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.

Sand Dunes and Pasta

This past weekend we explored a lot more of the sardinian culture and had a great time doing it. After a week of classes, a technical visit and a guest speaker, you would expect that we would all want to take a break and relax in the sun but that clearly wasn't the case this weekend.

We started Saturday bright and early at 9am and went to a geomining park on the western coast of the island called Porto Flavia. Walking through some of the old mine shafts and seeing what it was like to work in such cold and dark conditions was really interesting, and the amazing view didn't hurt either. After walking around the mine site and the beach on the coast, we made our way inland through some steep mountains on some even steeper roads to end up in an Agriturismo. This was a farm that we stayed at and ate amazing food and even learned how to make traditional sardinian pasta and dessert, which we then proceeded to eat once they were cooked. The last place we explored this weekend was the piscinas sand dunes and beach. This was a surreal experience where when you looked down the coast there where sandy beaches and huge sand dunes that could pass for small mountains, but when you looked back towards the mainland there were even huger mountains that towered over the surrounding landscapes. This weekend was amazing and I learned a lot about the culture too!

Trash in Cagliari

Here are just a few photos of how the people of Cagliari deal with their waste. Seems as though most of the waste collection and street cleaning are done at night or very early in the morning.

Early morning one man cleaning crew 1.0

Early morning one man cleaning crew 2.0

Late night waste collection using a trash truck

Small recycling trash can

Small waste can

Regular trash can outside a small bar

Curb side waste collection cans (recycling)

Opening on top of cans for easy depositing

"Mixed Waste" sign in front of large curb site waste bin

Small identification label on the large waste bin

The Good the Bad and the Smelly

Class has begun. After exploring the city and eating and drinking too much for a few days we have finally added homework and projects to the mix. Classes started on Monday and we will have class Monday, Tuesday and Friday every week with a technical visit to waste plants of different varieties every Wednesday as well. The classrooms are exactly what you would expect from and university; white or blackboard, pretty dreary walls, and desks so small that writing on them or even fitting an entire notebook on them is nearly impossible. But the classes, focused on waste management and policy in Europe, are interesting and quite different from what I have learned about the U.S. so far.

Today was our first technical visit; we traveled to an industrial park outside of the city which was surrounded by marshes, salt-flats, and mountains off in the distance creating an otherworldly effect. Our first stop was to a paper recycling plant (papiro sarda). We were given a tour around the facility and saw how the waste arrived at the plant as either mixed paper waste ranging in color and size and containing cardboard or in baled, higher quality paper (not unlike the paper you would find in an office or printer). the paper was then shredded and turned into a pulp that eventually reached a consistency that could be dried, flattened, and turned into paper or cardboard. While walking around we were able to see the higher quality in all of its forms at the plant and even the final product; it’s crazy to see the paper come in to the plant in a chaotic, colorful mess and leave in an organized role that is uniform in color.

Our second stop for the day was a waste to energy plant located right down the road. I have been really interested in waste to energy plants as of late, but I can definitely say for sure now that I will never be a fan if the smell. I really enjoyed seeing all of the sorting and conveying equipment as well as the treatment stages and controls, but that smell was still awful.

Two days of class and one technical visit down, plenty more to come. Cooking lessons and sand dunes this weekend! Pictures of Italian waste management and street are to come in the next few days.

First Few Days

I can’t begin to describe how much I like Cagliari already, but I’m going to try (oh and I will add a few pictures at the end of the blog post to try and show how beautiful it is).

The first day we arrived in the city, we settled in to our rooms very quickly and then immediately decided to explore the city and find some true Italian food. We stumbled upon a restuarant called Incognito that served pizza and only pizza, safe to say that it really was amazing and that wasn't just because I was starving.  Everyone we went with got their own personal pizzas, and I’m almost positive that everyone finished them.

The second day was our first full day in the city and also the first day that we met the environmental engineers from the Italian University in Cagliari, we all awkwardly introduced ourselves (since we can’t speak any Italian and they spoke very little English), but were eventually able to figure out ways to converse! After a few lectures from the professors, both Italian ones (Prof. Aldo Muntoni, Prof. Raffaello Cossu) and our Professor (Annalisa), we went out to a 13 course dinner at "l'antica   Cagliari". Yes. That’s right, I did mean to say 13 courses, and it was absolutely amazing.

The third day we had free time in the morning and then were invited to Professor Cossu’s home by the beach for a cookout. The house was located on a hill overlooking the ocean and was beautiful. The food was even more amazing but the people and atmosphere had to be the best part. Oh and I swam in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. It was perfect, and just a little cold.

Today we went on a trip to some of the islands oldest historic sites called nuragic complexes and then went exploring for wild Italian horses! So it was basically another wild day in Sardinia!

View from our room!

Some cool street art.

The view from the beach

Beach 2.0

Rooftop views are pretty cool too.

Men working the grill.

Searching for horses.

Horses part 2.

Quiet Italian town.

Before I leave

I’m a little nervous to be honest. I have never been over to Italy before, I have never spoken Italian before, I have never taken a college course abroad before. That is a lot of new experiences packed into five short weeks. A few burning questions that have been stuck in my head for the past few weeks are, what will the city look like up close, will it be easy to navigate for a foreigner?, will I be able to converse with anyone outside of the students in my classes or my professor (such as other Italian students)?, what will taking a college course in Italy feel like compared to taking one in Boston? The more questions that I have, the more excited I am to finally fly over to Sardinia and experience the island for myself.

It is safe to say that I have a rather limited idea of what I should expect from the Italian people and culture. The background for my lack of knowledge pertaining to Italy stems from the few movies I have watched in the past (and it basically consists of a country with extremely friendly people, hot days and nights and pasta, pasta, pasta). I don’t think this is a particularly bad state to be in though; I have so many questions and a general lack of expectations for my Italian experiences that I am so eager to fly over and take in and absorb everything for myself with wide, unknowing eyes.  What I am probably most excited for is being thrown into a country where I cannot speak the language and I have no idea how to navigate the culture; this is the type of situation where it will be necessary for me to leave my comfort zone and interact with new people (probably rather poorly seeing as I can’t speak Italian).

While in Sardinia these are just a few goals that I hope to achieve:

1. Learn enough Italian so that I can form at least one full, coherent sentence
2. Try a new food everyday
3. Explore as much of the city as I can in my free time
4. Understand the Sardinian culture and what makes it unique
5. Learn how American environmental engineering practices and policies differ from Italian ones
6. Take at least 5 pictures a day

I hope to keep track of the goals that I have set and return to them at the end of my trip to see if I actually have reached them all. While I may be slightly nervous and full of questions, I am definitely overwhelmingly excited to be traveling to Sardinia and to be immersed in the culture.