Parade and last days

Well, it is my last full day in Sardinia. yesterday and last night was a perfect send-off from the island. We all went to a parade and festival combination in a small town that was beyond anything that I expected. Between all of the horses and floats that passed through the streets to the candies and cookies that all of the townspeople threw as well as all the wine that was handed out, it was hard not to have an amazing time.

I’m definitely sad to be leaving. I guess I have become accustomed to the delicious pasta, beautiful landscapes and abundant beaches and I can’t believe how much we packed into four weeks, both culturally and academically.  While the food, people and cultural experiences were amazing, I also can not wait to be headed home to be with my friends and family again. One month in Italy has felt like half a year or longer and I can’t tell if it's from the long nights paired with early wake-up times, or sheer amount of things we did that filled our time here so well. Probably both. We are wrapping up class today and heading to the airport tomorrow. I’m happy to have been here and happy to be headed home.

Blue water

Since the last blog, we have seen and swam in a lot of water. On Monday we took a really cool, mostly wooden, boat out on the water on the eastern coast of the island and made our way to a few islands and got the chance to swim and snorkel around the ocean and also explore the island (which were not fun to walk around on barefoot). The entire day was tiring but so worth it, the views, both above and below water, were wild.

On Tuesday we had a guest speaker come in and talk about contaminated old mining sites on the island that are still an issue to date. It was really interesting to see how one period in the island’s history was still having such a large impact on it now. Also, it was mildly concerning that one of the pictures that the presenter scrolled through was of a stream that we had walked through to get to some really cool sand dunes, oh well.

Today was another amazing beach day. We went to a fairly uncrowded beautiful beach and basically had the water to ourselves. While the wind on the beach was pretty strong the sun was definitely stronger! Between swimming around in the crystal clear water and eating so much ice cream, it’s safe to say that I’m exhausted.

Just a few pictures

Lazy weekend

There were no wild trips to the mountains or sand dunes this weekend.  Just a lazy couple of days in the city and on the beach.  We visited the beach twice this weekend and although it was just 10 minutes outside of the city, the landscape was beautiful mountains and palm trees for miles. I’m not exaggerating either, the strip actually went on for a couple of miles! The only daunting part of the weekend was actually getting to the beach. The buses were not terribly hard to figure out and the ride to the beach wasn't bad but the real issues started when we were trying to get back to the city. We usually left the beach around 4 or 5pm and walked to the nearest bus stop. As we were walking towards it we could tell that at least 40 other people had the same idea we did! Since the buses come pretty infrequently, when one does come, it’s a mad dash to try and squeeze in, and by the time we got in one today we had waited almost 2 hours and missed about 5 buses. The waits and crammed rides was still worth the amazing beach days. Nothing but sun, salty water and starfish.

Boating and biogas

Since my last post only a few days ago, the group and I have learned a lot and experienced even more. And it’s only Wednesday! On Monday, we had class and a guest speak that came in to talk to us about the management of contaminated waste sites, something that I find particularly interesting. After a thorough and detailed lecture, we were given time to work on our projects that are due later this week. While we did work on the project during this time, I couldn't help but be so excited waiting for Tuesday to come. Tuesday turned out to be an amazing day filled with boating, swimming, beach lounging and plenty of sun. We arrived at the harbor and were given very brief instructions, filling with boating jargon, on how to navigate and sail a boat. IT turned out that we really only did need a few minutes of instructions because with the help of our guide we were able to move and turn where we wanted to when we wanted to, which was somewhat of a surprise! We boated around, stopping to swim and just relaxing in the sun for hours. You can imagine how exhausted we were when we got back to the dorms and I’m almost positive that everyone passed out early.

Today we took a bus on another technical visit to a plant that does anaerobic digestion of waste, composting, recycling, landfilling and recovery of landfill gas for generation of heat and electricity. The facility was managed by Villaservice s.a.p. and they even had a wind turbine farm and solar farm on their site; it was really amazing to see all of these facilities in one location. We were given rundown of what the whole facility did, from when they receive the waste to when they place it in a landfill or produce a waste slurry after digestion and treatment. I was particularly excited to see some of the intermediate steps up close such as the trommel screen and the digester tanks, since we have learned about them in numerous classes in the past. It was also really interesting to see how, as regulations change for waste (such as what can and can't be land-filled), the plant had to adjust their processes and what they expected as products from their work, such as the collection of gas from the landfills. An example of this, which was told to us by our guide, was when the amount of organic (or food waste) lowered drastically from about 45% of the total waste down to 10-20% of the waste stream; this consequently changed how much gas they would expect from the land-filled area of their facility and was due to the mandatory separation of food waste at everyone’s home.

