughan, and claire hill...weird, huh?)
and now i am officially back in malta for a week. i have so much to do before i leave on spring break! egypt in 5 days! i'll be there for five days, and then i fly to athens for some greek culture and history before heading to the islands to hop around on beaches and experience greek orthodox easter in santorini. hooray!

*my saddest realization: they do not stamp passports anymore! i haven't gotten a single stamp since i arrived in malta. i am actually really devastated about this. no one is going to believe i did this without documented proof...you guys, i swear this is real.

i miss you all so much. i'm officially half done here. unbelievable.
xoxoxox, claire

swallowed in the sea.

holy cow. i just got back to malta after 4 1/2 days in sicily, and it was absolutely amazing, although a whirlwind tour. i have no energy to do a post or upload pics, so i will be back soon to do so. but i thought you all would want to know that i am, in fact, alive - despite all evidence of the contrary. xoxoxoxo.

all the small things

i miss my down comforter.
i miss my sisters and my brother and anne.
i miss taco bell.
i miss my mom.
i miss the clothes i left behind.
i miss the shoes i left behind.
i miss riding the el in chicago.
i miss my friends.
i miss perkins' chicken tender melt.
i miss kurt.
i miss dunkin donuts coffee.
i miss not having to use voltage converters.
i miss sunday night dinners.
i miss knowing exactly how to get where i want to go.
i miss having my own kitchen.
i miss my shower.
i miss how easy (and free) laundry is to do at home.
i miss my printer.
i miss canned black beans.
i miss sex and the city.
i miss tap water.
i miss my slippers.
i miss going.com.
i miss kerrit and rascal.
i miss my kitchenaid mixer.
i miss lake michigan and the mississippi river.
i miss to-go coffee cups over 8 oz.
i miss farenheit.
i miss buying broccoli in bulk.

HOWEVER, i can't even imagine leaving this place now. and i am going to unbearably miss so many aspects of it come june. in particular, the cheese pastizzi...and i guess the people too...

xoxo, claire

over hill, over dale

aaah. i am failing at this blog. whatevz, i can't help it ... i'm in europe!

this weekend a huge group of students went on a hike along the northwest coast of malta, led by our trusty tour guide, ray. we began our trek at popeye's village, honestly the cutest town i have ever seen. it was like disneyworld's tunetown mixed with neverland from "hook".


we continued along the coast of the mediterranean through grassy hills, rocky cliffs, and muddy streams. i had no idea what i had gotten myself into. my legs are much shorter than the average college student, and there were definitely parts when i didn't think i was going to make it. i only legitimately fell twice, but managed to come away free of injury. however, my shoes and leggings have seen better days.

we rested at golden bay, which is one of the only actual sandy beaches here in malta. most beaches are just rocky ravines (although they are very beautiful), but golden bay was spectacular. it is also a really dangerous swimming beach, which is ironic because it is where tourists flock to on vacation ... i'll probably swim in there at least once when it gets warmer. i will defy the odds.


after golden bay, we began our ascent up the blue clay cliffs. after trudging through mud for days, i arrived at the top. the wind tried to knock me back down, but i am a survivor.


short post. but i need to sleep! i will put up more tomorrow or the next day -- i promise!
love love love.