Life After Magellan

Being Home and Being Reflective

   Throughout my entire trip, I kept remembering a particular piece of advice President Tori Haring-Smith gave us during our departing Magellan meeting. It was simply to not to forget that you will be in a new place, by yourself, and the Magellan project is just as much about finding your own way, solving the inevitable problems that will appear throughout the project, and growing as a person, as it is about conducting the research you set out to examine. That advice stuck with me as I made my first trip overseas, the very first member of my family to go to a foreign country. While some might view the lack of my family’s experience abroad as a detriment, since they were unable to give me any advice about airports or foreign countries in general, whereas I saw it as a great opportunity to explore a world my parents knew nothing of and bring them back glimpses of life outside the ever consuming bubble of the United States.

            The last flight I went on was a two hour affair from Pittsburgh to Orlando when I was nine

About Me.

I apologize, this probably should have been one of the first entries, not the second to last. Without any more delay, my name is Jake Harrison a full-time student at Washington & Jefferson College, possible accounting and history double major (still a little unsure whether or not to still pursue my passion for history), and a very lucky and grateful recipient of the Magellan Project. Until this trip I, nor any member of my family has ever left the United States, and because of that I felt especially proud, and a little nervous, knowing that I had ventured further than any member of my family had, and that I would gain a perspective into life outside the US my family could only wonder. Unfortunately, the unknown causes my parents significant anxiety so my compromise was to take the minimum amount of time for my Magellan Project which is three weeks. Even still, in those three weeks I feel as if I have grown immeasurably as a person aware of the world outside our borders, and the confidence I have attained by doing all of this alone from the travel plans and tickets, to the gates of the airport to the first taxi to my hostel, to learning my way around Sliema and Valletta, has created a person who is no longer fearful of leaving the US, no longer fearful of getting lost home or abroad, and finally a person who is no longer fearful of traveling and exploring his passions.

Cool Breezes and Cool Waters

Finally I saw Gozo and Comino, the sister islands of Malta. I decided to book a cruise in order to maximize the amount I could see given the amount of time I had that day. It was a long, taxing day. Starting out at 8am and returning to my hostel at 8pm, my twelve hour day included a bus tour, three boat trips including Sliema, Malta to Gozo; Gozo to the Blue Lagoon, Comino; then from the Blue Lagoon back to Sliema. I happened to wake up extra early in order to secure a seat on the sundeck of the Delfini, the cruise ship, and was initially annoyed by the constant stream of people that attempted to shoehorn themselves in, despite the lack of space and the apparent lack of motivation to actually get there early. After the second couple forced me to act out a sardine forced into a can, I have to admit I was in a less than pleasant mood. Secondly this man, whom I can only describe a a wannabe hipster, clad in a completely opened buttondown shirt and khaki shorts, was constantly toking on a vaporizer that kept on sending its sickening scent directly into my face. Vapor or smoke, nobody appreciates taking somebody's exhaust to the face. He was also half of that "second couple"...so to sum it up, I was not a fan. Minus my barrage of vapor, the trip was pleasant, sunny, and with ample sea breeze to keep from becoming too warm.

The trip from Sliema to Gozo took about two and a half hours, and when we reached the port we were instantly corralled into two sightseeing buses. I was lucky enough to get the first seat on the left on the second level of the doubledecker bus two out of three times, and my pictures were that much better as a result. The buses took us the the Azure Window, this incredible natural rock formation created by the waves over thousands of years. After we explored that for just over a half hour we were again ushered into the buses to go to the fortified city called the Citadel, which defensibly overlooks the capital city of Victoria. Unfortunately I failed to see the sites of the Citadel considering we were given only forty five minutes to explore the city and the walk from where we parked would take almost fifteen minutes both ways, so understandably most of the tourists, myself included, decided against running to the top of the hill for the exciting ten or fifteen minutes to explore the ancient city that would take over an hour to appreciate properly. From there we headed back to the Delfini to take us to the Blue Lagoon in Comino.

