My first impressions of Cagliari and Sardinia in general have been overwhelmingly positive. It really is tough too see what's not to like about most things here. The food, the culture, the lifestyle, and the people are all undeniably agreeable. It is definitely a stark contrast to America in almost every way imaginable. A sense of urgency more or less doesn't seem to exist here and to be honest I kind of enjoy that. The whole schedule of daily life seems to be delayed by a few hours. We returned from dinner tonight around 11pm, after having just gone out just before 10pm. In the US most restaurants probably would have been closed by this time but here this is apparently a very common time to go out for dinner. Initially I had thought that we would be one of the last groups of people to be going out at this time but that turned out to be completely false, as the piazza was probably the most crowded I have seen it so far, despite it being a Sunday night.
My impressions of Italian students has also been very positive. We have met students from both Sardinia and mainland Italy and both groups have been extremely hospitable and accommodating while having us as their guests. They made every effort to speak English in front of us even though they clearly would be more comfortable in Italian. I feel as though I have made good friends with some of these students despite the short amount of time I have spent with them. They were so generous as to invite me to stay with them in Padua when I will be traveling at the end of this program in June, which I will be more than happy to do. We also were fortunate enough to have been invited to the home of their professors last night to socialize with his students, which was a fantastic experience. At first it was unclear if the weather would cooperate with our plans but in the end it was a beautiful day and in the end a good time was had by all. This was my first time having ever set foot in the Mediterranean and it couldn't have been a better experience all around.
Having to sit down to write this blog post has reminded me of just how short of an amount of time we have been here for so far. After this weekend I could have sworn that I we have been in Sardnina for weeks, let alone just a few days. The time I have spent here so far has been outstanding and I cannot wait to see what else is in store for us on this trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment