Arrival

Our students all arrived Saturday, on time, and with no lost luggage. Yesterday and today have been busy, so I'll let Mary contribute the rest:

Since we have been back in Malta after our trip, our internet connection has been spotty. Now that the students arrived yesterday, the landlady has connected our Luther internet and service is much better. I'm glad not to be constantly disconnected.

I was thinking today how impossible it would be to ride bikes like we do in Decorah. The streets are so narrow and uneven that Mark and I can't even walk side by side on the narrow sidewalks. When we walk with the students it looks like a kindergarten single file, long line of people! 

Narrow streets aren't the only new adventure. None of the streets are on a grid and the coastline is, of course, uneven. As a result, we have been lost several times. Plus, I have no sense of direction, so I don't feel confident to go out on my own unless I have learned the route. Even Google Maps is confused. It had a route to the University that had us walking where there was no street. Funny, we can't walk through walls! Mark ended up writing out a detailed set of directions to the University, hoping it will save the students from getting lost.

Mark has a nasty cold/flu bug right now and even that brought a new experience. He ended up going to a "pharmacie" at the airport while he was waiting for students to arrive. The pharmacist made a diagnosis just as a doctor would in the U.S. and sold him some antihistimines and powerful cough syrup, some of which would have required a prescription at home. The entire bill was 14 Euros.