Unplanned Festivals and Unplanned Companions

This last week I had one of my favorite hostel room groups of people. Out of nowhere the majority of us became friends for the brief amount of time we shared and decided to explore parts of Malta we would not have seen otherwise. This instantly meshing group consisted of an Aussie named Emily, an American from Virginia named Megan, a German named Laura, and a Polish girl named Natalia. We seemed to get along instantly and when Megan turned my attention to a fascinating website that documented almost every event Malta was hosting for months to come, we decided we needed to participate in at least a few of them. While I chose to abstain from the wine tasting Megan decided to go to, Laura, Megan, and I did decide to attend this International Food Festival being held at Mdina- one of the oldest cities in Malta. Unfortunately, Megan got caught in some pre wedding plans, of which a wedding was the purpose of her visit. So that left Laura and I to go to the festival by ourselves and we had a great time. There were a few live performances, cheese tastings, and of course: plenty of food. However, despite all the exotic foods, I "phoned it in" and ended up eating at the American table. I feel bad about not choosing to try something new at an international food festival, but at least I facilitated a conversation with a local Maltese woman and her children about how much of a national focus the Knights of St. John have on their school curriculum. Small consolation I know, but I did finally try rabbit. I had this rabbit pasta, in which I had assumed it would be a pasta with chopped pieces of rabbit interspersed throughout the dish like chicken or sausage is, but instead my plate came to me with pasta as a staging ground for the large rotisserie-style quartered rabbit placed on top. Even still, I was determined to complete my mission and afterwards I can say that rabbit was not too bad, but nothing I would seek out at home. It tasted similar to unseasoned turkey, it was not gamey but slightly dry for my taste.

Pointed Interest and Pointed Blades

Yesterday I had what has so far been the jewel of my time in Malta: visiting the Grandmaster's Palace (or Palace Armoury, it goes by both names). Housed in what used to be the stables of the Grandmaster's Palace, the building is still essential to the political order of the islands, even some two hundred years after the Knights of St. John were expelled by Napoleon's French forces. It still houses the parliament of the islands as well as the Office of the President. Despite the palace state rooms being closed due to a weekly meeting of the president, the armoury was still very much open and was my only true interest anyways. So in following my usual motif, I wandered through the streets of Valletta until I finally gave up, took a brief train tour of the city, and then had my tour guide point out where the armoury was located. Ten minutes later, I finally came upon the destination that I had been searching for for almost two hours. When I arrived I was witness to a disgruntled British tourist who was both perplexed and dismayed about the palace state rooms being closed weekly on Thursdays. After patiently waiting, the worker looked to me to give me the same somber news that he had just bestowed on the weary travelers before me. I simply replied, "Great, I only wanted to see the armoury anyways." That response was met with a grin and he was so pleased by the sudden change in his clientele's mood that he actually gave me a student discount into the weapon-lined corridors. Obviously, this experience of just buying the ticket was infinitely more pleasant than my experience at St. Johns Co-Cathedral, and my experience was further improved by my competence in using the audio guide (which again, at St. Johns...it did not go so well). Walking first through countless pieces of armour to even full sets by some of the grandmaster's themselves, I was fully immersed in the time period that these knights fought in. As I explored deeper into the hall, the evolution from chainmail to breastplate, from half helm to closed helm, and the styles of armour across the ages unfolded before me. The excitement I experienced from the armour section was only rivaled by its complimentary weapons room beside it. Again, the styles, evolution, and perfection of  the crossbow, bladed weapon, and early firearms glistened from their displays. Some two hundred photos later, I can honestly say that this was the most interesting, most illuminating, and most entertaining aspect of my project so far.

Now the exhausting task of trying to caption said two hundred some photos. I will make it clear when I give up.

Random photo I took to show W&J presence in Valletta
in the form of some financial service provider.

