EASA Malta 2015 - Issue 2 by UMBRELLA Newspaper

Mini excursion - Mdina

Gossip Girl

Valletta hasn’t always been the capital of Malta. Before it the city of Mdina, also known as Città Notabile, the notable city, served as the capital. Mdina was the place to be from antiquity until 1530, after which the capital was moved to Birgu. There’s evidence dating back as far as 4000BC of settlements in the area and even Paul the Apostle is said to have stayed here.

Hey babes, it’s me again and there’s so much to share with you – good job everyone on keeping this EASA a “classy” affair!

Umbrella visited the city and was truly impressed by the tiny limestone alleys and beautiful buildings around. It’s easy to see why it was chosen to be one of the filming sites for Game of Thrones’ King’s Landing. Unfortunately no naked Cersei Lannisters were to be seen. To get there take a bus number 51, 52 or 53 from the central bus station and get off at Rabat. It takes about 30 minutes and is a great way of having a little nap. The air conditioned environment and the movement of the vehicle really puts you down like a baby.

A certain Karibian island is surely powerful with his eyes. You must have noticed the way they undressed that beautiful lady on the dance floor the other night! To be fair, his clothes were coming off at a decent pace as well. Where to even start with the toga night! There were couples forming at an incredible rate. I think it’s almost unnecessary to mention all the action that was going on in the dark corners, on the dance floor and just about everywhere. Umbrella is happy that also one of our own was linking with a future organizer! Where as one of the beatiful current organizers got their share of the EASA FM airwaves. The gays are stepping it up as well and there’s even an extra back up arriving tonight so the scene will surely be interesting during the days to come. And who took off my toga? That’s a secret I’ll never tell. Xoxo Gossip Girl

Mini excursion - “Zurich”

L UMBRELLA N°02 2015

After days of hardworking workshop, would you like to go somewhere for a short getting away and relax? Zurrieq is a perfect solution where nature, architecture, archaeology, scenery and swim-zones coexist, all in one. The bus 71 will take you from Valletta terminal to the farthest stop called Ghar Lapsi in about an hour. Getting yourself relieved immediately from the retarding heat by the two wonderful swimming/ diving zones, completely calm and transparent blue water. After the swim, you may feed your stomach with some delicious Maltese dishes at the nearby restaurant (€2.00-8.00). From Ghar Lapsi you can walk back or get a lift to the archaeology site where the two prehistoric temples are situated. Don’t ever wait for the bus 71 since it would waste you ages to see it again. Remember your student card to have a discount. Here you can enjoy he beautiful landscapes on the way between the two temples. Such a nice combination of nature, seascapes (the famous islet Filfla) and dramatic wide-spanned structures. Walking towards Blue Grotto up and down, hot and cool, you will soon soak your body in the chilling water down there. An 8-euro-ticket sails you to such spectacular enormous caves on transparent seawater. Cool enough? It’s time to get back to the site for dinner. Better to take the bus 201 then switch bus at the airport. Because once again the bus 71 rarely shows up. A good trip if you go on your own or in pair with your brand new hook-up partner from the last night party or in a small group. Highly recommended. The trip is included in the after EASA excursion. But if you cannot join or wait for it, here’s above the tips for you. Cheers!

Limestone uncovered

Humans of Valletta Yesterday Amsterdam Expressionism had an interesting visitor join in to instruct a stone-carving workshop with the participants. Antoine Farrugia is a sculptor who grew up in Mqabba- a place famous for quarrying soft limestone or ‘Franka’ as it is known in Maltese.

Malta is basically a lump of limestone in the Mediterranean and only covers just over 300 square kilometres. Being a rocky lump it has stone absolutely everywhere, and down in the EASA ditch the dancing wind is covering every black dressed participant in layer of light dust. Umbrella decided to take closer look at the sedimenatry rock which plays a significant role in the Maltese culture. Malta has two types of limestone, the soft and the hard one. Most of the quarries are little more than rectangular holes carved out of the rock, and the number has to be seen to be believed. The Megalithic Temples of Malta are several prehistoric temples, some of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Each individual site has it unique characteristics, but they all share the same architecture. The world wide Annual usage of limestone is 5000 million tonnes, which is the same weight as 70 millions EASA participants.

LIMEST ON E

As a child Antoine was always interested in art, but ignored his mother’s advice to go to art school and instead worked in a fireworks factory for most of his career. After a horrible accident in 1997 at the factory which killed one of Antoine’s close friends and left him unemployed, he didn’t have much left. He decided to finally follow his talents and joined the art school in Valletta and gained a degree at the age of 40. The participants were able to work easily with the stone as it is soft enough to be cut by woodworking tools and once sanded the limestone produces a marble like finish. Have a look for yourself behind the stage in the ditch.

Thursday 6.8.2015 LIMEST ON E

20:00

Voice of EASA @infopoint

21:00

Presentations NASA and INCM

22:30

EASA bar + NC-night

Friday 7.8.2015

The poultry industry uses it as supplement for the calcium levels, and the next time you eat your morning cerelas, try to feel the crunch from the added limestone.