Malta March 2019

I had the chance to travel to the island of Malta and Gozo in March with my university. It was a research trip in regards to a specific topic given to our group. Ours was on, 'How Gozo could attract more millennials.' Anyways, that is the boring stuff.. if you haven't heard of Malta or Gozo don't worry I hadn't either until I found out I was going on this trip.

A little background on the islands:

Malta is filled with history dating back to 5200 BC when there was the first arrival of man on the island the prehistory. Then the early inhabitants from 900 BC to 480 BC. Roman Times 218 BC to 395 where the island was dominated by the Romans. Then the Arabs occupied Malta in 870. Normans rule and the middle ages between 1090 and 1485. Knights of St.John arrived in 1530 and Valletta was founded in 1566. The French then occupied as Napoleon Bonaparte takes Malta from the Knights in 1789. The British come in a take Malta in 1800 and the French surrender in 1802. The British Period then lasted between 1814 and 1947 going through both the first and second world wars under British rule. The modern Malta or today's Malta is now part of the EU as of 2004 and joined the euro-zone in 2008.

Gozo,

Gozo’s history goes back to 5000 B.c. when a group from Sicily succeeded in crossing over on some form of sea-craft.  These people who first colonized Gozo (Neolithic 5000 – 4100 Bc) probably lived in caves around Il-Mixta on Ghajn Abdul Plateau on the outskirts of San Lawrenz village, to the north-west of Gozo.  This site consists of one huge cave separated into two by a natural column and a man-made wall.  Pottery sherds unearthed on this site are of a purer pedigree than any other pottery found elsewhere in the Maltese Islands.  This suggests that Gozo might have been settled earlier than Malta.

It was an amazing trip that I got to enjoy with my classmates. It brought us all closer together which was great. We made the best of it considering it was a research trip. We definitely enjoyed ourselves once the research and presentations were over. The trip was for sure a highlight of my second year!