Golden Opportunities and Golden Churches

Yesterday I ventured to one of the most famous churches in Europe. The St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta, Malta, was named after the patron saint of the Knights Hospitaller and was designed to be in the exact center of their new capital after the Siege of Malta in 1565. The church's solemn exterior gives absolutely no indication of the gold encrusted beauty within. Starting a bit tiringly, because as usual I had to walk up and down Republic Street twice before I could find a massive cathedral (I am really starting to think I need a map to find the door of my own house). My lack of direction aside, I found an entrance, that was not an entrance but an exit, so my swift trip to the other corner of the building finally yielded a welcoming "Visitor's Entrance" banner above the limestone arch of its entrance. Again, starting without the excitement one would expect of an employee who spends her days in one of the most beautiful interiors in the world with detail, baroque style, tapestries, along with  thousands of other treasures from the Order, I actually was yelled at for having the audacity to give her a fifty euro bill for my admission fee. The entrance fee was six euros, but after the first time she had asked if I had a smaller bill and my answer was a tack "no," the interaction should have stopped. Instead my money was taken from me with an unpleasant eyeroll and my change dropped on the counter in front of me, inches from my open hand, but maybe she had a hard day of standing in air conditioned grandeur. Who knows?

Conveniently, my entrance fee included an audio tour guide which was very informative, but again owing to the catacomb like maze of the church and the velvet ropes that where strewn just about everywhere (plus restoration construction), I missed about half the locations in the church. The entire right side of the chapel was never explored, owing to both my incompetence an a failure to realize the brochure they had briefly handed me included a map (which I was very unhappy to discover only hours ago). Minus my misfortune, I was able to see the beauty of the unsubtle baroque architecture and see how every inch of the Cathedral was adorned in gold, paint, or artifacts. Other than the building itself, I was also able to see the Flemish Tapestries which are the largest complete set of tapestries known to mankind. They depict the life of Christ, his baptism, amongst other religious scenes. One of the tapestries even bears its buyer Grand Master Ramon Perellos y Roccaful. Unfortunately, visitors are not allowed to photograph any of the collections, so any photos of the Flemish Tapestries are going to be stolen directly from St. John's Co-Cathedral's own website.  Also beautiful and unable to be photographed by me where the Choral books which are essentially giant prayer books that contain gold leaf illustrations and sung parts of services that were gifted by three grandmasters. Finally, my favorite unphotographical museum piece was the Ciro Ferri Monstrance which is this huge beautiful housing that originally contained the most sacred relic the Knights of St. John ever possessed: the forearm of their patron saint, Saint John. The forearm that baptised Jesus Christ was held in this Monstrance, and the arm was further encrusted in gold and precious stones within a reliquary until Napoleon "obtained" it after he invaded Malta. With the reliquary stolen, the actual relic of St. John's forearm was taken by the last Grandmaster Ferdinand von Hompesch as he fled the island. The Cathedral was extremely beautiful, and one could not study the Knights of St. John without visiting their most prominent work, their most prominent contribution to Valletta, and their most prominent contribution to Catholicism.

Fist my "borrowed" photos from stjohnscocathedral.com:

Flemish Tapestries with Choral Books in the Center

Getting Started and Getting Lost

Unfortunately it looks tacky posting twice in one day, around the same time, but I assure you the first one today would have been written sooner if my laptop had not been rendered inoperable. Yes, the first adversity I faced during my trip is one of the worst things a traveler could experience, a broken laptop. Essentially my screen was cracked by a rising bezel when the laptop was closed. The result was three massive cracks along my LCD screen, and being a touchscreen, a continuous clicking along one of the cracks made doing any task impossible. Luckily I held my screen in such a way to briefly cease the touchscreen's adversarial attempts to foil my trip, and found a way to disable the touchscreen. So my triumph is a moderately usable laptop with three massive cracks in the screen, hardly a victory to commemorate. Anyways, I felt the need to explain my behavior and gloat of my brilliance in finding out how to turn off the touchscreen and in turn, create a salvageable piece of technology for hopefully the remaining time in Malta (unless I break it more).

