Running Around the World, Part Deux: Wanderweg

The German word for trail is wanderweg, pronounced "vander vegg." Nevertheless, I have adopted this word as a clearer depiction of my adventures. I have been following a wanderweg that has let me in all directions. Here, there, and back again I have met and parted with amazing people, I couldn't be more appreciative. For those of you still reading, I have added a few cities to my itinerary.

Updated Past Itinerary

• May 14 - June 16     Cagliari, Italy
• June 16 - June 18   Brussels, Belgium
• June 18 - June 20   Paris, France
• June 20 - June 22   Munich, Germany
• June 22 - June 24   Lucerne, Switzerland
• June 24 - June 27 Geneva, Switzerland
• June 28 - July 3 Paris, France

Lucerne, Switzerland--Mount Pilatus
The first thing I have to say about Switzerland is it is much more expensive than the rest of the world. Their hourly minimum wage is 22 CHF (Swiss Francs), which is comparable to about $25/hour. Someone is definitely doing this wrong. Once we got over that the rest of Lucerne was gorgeous!! Upon arrival we got upgraded from our hostel to the hotel. Throughout our bus/train rides to Lucerne, we carried a joke that there was going to be a hot tub as well, a notion that I fully rejected. However, once we got into the lift (proper English for elevator, according to Stephanie Armstrong) there was a sign that said "Jacuzzi Fun." A few tears were shed, and we marched with new found optimism to the Alps.

All of our hiking in Lucerne was based at Mount Pilatus. This name might originate from Pontius Pilate, might originate from its manly shape, might originate from some lose translation to meaning "cloud topped," and might have something to do with a dragon, clearly not quite sure. The two days we were there were overcast to rainy, so we definitely experienced Mount Pilatus in its cloud form. The first day we embarked in the late afternoon and took the gondola up two stops. The woman at the bottom told us it was only 2 hours to the bottom from there, so the goal was to hike up for a bit, then back down. Somewhere along our way we took a wrong turn and ended up taking a longer way down. In a way it was good that our plan failed because we had no chance of submitting and making it back down the mountain, however the alternative was at least 10 mile of walking. We tried taking a bus, that we missed by fifteen minutes. We tried knocking on someone's door who had a car affiliated with our hotel. We tried hitch hiking. The only option was to walk to the nearest bus station. We did however make it back in time for a 15 CHF meal at McDonalds, ordering the cheapest things off the menu, and some Jacuzzi Fun.

On the second day, we decided to do it right and made it to the top of the mountain! Again, we did half the mountain in a gondola/tram but we made it to the bottom for pizza and more Jacuzzi Fun. Once I win the lottery I definitely will be returning to Lucerne.

Epic Playground

Geneva, Switzerland
In Geneva I met up with friends from home. There is a lot to do in Geneva so I spent a lot of time walking around to see it all. Some highlights are touring the United Nations, visiting the Jet d'Eau, taking a tram up Mont-Salève, and eating chocolate and fondue, which are not quite the same separately. By last night I was very much exhausted for our bus ride back to Paris.

What a lovely Art History student

Paris, France
Last night Stephanie and I took an overnight bus with no air conditioning from Geneva to Paris. There was a cast of characters on the bus. To mention one for the sake of a story, someone tried to smoke in the bathroom of the bus and set off the fire alarm. It is still unclear if any tampering was to be had with the smoke detectors, and honestly it is nice to know they exist! Perhaps the busline will consider in-bus safety descriptions in the future, however I will not be doing that ride again if I can help it!

I am so excited to be back in Paris to redo the fun things I loved and try out some others that I missed. I am here, staying right next to Sacré-Cœur, until I begin my second study abroad experience in Delft, the Netherlands. I actually have some homework to wrap up for that class, but I should have my blog updated before that class begins on July 4th. Thank you for reading and I hope you've enjoyed some of my stories!

Sacre Coeur

Running Around the World

Though the sun is growing stronger, the days as long as they can ber, our time in Cagliari quickly faded to a few weeks of intensive traveling. It was nostalgic parting with my friends, old and new, on the beautiful, summer camp for almost grownups on the Italian island of Sardinia. Before I go into my latest adventure I want to give a huge thank you to our fearless program leader, Professor Annalisa Onnis-Hayden, expert counselor TA Anna Murphy, and all the wonderful friends that filled my days with laughter and sunshine. The one word I could use to summarize it all, in Danielle's wonderstruck voice, "Amazing!"

