Preliminary Thoughts

For the next month or so I will living in Sardinia, a Mediterranean island that is part of Italy located almost equidistant from the coasts of northern Africa, eastern Spain, and western Italy. After which I will be doing some traveling on my own visiting a few cities throughout Europe while living out of my backpack and staying in hostels for a few weeks. I will be writing this blog to fulfill the requirements of the environmental engineering courses I will be taking in Sardinia and then probably keep writing new entries just for fun as I travel throughout Europe.  I couldn't be more excited. So here we go I guess.

Preliminary Thoughts:

I kind of have no idea what to expect Sardinia to be like. Having grown up in New York I am pretty familiar with the delicious variations of different types of mainland Italian cuisine out there but honestly know almost nothing of the foods indigenous to Sardinia. My gastronomic ignorance is actually something I'm pretty excited about and I can't wait to try what ever kind of crazy stuff they get down with over there. Judging from the rest of Italian food I've tried before, I don't think I could really go wrong with what I eat over there.

I imagine Italian society and the Italians themselves to be very laid back and relaxed. With a culture that holds foods and family in such high regard I can't imagine daily life in Italy to be nearly as high strung and stressful as it can be in America. I also imagine the people to be very welcoming, inviting, and to be generous sharers of food, as anyone who has ever been over asked over for dinner at an Italian friend's house may have already guessed.

I have never traveled to anywhere in the world before where I do not know the country's native language. I don't speak a word of Italian. Being a fluent Spanish speaker I can understand a few basic words and phrases, but conjugating a verb and forming a sentence in a conversation? Not a chance. My incompetence in the language department both scares and excites me, and I can't wait to see how I figure out my way around the language barriers I will no doubt encounter on a daily basis.

I hope my time in Sardinia leaves me with a good general idea of what both Italian and Sardinian culture are like as well as how different they are. From the food to the people to the island itself I can not wait to experience what is out there.