Summer in Sardinia

  Waste brush used to create an octopus sculpture at the Ex cava Dondina.   Sorted plastic waste ready for baling and transport at the Consorzio Industriale Provinciale Oristano (CIPO). Hooks for collection bins for an apartment building in Cagliari. Car waste, now litter, left on the side of the road in Cagliari.   Waste paper pulp being reformed into new sheets at Papiro Sarda.   Separate collection bags in our apartment in Cagliari.

Time is fickle here. On lecture days, we get home after the afternoon session and sit down to start doing homework and look up to find that it’s already 8 o’clock. Then, it feels as though every minute that slipped away over the past week snuck back in into the past three days, lengthening them beyond their normal capacity to accommodate sand and salty air, winding roads from the back of a Land Rover, and the sound of ocean waves. Saturday began with our departure from Cagliari in a convoy of white Land Rovers (with one black sheep), a trek across flat plains eerily reminiscent of the U.S. Mountain West in how mountains rise to bracket the horizon to both sides, and then our ascent through those mountains. The roads were steep, narrow, and winding strips of cracked asphalt that blended into dirt, encompassed by slopes of green. The approach to Montevecchio was punctuated by a barren riverbed appearing to our right, banks coated with an orange tint, heralding the arrival of industrial s...

A breeze rippling off of the salt pans west of Cagliari mixes the scent of the sea with the slightly sour smell that surrounds Papiro Sarda. It also tosses stray pieces of paper, as insignificant as grains of sand to the behemoth facility that squats in the center of the industrial park, across the on-ramp as we walk up it, the smell growing stronger. We enter through its maw - the receiving area, piles of paper rising to one side and stacked one-ton bales walling in the other - and approach the first stage of the recycling: the pulper. Here, water is mixed with paper down to a 5% solids concentration slurry in the equivalent of a large food processor.  The receiving area at PapiroSarda. Credit: Danielle Stone. The pulper misting paper with water and blending it into a slurry. Credit: Danielle Stone. From there, a series of screens and density separators remove contaminants accumulated during the waste collection process. The use of a cyclone is interesting since it was operating u...

In what is our fourth day here, I feel as though I've just begun to crack open a geode. I still scratch myself on the rough, unfamiliar exterior, but I see a glimpse of the jewels waiting within yet to be enjoyed. Unlike somewhere like Boston, which I have had the chance to slowly erode my way to the beauty of over the past two years, and have two more years to explore every facet of, Cagliari - and Sardinia - are a fleeting experience that I don't want to let slip away. The view along a street near our apartment. The city is deceivingly like the United States - most everyone is in sneakers, with more jeans than I expected; there is a great deal of cars and car infrastructure; food is still sold in similar packaging; stop signs look no different; and there is a slight amount of litter. But there is also so much difference to be savored, like the sharp, lilting sounds of Italian and Sardinian, a chatter that I cannot understand as readily as English, instead plucking individual ...

 I do not have a lot of preconceived notions about Italian culture (or Sardinian culture within it, as from what I've heard, Sardinia is not the same as the mainland). My only exposure outside of history textbooks to Italy has been from Where to Invade Next , a Michael Moore film, and a couple of food documentaries. I do expect more of an emphasis on leisure time, a lot of wine and excellent food, and people that are, if not friendly, laid-back.  From my previous experiences on a Dialogue and from personal travel, it can be initially disorienting but ultimately very rewarding to spend time in a place where I do not yet know the customs or the language beyond a few words. It pays off to be cautious at first to avoid treading on customs you don't yet know well, but even just from walking down the street and observing, there is plenty that can be learned about a new place. Staying in an apartment that is more connected to the surrounding area than a hostel or a hotel will help, I...