Overall, this week was the perfect combination of exciting and educational experiences, and it is still on Wednesday. Only one more full week here on the island and then it is back to the states!

Bandit country and beaches

This weekend has been a flurry of events. Our weekend adventures started early when we left early Friday morning on our long trek up north towards the center of the island. This part of the island has been my favorite thus far for a number of reasons, mainly the expansive mountains that rise up over the plains, the beach that is never too far off in the distance and the history.

The first stop on our trip this weekend was at a museum (the Istituto Etnografico Della Sardegna). This was a costume museum that showed all of the traditional styles of dress that were worn by the people of the island. The history behind some of the costumes that were worn by religious people or just during festival times were dark both in color and in lore; many of the costumes exemplified that the traditional clothing were part of rituals that dated back hundreds or thousands of years.

After our stop at the museum, we made our way up to the mountains in Orgosolo, towards the eastern coast of the island but not before stopping to have lunch with some shepherds. We spent probably an equal amount of time up on the mountains exploring and hiking up steep and rocky trails as we did eating. Our dinner at the hotel we stayed at consisted of pasta (very oddly shaped pasta, kind of like an extra fat spaghetti that was hollow) with a side or rabbit and goat; both of which were delicious.

Our last day of the weekend was spent boating around the eastern coast of the island. We started off by taking a boat from one of the small towns to a system of caves, about 15 minutes away. The caves we went to were millions of years old and carved out from a once rapidly flowing ancient river. They made for incredible views; we only were allowed in the first 900 meters of the tunnels but they stretched through the island for 80 kilometers. After the caves, we spent the rest of the day beach hopping by boat. These were no ordinary beaches, they are by no means accessible by car and can only be reached by boat or by hiking (and rock climbing for much of the final leg of the hike). The water was beyond clear and when facing the water, we were surrounded by cliffs that had to have been upwards of 300 feet high. Overall, perfect weather, amazing views and clear skies was a fitting end to the weekend.

Landfills and large dinners

I still don't really understand how to order food at restaurants still. I am picking up more and more words that make me sound less like a caveman when I order food, but I still find myself ordering foods and being surprised when they arrive at the table. I’ve gone from just pointing and mumbling the different dishes the first few days, and now I try and ask the waiters how to say the words and then struggle to repeat them back. It’s a slightly painful process, for both parties involved I would guess, but I am getting better at it, I swear. The other day would be a perfect example of this type of dinnertime confusion; I went to a restaurant in the main square by our dorm with Mike, Dylan and Eli. We were starving and ready to eat our weight in pizzas or pasta dishes. We sat down and ordered wine and decided what we wanted to eat; orders that would change as soon as the waitress came over. The server asked if we wanted to start with an appetizer, and of course we said yes but didn't know what the appetizers consisted of, which, as you can imagine, was problematic. We asked the waitress to pick for us and then she walked away leaving us at our table awaiting our mystery meal. What we received was absolutely amazing and the largest appetizer I have ever seen (pictures below). The dishes, too many to count consisted of squids, clams, mussels, liver of some kind, cartilage, peppers, olives, assorted meats, breads, cheeses, and the list goes on. Clearly not knowing what you are ordering can sometimes lead to some pretty interesting dinners and experiences overall.

Switching to the academic side of the week thus far, we traveled to a nearby landfill that is still in use and were given a tour of the facility. After learning about landfilling in class as well as learning how to design a landfill, I thought I knew what I would be in for on our trip, but I was definitely wrong. The shear size of the landfill (6 smaller landfills in total) was amazing. The fact that something of that size could be engineered is incredible.  Some of the landfill couldn't even seen because it was already capped and covered in vegetation, or being built upon and thus, covered up. After taking the tour and seeing where they placed all of the special waste in the landfill, we made our way over to their generator facility. This landfill is able to capture the methane gas (bio-gas) that is produced from the waste and convert it to electricity and heat that can be used to generate the plant itself and then sell the electricity back to the grid; this is a pretty incredible process to see first hand and learn more about in both class and in the field.