When I was finishing my study abroad Erasmus semester in Athens, I knew I wasn’t ready to go back to cold Germany just yet, and I still had to complete the 30 ABV credits, so I decided to look for an internship abroad. I stumbled upon an internship in science communication in Malta, and applied, thinking I would not get in because of my lack of a STEM background. I was impressed with the description, noting that they were working on two projects related to urban planning, which I was planning to study as my Master’s.

To my surprise, after an interview they emailed me that I got in. Only then did I start doing my research about Malta, and was surprised to learn how tiny it is – it scared me, having lived all my life in big capital cities.

Alas, it wasn’t all that scary: after you move to Malta, you realize that really, if you live in Berlin you don’t live in the whole of Germany, but mostly just Berlin: if you look at it this way, Malta is just one big city. It is harder to get around, because the public transportation system is not perfect, and having a car would make life a lot easier.

In the beginning of my internship I mostly worked on three EU Projects: VARCITIES and JUSTNature, that are both about urban greening, and RoadSTEAMer, a project about combining STEM and Arts in education. I was very excited about being able to work within the urban sphere: it was interesting to see how the EU influences urban planning and what it emphasizes on. I could see that also in the applications for grants that I was involved in, seeing how my managers had to adjust their project proposal to make it fit the requirements of the call. On RoadSTEAMer I helped my manager with an NVIVO analysis of surveys she did with pupils, to find out if the STEAM approach influenced how they learned. It was the first time I had to use a qualitative analysis tool.

With the JUSTNature project we organized a summer school for children from a nearby primary school in Gzira. We spent three days with the kids and collaborated with three other NGOs: Friends of the Earth, who constructed a game to teach the children about the importance of biodiversity; Green Fingers Club, who gave a workshop on how to grow your own food, and BirdLife Malta, who invited us to their Salina Nature Reserve where the children could birdwatch, and learn about wetlands and saltpans. As the University of Malta, we collaborated with the children to create a green structure for their school: we asked to envision and design it, and later we created it and displayed at the Science in the City festival. Afterwards, I was asked to write a press release about the initiative for the University newspaper.

In June I got put on the Science in the City team. It is a science and arts festival that was founded by one of my managers, and that he has been organizing for the past 12 years. It is part of the European Researchers’ Night (ERN), an initiative that takes place all over Europe and involves different events that all have a goal of popularizing research. I quickly learned that with the time constraints a big event like this had on us, the work would get more stressful and more intense, but at the same time: more rewarding.

I was put in charge of communication with NGOs and research groups that were participating in this year’s edition. I had to meet with all of them and explain to them how the festival is planned for this year, and for the next few months I would be in contact with them for all of their questions and concerns (there were many). Two of my organization also wanted to take part in the pre-festival portion of our event, so I helped them facilitate those events and promote them on social media.

I was also responsible for attending meetings with our ERN network and one of the initiatives that Malta leads on every year, that we do together, is a video campaign of Meet the Researcher. It brings together researchers from the respective countries of the participants in our network who answer questions pertaining to their research and whatever theme we choose for that year. I had to handle this task from creating the questions, to looking for researchers, to making sure that all of our partners submit their videos on time, to editing and posting the videos on social media.

With the festival getting closer and closer, our days became more stressful, but the vision of the festival became clearer. Unfortunately, I got very sick and couldn’t attend the first day. It was miserable, but I quickly recovered to come back on the second day and was happy to be the volunteer manager for info point volunteers, who helped to inform visitors about where to go and encouraged them to take our survey. Since the festival was taking place at Triton Square, a very popular area in Malta since it is where you enter the capital city of Valletta, there were a lot of passersby who wanted to know what is happening – although the festival is very well-established among the Maltese, especially families. By the end of the night, we were all incredibly tired but happy: the festival had gone well!

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity of having worked with my team and learned so much during my experience there. It was challenging, but supportive, and I made friends for life – one of them is sitting beside me as I type. If you are interested in taking part in a Science Communication internship, I highly recommend checking the https://scienceinthecity.org.mt/ website.

Tips for other Interns

Visa application

For EU residents, a VISA is not needed when going to Malta.

Internshipsearch

I found the internship on a website called erasmusintern.org – although I wish it were better website, it’s worth looking at when you first start searching, perhaps you will find an amazing internship as I did.

Apartmentsearch

I found my room on Facebook, as most of my friends in Malta did. I only found it after I had moved, staying in a hostel for the first 10 days. Initially I had booked a room with a company named Rooms Malta (https://roomsmalta.mt/), refereed to me by ESN Malta and I highly warn against them since they scammed me, and many other people.

Insurance

For the Erasmus internship you have to take out additional insurance. I haven’t had to use mine during my stay so I won’t recommend a specific one.

Other

Make sure to apply for the bus card before you arrive, so you can use public transportation for free as soon as you’re there.

Bank/Accountopening

I didn’t have to open a new bank account, but I would recommend opening a evolut account to anyone who wants to come to Malta – often there were places where you could only pay in cash or by Revolut transfer. With taxis being a mode of transportation you use relatively often, it’s also helpful when sharing the costs with someone.

Going out options

There’s a lot to do in Malta, especially in the summer months. Not only does it have so much natural beauty – you can go to the beach, swim, hike, climb – it’s also known to organize many festivals and has vibrant club (Saint Julian’s) and bar (Sliema, Valletta) scenes to offer. Personally I enjoyed evenings in Valletta the most, although the city gets quiet around midnight. It’s very beautiful and quite well connected with buses which is rare in Malta. It was nice knowing that until 10pm I had a way of coming home.