Fine.

I really can't believe this trip is coming to an end. I have enjoyed everywhere I have been and all of the experiences I have gained throughout my time in Sardinia, but I feel like I have been so busy seeing new things and haven't had a significant amount of time to reflect on what I have experienced to put everything into perspective. I'm certainly not complaining. Words cannot describe how much I appreciate what I have learned on this island and the friends I have made. While I'm incredibly sad to be leaving in a week, I'm also looking forward to heading back home to reflect on my experiences. I can't stress enough how incredibly thankful I am for everything I have gained from my time here. I'm going to miss this island, but I know I will come back some day. 

In the Summertime

"In the Summertime" by Mungo Jerry has been playing for almost three days straight now and it's really stuck in my head. We took a sailboat cruise on Monday, sailing around the southeastern coast of the island and stopping at a couple of beaches along the way. In the morning, we stopped at a small, seemingly uninhabited island- aside from one lighthouse I didn't see any other buildings. I swam into the island and hiked to the top of a small rocky hill and got an amazing view of the island, the ocean, and the surrounding land. We had a lunch consisting of pasta, sausage, bread, cheese, and wine & mirto on the sailboat. After that, we stopped at another beach where we spent the rest of the afternoon. That night, I decided to visit a restaurant run by two brothers that I had met at the local music bar, Republik, and had become friendly with. Fabrizio and Gianluca had been messaging me asking for me to visit their restaurant with friends, so I thought it would be nice to stop by, grab some pizza and say hi. What I thought was going to be a quick bite to eat turned into about a six hour dinner. We walked into the massive restaurant, 3 Archi, and were immediately greeted by Gianluca. He brought us into one of the rooms and we shared a bottle of wine. Then, he brought us to a table where we ate delicious pizza followed by cappuccinos and seemingly endless mirto. Gianluca's older brother Fabrizio introduced us to his entire family- mother, father, other brother Stefano, and younger sister Alessandra. After paying (a VERY reduced bill) and chatting for some time, they brought us just about every drink in the restaurant- beers, liquors, etc. Towards the end, before we left and after the restaurant was closed, Dima and Danielle were the bartenders, serving us and the two brothers. It was incredible end to an amazing day, and an experience that I will never forget. Tuesday, we had a guest speaker come in to talk about site contamination from the old mining areas on the island. It was really fascinating, and the man who gave the presentation was very enthusiastic and interesting. Today, we spent the day at Tuerredda, a beach about an hour and a half from the city- it was very windy and not nearly as crowded as Poetto. Just like all the other beaches on the island, it was gorgeous.

The lighthouse

Dima, Danielle, and Fabrizio bartending

Poetto

After finishing up a week of schoolwork, we had a couple days of free time this weekend. I spent a lot of time walking around the city, but most of my time in the past few days has been spent at Poetto beach- a gorgeous beach about 5 miles from where we're staying. I've never liked crowded beaches and Poetto is crowded compared to many of the beaches I regularly go to at home; but the perfect temperatures and warm, clear water makes it absolutely worth it. The beach is 8 kilometers long, one of the longest beaches in Europe, and is covered in soft, light, almost white sand. Today, we rented standup paddle-boards and paddled around the cove of the beach. We found a surprising amount of starfish in the bay and had some fun making a little collection while we paddle-boarded around. At the end of the day when we decided we wanted to go back home, the buses were too crowded to even get through the door. After walking up a few bus stops and waiting for over two hours, Maggie, Dylan, and I decided to walk back to the city. It was about 5 miles, but the walk was really nice. Tomorrow we're taking a mini cruise in Villasimius, a town in the far southeast corner of Sardinia. 

Site Visit 6/3

Today, we went to visit another waste treatment facility. The facility, shown below, included a landfill, a composting plant, an anaerobic digester, as well as wind turbines and a solar farm.

Our guide for the day, a chemist at the waste plant (who spoke excellent English, and later told us that he had been to the U.K. for a week, and this was his second time speaking English in public!), explained that all of the trucks that come into the facility must be weighed before and after, so they know exactly how much waste is coming in on a daily basis. The waste is made up of mostly municipal waste, though some "special" waste consisting of industrial office trash also comes into the facility. He took us through all of the different facilities, explaining what they are all used for. I found the composting plant to be particularly interesting- since Italians usually do not have garbage disposals, the content of organics from food waste going into the waste plant is much higher than in the U.S. The guide also explained the differences in compost, depending on whether or not sewage sludge is included in the waste, and the content (i.e. wooden waste, iron scraps, "light" waste, etc.) of the waste. As a whole, the Villaservice Spa produces about 1.5 million cubic meters of biogas from the anaerobic plant per year, 1.1 million cubic meters of biogas from the landfill, and uses 800,000 cubic meters every year for electrical power; producing about 2.3 million kWh of electricity every year.

Weigh-in station

Our guide showing us around the facilities

Lots of seagulls

Compost smells gooooood

Biogas dome

On right - biogas flare

Forearm tanning

Biogas reactor

View from the top of the biogas reactor

After the waste facility, we went to a nearby mountain to walk around and see a waterfall called "Sa Spendula." Unfortunately, because it's summer, the streams and waterfall were relatively dry and there wasn't much water. It was still great to see the area and enjoy the outdoors for an afternoon.

Weekend Excursion 5/29-30

After a week of classes, we left Friday morning to go towards the eastern portion of the middle of Sardinia. First, we stopped at a museum that displayed old traditional Sardinian clothing in area. It was interesting to hear about the clothing and the influences from different parts of the world. After the museum, we visited an old small beautiful church nearby. A few of us ran up a small hill near the church afterwards and climbed some rocks on the top.

We then took the bus up winding roads to the top of a mountain where we were greeted by shepherds for a lunchtime feast. The food was amazing! The meal started with bread, cured meats and a smoked sheep cheese. Then, we were served goat cooked with potatoes and onions. Last was the smoked pig. The shepherds came around about every 5 minutes refilling everyone's wine cup and concluded the meal with "firewater" which was an incredibly strong grain alcohol.  There were large groups of older Italian men and woman also there for lunch- after too much wine and firewater, they began taking particular interest in us and wanted to take pictures with everyone. Also after the meal, the shepherds performed a set of shepherd mountain songs, which were made up of harmonized throat singing. Afterwards, they taught everyone traditional group dances. 

We spent the night at a hotel. When we got there, some of us decided to hike up the mountain right near the hotel. The view was so incredible, we decided to wake up at 5am the next morning to catch the sunrise at the top of the mountain. We spent the next day visiting several beaches and a coastal cave in the area. The beaches and the cave are surrounded by massive cliffs and mountains and are only accessible by boat.