Since May 14th, I have been in 4 going on 5 countries and an average daily walking distance of 10 miles/day.

• May 14 - June 16 Cagliari, Italy
• June 16 - June 18 Brussels, Belgium
• June 18 - June 20 Paris, France
• June 20 - June 22 Munich, Germany
• June 22 - June 24 Lucerne, Switzerland

Final hours in Cagliari
Beginning with out last fully day/night/morning, we had a farewell dinner, which featured a performance from an interesting, giggly, old man. This was my favorite meal in Sardinia, definitely saving the best for last. I have attached a photo of the main course of fish with the head on it, eel, squid, snails, and other assorted seafood dishes. I can proudly say I tried every single thing brought to us.

Audriana and Danielle

We rounding out the night with the traditional European hanging out on the steps of a church. That morning was another sunrise morning, unfortunately my camera died but there are a few pictures. The rest of the morning was a bucket list morning where we ran to the top of the Elephant Tower, one of the largest towers in Cagliari; one last jump in the Mediterranean Sea; and the final trip to our favorite Peter Pan Gelateria.

Audriana, my best

Final Farewell

Brussels, Belgium

The evening of June 16th we took a flight to our first city, Brussels, Belgium. In the morning, we met with a friend and got a full tour of the city. I went in with no expectations but had a wonderful time. There was so much history to also have so much great chocolate, waffles, and beer.

Manneken Pis

Paris, France

First thing in the morning on June 18th we headed to Paris, where I fell in love with the city. I studied French in high school, though I wasn't the best at it, I have always been dreaming to travel there. Major perk of Paris: EU citizens under 26 get into museums for a discount/free. I made a promise to myself that I will return as much as I can before I am too old. Some highlights (basically everything): Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, a quick shop on the Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, €6 lunch of two crepes and a drink, the Eiffel Tour, escargo, bike cab.

Louvre

Arc de Triomphe

Munich, Germany Another early morning on June 20th we headed to Munich, Germany. The first thing I noticed was there was a major train station Ostbahnof. That is the closest word I have ever seen to Osbahr, which I was so excited to see! In Munich we visited the BMW Welt, Olympic park, beer gardens, and a bike tour that covered all major sites. One of the coolest was the standing wave in the English Park. In honor of Fathers' Day I dreamed of surfing over a beer.... Prost to you, Dad!

My travel companions

Hofbräuhaus München

Standing Wave Munich

Munich Bike Tour!

Lucerne, Switzerland

Currently I am on a bus to Lucerne, Switzerland. I keep pausing this blog to look at the beautiful countryside. I was lucky enough to get my own seat, a brief taste of the solitude that has been missing from my life lately. We are hoping to go on a big hike tomorrow, however the weather may not be in our favor. Some interesting things about the bus: the woman in front of me just leaned her chair back and it actually closed my computer, quite impressive; there are two stories with a row of three or four seats in the front window on the second floor; they sell beer.

I am not sure of the next chance I will get to post but I will do my best. Before my next set of studies begin in the Netherlands, I still will be stopping in Geneva and back to Paris to see a few friends. If you are still reading, thank you and hopefully you will hear from me soon!

It's Amazing!

It feels like forever since my last post even though it has only been a few days! This past Thursday was a full day of class and homework. We had guest speakers in the morning and learned about a mock town hall meeting in the afternoon. Friday was the actual town hall meeting. In this, every student was assigned a role and had to act out townspeople who faced potential land contamination for a combination of mining and military activity. There were a lot of variables throughout this debate but our class was able to come up with a conclusion. I also found it interesting to experience how certain roles included the power you have over the audience. This is something that seems obvious but the corresponding feelings are stronger when in character.

This weekend we had cultural excursion on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we spent the morning souvenir shopping, which quickly evolved to shopping shopping, which slowly evolved into a hearty lunch. In the afternoon we hiked Sella del Diavolo, which means the devil's saddle. This is the rock formation we sailed around on a previous excursion. The story behind the name is the devil fell from the sky and landed on these rocks as a saddle. One interesting part of this hike was we started in the evening only a few hours before sunset. I could imagine if we had gone in the peak of the day it would have been hot as hell. The weather was a little different, a cooler 75°F and overcast. You may laugh but it has been in the 80's for so long it is tough to consider the difference. The variety of the weather, especially when you come from New England, is one thing that I am starting to miss. Fortunately, I am headed to the Netherlands in a few weeks and will get a drink of rain.