Yesterday was my first adventure to Valletta, Malta, the focal point of my trip. It started by me taking a ferry from Sliema to Valletta. My plan was to visit the St Johns Co-Cathedral, but to be frank: I completely and utterly failed. Instead of finding my chartered destination, I merely wandered the seafront of the Grand Harbor until I stumbled upon Fort St. Elmo. Since Fort St. Elmo hosts reenactments on Sundays, I felt that was better to leave for later...so more wandering the seafront. Eventually I saw a sign for something I had recognized from researching Valletta on tripadvisor.com: The Malta Experience. I figured, why not? After following two more signs indicating the location of this elusive destination, I thought I was lost again, yet I was graced by one more turn and a woman handing out flyers for the very thing I was looking for. After buying a ticket that was discounted for some reason (not complaining about saving three Euros), I found out that the ticket price also included a tour of La Sacra Infermeria. The forty-five minute video detailing the basic history of the island's origins to today was extremely interesting, including a great deal of information with the motif of "change from the sea," as Malta was conquered repeatedly by naval powers.

Finding Food and Finding Friends

To start off, I want to say that I have now been in Malta for four days. Unsurprisingly, it does not yet feel like it has been more that a single day. After getting to my hostel at 4:30pm local time, I was so incredibly exhausted that my day consisted of dinner and sleep and nothing else. Actually, at the risk of ensuring a certain friend's disapproval, that first meal was actually at a McDonald's. So much for immersing myself immediately, but if it is any consolation a solemnly swear that will be my last trip to McDonald's for the next two and a half weeks. Sadly eating out is not as fantastic of a experience as it is for me at home. Interestingly, it is not because I am unadaptable or afraid to try new things (in fact I ate a pizza the other day that contained four cheeses, and I only knew two of those cheeses existed), instead it is the lack of refills that plagues me. Those that know me are acutely aware with the fantastic amount of beverages I consume on a daily basis. I rarely leave the Commons without at least four refills or more, and this custom of restraint is one I had to learn quickly. That, or I buy myself a pitcher of Diet Coke to drink by my lonesome.

What's a Magellan Trip and What was Mine About?

Washington & Jefferson College is extremely proud of its Magellan Program. Essentially the Magellan Program is taken as a Magellan Trip which acts as an independent research trip encompassing any country and any interest. Unique to Washington & Jefferson, the Magellan Program allows students to explore their personal interests and explore exotic and domestic places alike. From Pittsburgh to Peru, Chicago to China, and from Michigan to Malta everywhere is in the domain of a Magellan Project. In this program, the student's personal interests are in the spotlight of the trip whether it be business, history, or science, and even more liberating is the fact that the interest of the Magellan trip does not have to coincide with your declared major. The college funds projects that are conceived, planned, budgeted, and completed independently by their students. The college prides itself on funding these trips in an effort to support the dreams of their students, to support the growth of students, and allow their students to explore the value of experiential learning.

Specifically, my Magellan was to stand in awe of the amazing structures built by the Knights of St. John as they prepared and waited for the Ottoman invasion, to ponder the lasting effects of the hundreds of years of rule the Knights left on the modern islands, and to explore one of the best preserved pieces of the "Old World" complete with walled cities, extensive fortifications, and awash with historical details whether from street corners or carved statues within their tunnels. In one sentence: to study the lasting effects of the Knights of St. John on the islands of Malta and to study the extensive impact they left through their architecture, culture, and rule.

Long Anticipation and Long Flights

Hopefully my time here is more entertaining than my trip getting here. My first and only flight preceding this arduous journey had been a two-hour flight from Pittsburgh to Orlando. Now I had over twenty hours of flights and layovers ahead of me, and this time all by myself. I would be lying if I claimed I was not scared that I would miss a flight, go to the wrong gate, or get stopped by the TSA for just looking too nervous. Step one of the trip was a short half hour flight from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. which was comfortable and it also helped lower my initial fears- I had already gotten one step right! Then came the worst of the three in getting here: the flight from D.C. to Frankfurt. The first indication that this was going to be much more uncomfortable was the change from two seats a row to three (like most planes) and the fact I initially sat behind my assigned seat.