Mostly sunny days

This weekend was my favorite thus far. Friday we headed off to the Barbagia region. We risked capture by the barbarians to enjoy an interesting meal with shepherds. The barbarians don’t seem as dangerous compared to the Italian tourists we ran into. That was an interesting cultural experience... I wasn’t expecting anyone to have a positive reaction to Americans, however many of those women were pretty excited about it. While I didn’t personally enjoy suckling pig or rabbit, I definitely enjoyed the cheese and had fun through the meal, from not getting any utensils to the dance party at the end.

I feel as if everywhere we’ve visited has been more beautiful than the past. I loved hiking in the mountain by the hotel and when we came into view of the water on the bus, my mouth literally dropped. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a gorgeous view. I thoroughly enjoyed the day between the views and getting to spend my time on boats and beaches. I’m not normally a big beach person, but getting the view of the mountains paired with different sand (albeit painful sand) and beautiful clear blue water was perfect. I could definitely get used to vigorous sunscreen application if I got to spend my time in the sun in those settings. 

Landfilling

Today we visited Sardinia’s first sanitary landfill. There are a variety of landfills on site, some complete and some still collecting. However, each landfill requires 30 years of management after closure, meaning there is still work happening even where filling is not. In the 90’s this landfill began collecting biogas and built a cogeneration plant. The landfill now is only permitted to collect “special” mostly hazardous industrial waste and ash from incinerators. This means the amount of biogas produced is lower without any organic material breaking down. This created problems for the cogeneration plant, leading to their decision to build a solar farm. While the landfill biogas generates 5 million kWh, the solar farm generates 1.5 million kWh. Since the EU is moving away from incentivizing landfill biogas, they plan to build an anaerobic digester at the plant to produce biogas.

Weekend Getaway~

This weekend we traveled out of the city to visit the Parco Geominerario Storico Ambientale Della Sardegna and to stay at Sa Perda Marcada near the west coast of Sardinia. We put on our third set of hardhats for the trip to travel through a transport system for materials being mined. We saw along our way land that was purely mining waste, churches built solely for the sake of miners, and gorgeous views along the water.

When we arrived at Sa Perda Marcada, we immediately ventured around the farmland to find all the animals. We found horses, cats, dogs, chickens, geese, and a giant turkey. The farm was beautiful and very relaxing. It was nice to stay somewhere in the country. We enjoyed yet another multi-course dinner, following a multi-course lunch, leaving everyone drowsy and full in the evening. While I've loved the food I've eaten, I’m still adjusting to how to manage the continuous flow of food. It was great eating fresh vegetables, eggs, and cheese from the farm. In the morning we enjoyed a more American style breakfast (there were delicious eggs and yogurt) and then learned to make Malloreddus and Seadas, a small rolled pasta and a fried cheese and lemon filled pastry. Both were delicious at lunch, we did well! Following lunch we headed to the beach to enjoy the sand dunes, sun, and the strongest waves I've ever seen. It was the best weekend I've had in some time. 

Trash life

Street collection

Bus collection, where's the recycling??

Paper recycling plant

Paper smoothie

Compost!

That's a lot of trash.

 

Treatment plants field trip

Today we visited three different waste management plants. First we checked out the paper recycling plant which recycles half of Sardinia's paper. The plant was capable of making a variety of different papers, from cardboard to high quality notebook paper. They regularly collected from mixed newspaper, commercial cardboard, and leftover cardboard scraps from companies cutting cardboard boxes. They were currently making higher quality paper from office and university paper waste. It was really interesting seeing the actual process and how much water was involved. The paper was mixed with water, put through various filters to remove contaminants, and then taken from a mixture with 1% paper fiber and 99% water all the way to large uniform rolls of full paper.

Next we visited the composting plant. Since Italians have to separate and treat all of their waste, all organic material comes through this plant. First off bags of organic material are aerated for 30 days, moving every 6 days in order to mix and move the material. In this time the material must be at 55 degrees Celsius for 3 days in order to kill pathogens. Next it spends time maturing inside another building. Finally it is taken to piles outside where it is exposed to air and temperature variation. It will be tested and finally sold for only 2 Euros of the 160 Euros it takes per ton to produce.

Lastly we visited a waste to energy incineration plant. We arrived and worked our way from the ash produced to the incinerators to the huge piles of trash themselves. Apparently today there was a diaper which should have been placed in hazardous material however it was detected, halting procedure while someone had to dig around to find this one said diaper. This company did solid waste management, water treatment, and hazardous waste treatment all at one location. They could work together to treat the leachate water from solid waste right on site. It was really fun to see all the treatment plants in person, despite the variety of fragrances we experienced… 

First Weekend

The past couple of days have flown by. I am still adjusting to the jet lag, sometimes it feels like it is getting worse rather than better. The first day meeting students from Cagliari and Padua was a great introduction. We bonded quickly and learned about some of our differences and similarities through debate. I’m already loving the friendly nature of Italians. Visiting the beach house with Professor Cusso and the Padua students was a blast! Despite the rain, we still had time to hang out on the beach and show off our ability to tolerate the cold water (I still think it was freezing despite many Northeastern comments on how much warmer it was than our beaches).

Today we visited Barumini, Su Nuraxi, and Giara. I loved walking through the nuraghe, particularly getting to walk through doorways designed for entirely different people. I find it impossible to even fathom how old structures here are. The history behind this culture is so much deeper than the American “culture” is. Also it is interesting that many of these structures have been simply buried and hidden away or built on top of. The archeologist who uncovered Su Nuraxi is still alive, that seems absurd to me. I like to think about what else is out there we haven’t found yet.

I just returned from spending four months working on a permaculture farm in Costa Rica a few days ago. Now I’m preparing to spend about four months in Europe, starting off with this first month in Cagliari. My first instincts are excitement for delicious food and spending time in a Mediterranean climate. I’m nervous to go from an isolated farm in the jungle, to this chaotic time of preparation and catching up, to an entirely different culture with an entirely new language.

After immersing myself in a relatively new community in Costa Rica, I’m interesting in this switch to a culture which connects deeply to its history. I’m excited to explore an area which has been inhabited for a period of time unfathomable to me. Many of the Italians I’ve met have been really proud of who they are and where they come from. Most have been boisterous, friendly, and very welcoming. While I don’t expect everyone to treat me like an old friend, I’m curious to see how I am treated on the street, in a classroom, in a restaurant. I’m ready to go with the flow and meet and hopefully befriend a part of Italy.