For someone who’s religiously in the pool by 6am most mornings and whose favourite cologne is ‘eau de chlorine’, this is particularly accurate. But even for the more normal people who are not so energetic at weird hours of the morning, this is somewhat true – a pool always makes things look more attractive.

Before getting into the ins and outs of why I started off this blog post talking about swimming pools, I need to explain things a bit. You see, our company, MUHC operates from a number of different locations. I tend to work from an office at Campus FM at the University of Malta, Msida Campus. Some of my buddies are based close by also on Campus but one of the main locations is the University Residence in Lija. In fact it is home to the Language school and also provides student accommodation (with a free shuttle to and from University).

Last week I was lucky enough to get a bit of a change in scene when I was asked to help out with an activity being held in Lija. I was immediately excited firstly because the residence is a 2 minute drive from home and secondly because it has a nifty carpark right outside. (Working on campus has its perks but parking is definitely not one of them, in fact, my trip to work usually includes a 15 minute walk)

Having a British mum has had its effect on a number of things in my life. Primarily I am someone who is always early, even when I plan to be late, I still somehow end up arriving on time. This is by no means advantageous living in Malta, especially when you end up being that awkward person waiting around in restaurants at an empty table of 10 or so. But being early for work meant that I had ample time to snoop around before my shift. I was highly impressed to find out that the Malta University Residence has a 400m cross country running track as well as tennis and basketball courts. The cherry on the cake was walking through reception and straight into a decent sized pool area. What’s more is that I was able to grab a coffee from the bar close by and sit on deck to soak up the scene. DOESN’T IT LOOK STUNNING? Apparently the pool is also opened to the public during summer time.

The residence also has a large green field in its surrounding with an area set up specifically for archery. In fact one of my jobs is to organise team building activities for companies and this is an area that we make use of. Groups of employees get to join us for a fun-filled day filled with some of the most creative games you can think of like life-size Jenga and catapulting angry birds at targets. On less sunny days the conference room is also made use of for activities such as quiz events.

All in all the University Residence is a pretty cool place to visit and an even cooler place to work at. It was fun while it lasted but now it’s back to my usual office and my office buddy Reggie (who I kind of missed having around for a few days).