On the first of October, I started a journey from Malta, my home country to Genoa, Italy. A journey similar to the ones I did before except for the fact that I did not have my mobile phone. A journey that brought me to the Novitiate: a physical location but also a journey of two years.

Before I started my flight, I gave my time of arrival and landmark to Josef (another Maltese novice who has just started his second year), hoping that I will find him upon my arrival. Throughout the journey I was worried about whether we will actually manage to meet. But to my surprise, not only did we meet but he arrived dressed up in an elegant suit. What a service! I thought to myself. As I spoke to him, I learned that it was only because he came straight after a wedding ceremony.

Throughout the journey, I was also thinking about how I would communicate in Italian. A language which I studied in secondary school but it has been quite a while now, almost 15 years. And to say the truth, I always struggled with it. In this respect, during the first few weeks I found it tiring to speak, hear and listen only in Italian. But slowly, slowly my language skills are improving, not to mention that every now and then I invent some new Italian words myself when my vocabulary is not sufficient to communicate my message.

It is also not the first time that the cook asks me to bring something and he greets me with a baffled look when I return with another. I am not the only foreign novice. I started my novitiate with seven other novices. There are four Italian nationals, two novices from Romania and a Slovenian. We joined nine other second year novices who did their best to help us settle down easily. Together we create a multinational environment.

I am now about to start, the first of a series of experiments, that will help me test and clarify my vocation. The first experiment is the Spiritual Exercises which grew out of Ignatius Loyola’s personal experience. I realise that I am in the fourth month of this journey. A journey of new experiences and new people….to be continued