View of Cagliari

View of the salt marshes where all the flamingos are found

Ted's final moments, at least Danielle looks good...

Annalisa!

Roomie Audriana <3

Roomie and Annalisa

Enough about the weather. Today Danielle and I tried to go to church but were a little confused on the timing were too afraid to go in late. Instead we stumbled upon the Museo Diocesano del Duomo and viewed the ornate vestments of priests dating back to the sixteenth century. We also viewed Spanish and Sardinian sculptures, oil paintings, and a gorgeous, gold chalices. We thought the tour was over then our guide brought us 3 stories under the building to a tomb and cistern. It was amazing to see a building so plain have such a great depth of open space under it. It definitely makes me think twice on some of the places we pass. We then at dinner on a ledge overlooking the Sella del Diavolo and enjoyed our cappuccinos.

This afternoon we celebrated Saint Catherine in a quaint town called Orroli. There was a parade of towns from all over Sardinia dressed in traditional costumes to honor this event. In a way Orroli reminded me of a small town parades I am familiar with from home. The biggest exception was the horses and instead of candy the "floats" (repurposed tractors covered in beautiful fabrics) threw cookies. It was a treat! We ended the evening with some traditional Sardinian dancing, which wasn't as easy as I would have expected. I am going to blame the counts of the music but it may have been from the exhaustion of too many happy, full days.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. We are presenting our final projects. My group was assigned to work on designing a composting and anaerobic digestion plant for the city of Boston. The city recently banned restaurants and institutions who produce more than one ton of food waste each week from disposing of their organic food waste in landfill. This means that the surplus of waste will be redirected to a resource recycling center, hence the need for composting and anaerobic digestion. Some interesting pilot studies we considered were reutilizing Deer Island, Greater Boston's wastewater treatment plant. Deer Island has these massive egg-shaped digesters. Although this is a little different than direction my group decided to go in, it would be a good solution that could happen in the not so distant future.

Technical Not...Throwback Thursday

At breakfast Monday morning I realized I made a mistake in my last blog post about last Thursday.

Correction: Last Thursday we visited Campidano Ambiente, a company that coordinates solid waste collection for many municipalities in Sardinia. There, we had a presentation from Luigi Massidda about the company and their services. There were mayors and city officials from the municipalities who use Campidano Ambiente for services. As you may be able to tell from my blogs, I am interested in educating the world about solid waste management. That being said, the question and answer section of our visit was the most interesting to me. We learned about the weekly collections of a variety of waste streams that occur in the municipalities that Campidano Ambiente works for. They provided us detailed calendars that marked collection days and showed us the bins provided to residence for collection. Compared to the bins we have at home, this size may be alarming. I really want to use the first half of this post as a PSA for how much some people are required to reduce their waste generation rates by. It is something that we should all consider to improve our overall waste management that can better the environment. I have included some pictures below for your reference. Please note the scale of these bins.

Note: These are 2/3 the height of the table or less

Sample collection calendar 

Campidano Ambiente

On Monday we visited Villasimius on a sailboat. We explored a lighthouse, crazy rock formations, the beautiful, crystal clear waters, and were slightly threatened but always safe from lightening storms. This was also the first time I have ever eaten a hot meal, in this case it was delicious gnocchi, on a boat. Of course it was delicious. One very intersting thing I learned was that seagulls love cheese and the fish here love bread. The sailors were feeding the seagulls cheese out of their hands and tossing bread overboard to the fish who attacked with piranha like urgency. However, if you try to feed the seagull bread, they were clearly less interested, and the fish seemed to have more difficulty with the cheese and definitely preferred the bread. It made me a little nervous the first time that I was going to get nibbled to pieces but once I overcame that moment of hesitation I was in the water most of the day.

Tuesday we worked on our final group project in the morning and had guest speakers in the afternoon. In our project, we have been tasked with designing a composting plant or anaerobic digestion plant to handle the organic (food/yard waste) aspects of Boston's waste stream. The city recently enacted a bill that requires institutions who produce more than 1 ton of food waste each week to separately handle the waste and send it to one of these plants. With this new legislation these existing plants have a significant increase in business and if regulations extend, this something that could become implemented in the near future. As the project continues I will provide more information.

