Evy LaVelle in Sardinia

 We have seen a lot of waste on this trip so far. Here are some of the photos I have taken. Enjoy! "The Princess and the Pea" This image is me at the Arborea waste management plant. Behind me is a pile of mattresses. "Evy and Her Food Waste" I am standing next to smelly food waste getting ready to be fed to the Anaerobic Digestor. Yum :) "She's Hungry!" This is the Anaerobic Digestor that takes nearby food waste and digests it to create biogas. This Biogas is burned and the energy is put onto the grid. This plant has a maximum capacity of 1 MW. "One Big Lasagna" This photo is pasta waste that will be fed to the Anaerobic Digestor. The waste comes from a pasta factory which sells their bad batches to this plant. A win for everyone involved. "The Green Landfill (sustainable)" Taken at the Arborea waste management center, this is a landfill that is closed and covered. It is comprised of all materials that cannot be composted or recycle...

 This weekend was our first weekend away from Cagliari and it was so much fun. We were picked up by land rovers and first driven to an old mine. We explored the mines which are very extensive. I was a little worried to go inside of them because I am scared of small spaces underground. Then, we went to the sand dunes and beach. It is probably the most beautiful beach I have been to in my life. We had a delicious lunch on the beach and went in the water. After that we drove to the place we would stay for the night. It was a hotel/farm which was so much fun. There were chickens running around and I got to pet a goat! Then we made pasta and had my favorite dinner yet. It was a huge dinner with many courses. We got to eat the pasta we made which was delicious. To finish the night we went to the top of the hill and watched the stars. The next day we left the hotel and went to a cave in the mountains. It was so cool to see the natural pool that formed inside of the cave. Next we went back...

 We visited the Arborea Waste Management Complex on Wednesday this week and it was awesome. Going into the visit, I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew it would smell bad and there would be trash, but I didn't expect to see such a complex system to sort waste. Seeing how metal material was separated by a magnet was really cool. I also loved seeing the machine that had air blow bottles in different directions to sort them. I didn't expect myself to be so fascinated by the waste complex. It felt fulfilling to see what we have been studying in real life. My favorite part was getting to understand the sustainability practices that the Arborea Waste Management Complex uses. I loved seeing their system of collecting rain water from the landfill to water the plants they used for composting. I also have never seen a landfill before so I appreciated seeing that. I took so many photos because of how in awe I was of the plant. Strangely, I didn't feel horrible after seeing all of t...

 My first impression of Sardinia has been excellent. Even after less than a week, I think I could move here. The weather is nice, the food is delicious, the people are fun, and the island is beautiful!! The beach has been one of my favorite activities so far. The water is so refreshing, especially on the hot days here. I also loved doing the tour of Castello. The tour guide was amazing and pointed out some things that I would have never noticed. I had no idea that Sardinia has had so many different people rule over it. I was also unaware that part of the island was bombed during World War II. I feel like I have already learned so much about it in the five days I have been here. Exploring Cagliari with the other students on the dialogue has been so fun. Everyone is adventurous and excited to experience as much of Cagliari as possible, which has pushed me out of my comfort zone. I have loved every second I have spent here so far, and I know I have time left, but I still dread the day...

      I have been to Italy once a few years ago. I was in Sicily which I found to be very different from American culture. Since that is my only reference, I would expect the culture to be similar here, however, I could be wrong. In general I found that people were much more social than in the United States. When people heard me speaking English they would come up to me constantly asking where I was from and what I was doing there. I have never been abroad so long in my life as I will be in Cagliari. I think it will be somewhat difficult to spend so much time in a place and not speak the language, although I also expect that most people in Cagliari will speak English. I am not sure about the other smaller towns that we will visit. I hope I will be able to make friends with the Italian student who go to the University. I think that speaking with locals will be the best way to immerse myself in the culture here. I also look forward to trying dishes that are specific to the ...