First Impressions

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 words that catch my ear to be hoarded as proof of my understanding. The grocery store lacks peanut butter, but makes up for it with an array of fresh pasta and breads that have no equal back home. The scent of cigarette smoke wends its way through the narrow streets (some more staircase than road, in truth), much stronger than it is in Boston, and the buildings that flank these streets are entirely Mediterranean in character, from the balconies with clothing hung out to the dry to the clay-red rows of arching tiles and the wrought-iron balconies gracing every room, set against the backdrop of the Castello's medieval towers walls rising from the heart of the city.

 The Torre di San Pancrazio in the Castello, a fine example of mass timber construction.

When I can blend in by saying little and relying on the limited Italian I know, things are smooth. But even when I need to resort to mixed English and hand signals, people laugh it off and gently help me along. They are friendly in other ways too, trading directions for a ticket to the Antiteatre Romano when I had no cash to acquire one, and punctuating every interaction with a barrage of "Prego" and "Grazie." So far, Cagliari is stealing a piece of my heart with jewel-blue waters always in the corner of my eye, an array of vegan restaurants and groceries that I cant wait to try more of, almond-orange-honey gelato enjoyed under the night sky along the marina, and a friendliness that becomes more and more apparent the further I delve.

The Antiteatre Romano, or Roman Amphitheater, in Cagliari.

A vegan panada, a traditional Sardinian dish.

The program itself has barely begun - one day of lectures on solid waste that I saw in my class last semester - but is off to a promising start. The lab tour of quartering and the analysis equipment was interesting, showing a practical approach to the analysis techniques I have learned. I am looking forward to our homework's 36-page reading on recycling rather than dreading it, and, while I appreciate the weekend, am excited for Monday to come already. There are so many more gems yet to discover.