This afternoon we had two speakers: Dr. Tiziana Lai and Prof. Giovanni De Giudici. Dr. Lai presented on end of life vehicle (ELV) treatment and recycling. This was an interesting presentation that brought the first project in which my group researched. Prof. De Giudici was from the Sardinian environmental protection agency (I am unsure of the proper name, I am not capitalizing this on purpose). Prof. De Giudici talked about managing contaminated mine and military sites. He was also an avid surfer planning on traveling to San Diego next summer for 20 days. This was very familiar story. It was interesting to learn of the past and future plans of the island to clean up their contaminated lands. I am interested in site remediation, so it was interesting to see how these sites implemented technologies to ensure the environmental safety. Although this presentation focused mostly on metal contamination, it has made me think more about my choice of classes for the fall. I am strongly considering switching one of my classes to take an organic environmental pollution class. I have been on the fence for some time but I think it is showing me I am interested enough in site contamination to dip my toes in.

Because we overloaded on technical visits the other weeks, today we had a beach day before returning to work on projects. The beach was beautiful, as usual, and I got to swim all over with a mask and snorkel. Sardinia is the most quasi-tropical place I have ever been so I was unsure what the fish would look like, however they were mostly sandy to clear colored. I brought a lemon to the beach in honor of Melissa Gavin and everyone tried to lighten their hair. The success results are still being talleyed but we all smell a little better.

The next 6 days we have a lot of work ahead of us but it was nice to take today to unwind. I cannot believe our time here is almost over. I have been having an amazing time, am not ready to leave, and at the same time cannot wait to travel after. It is at times overwhelming to consider all of these emotions, but I never lose a sense of gratefulness for how lucky I am to be here.

Overcoming Adversity: Poetto Forever

Thursday and Friday of this week were filled with class and homework. On Thursday we spent most of the day finishing up a project that was due Friday. On Friday we presented our second project in the morning, had a quick lecture, then had an exam in the afternoon. Our project studied Rotterdam's waste management system to see how the city's goals will change their carbon emissions and energy consumption. It was interesting to see the significant impact a reduction in the overall waste stream could have on the emissions and energy consumption. As mentioned in prior blogs, reduction is truly queen of the waste management hierarchy. 

This weekend we had completely free. Both days I had a cappuccino and both days we ended up at the beach... an awesome weekend!

Saturday we started souvenir shopping in Cagliari. I was able to justify this spree with the belief that shopping is a part of Italian culture. I don't want to ruin the surprises but so far I think everyone will be happy and Audriana and I will definitely be safe with our combined artillery. As a whole, it was just so fun to walk around the city and see places I've never seen before. I have found my best experiences have been from observing and Saturday was a great morning for it. 

Now back to the beach. The water is still warm and beautiful. I love soaking for hours, washing away the rush of home life from my skin. I feel like I've been able to let go of the chaos I am used to in Boston for a more relaxed beach girl. As an experienced beacher, this is a huge proclamation. A part of me feels guilty for not using this weekend to sightsee or do touristy things, but at the same time this entire European experience is a chance for me to be myself without reservations. Even though our few weeks here have been short, I feel like I am growing into a calmer, slightly tan, and satisfied person. 

The beach we go to is called the Poetto. The sand is very white, though apparently it used to be even whiter. When our professor was in high school there was a major beach nourishment project that brought in tons of sand to maintain its size and stability. She has told us that the sand that was added to the beach was of a gray color complete changing the look of the beach. It still seems soft and beautiful to us, but I think she has a small grudge. I tried to find some pictures but I just have to steal some from Audriana (http://italianaudriana.blogspot.it/).

Italian Audriana and me at the Poetto

When we were swimming Eli found a starfish. Going back to the sand, it seemed gray like the implanted sand. I have no idea what the truth is, but it looks like the starfish might have changed colors to match the new sand. We started looking more and found over twenty starfish. It was so fun! On the beach there are also tons of shells that I collected. All this souvenir and shell collection puts my bag space at high risk, but these are considerations for another day. 

Half of my shell collection

In other news, we rented stand-up paddle boards today for €10/hour. It seemed like a deal, but I still prefer my mom's board. The only available boards were 8' 11", the 11-footers were taken and we would have had to waited a while for them to return. It was a lot of fun floating around in the water.

After the beach today we spent almost 2 hours waiting for a bus home. There were 5 pairs of buses that passed us and every time we would say: "no matter what we're getting on this one." I didn't get sunburnt until that wait for the bus. At that point we decided to walk home. Another hour and a half later, after over an 8 kilometer (about 5 miles) walk, we sat down at the cafe for dinner. It was the best dinner yet because it was the most deserved. Finally, for the title of this blog we overcame adversity and I think there was a sign out there that we should have stayed at the Poetto forever. On that note, I deserve gelato and am headed off to treat myself... Happy Sunday :)

Never DISAPPOINTED!

Every Wednesday when I go to write a post I don't know where to start! I know these posts are typically more technical but Cagliari surprises me yet again with all its wonder. 

This Monday we had a semi normal day of classes. Professor Stefano Milia was a guest speaker talking about site remediation. I have always discussed site remediation on co-op but have yet to have a class that focuses on it. It was exciting to hear about different site characterizations and remediation strategies. Even more exciting was we had a chance to practice calculating potential solutions that can be used to on contaminated areas. The calculations covered physical containment and chemical reactions that can occur on site and in collected lab data. In the afternoon the wifi was down on campus so we worked on projects and papers in our dorm.

One thing we have started doing is going on evening walks down by the port. There is a nice boardwalk that is always surrounded with fish. There are schools of tiny fish that you can hardly see, schools of medium fish that look like a net rippling in the water, then occasionally there are schools of big fish that swim by, all hungry for something. Someone we are with always wishes for a fishing rod but I love being an onlooker to the food chain in action. As a whole it is a relaxing way to end the evening and I am glad it is becoming a regular part of our days here.

Tuesday was Festa della Repubblica, Republic Day, in Italy when they voted against the monarchy. In true liberation style, everyone had the day off. All of us went to the Poetto to go to the beach and almost all of us went sailing. It was such a great day. One of my favorite things in the world is to be on or in the water and I got it all! Sailing was fun, even as a NSP (Nahant Sailing Program) dropout, and it made me want to try to make it a regular activity when I return home. The beaches here are a little different, but I still managed to get a slushie. The water is gorgeously blue, clear, and warm. This was our first time swimming in Cagliari and we are planning to return this weekend. I did not bring my camera, but will post pictures this weekend.

Today we the Villaservice Plant which is the dream plant for solid waste engineering. The plant had three landfills, an anaerobic digestion, waste water treatment, composting, solar panels, and wind turbines. There we met with a chemist who spoke almost perfect English, though he confessed he only spent one week in England in his life. Because we experienced the smell of the composting and landfills, I was excited to learn about anaerobic digestion. The goal of anaerobic digestion is to decompose organics, such as food and yard waste, using biological processes. There are different bacteria that perform these biological processes, but generally they need no oxygen present and as an end goal will produce methane. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, organic content is made mostly of carbon and methane (chemical formula CH4) is a fuel source. 

The goal of the Villaservice Plant was to find an alternative use for discarded waste, typically as an energy source. The landfills, first opened in 1993, collect biogas (methane). The anaerobic digestors, first installed in 2003, have peaked at an 80% recovery of biogas. The composting plant installed in 2009 has biogas production along with a fertilizer product that can be sold for €5/ton. However, we were shown some numbers for the plant's performance, and there was still a net energy loss of the plant, which I found interesting. As a whole the plant and presentations were well executed and I had a great time.

The guides for the day

Organic waste conveyor belt

Getting prepared for future landfill mining

  

Inside the biogas accumulation dome 

Wastewater Treatment!

Not bad views 

After the plant we ate lunch in our luxurious bus. I felt sneaky doing so because later when we tried to get on the bus with ice cream he wouldn't let us... We spent the afternoon hiking in Villacidro. There were so many wonderful things about the place we stopped. The first was the fresh spring of mineral water we drank from. Sardinia is famous for its high population of centenarians, so hopefully the spring we drank out of was connected to the island's fountain of youth. The second thing that was wonderful was this tiny trickling waterfall up the trail. The third was the hiking trails overlooking the waterfall. This entire trip has been fantastic because so many of us are interested in hiking. We made a few wrong turns off the trail but ended up overlooking the falls and the bus. There are few things better than sitting on top of the world. The fourth and final joy of the afternoon was the double chocolate ice cream bar I got. My camera died halfway through the afternoon so I only had a chance to snap a few pictures... I hope you enjoy them.

                   

  

Thanks for reading!