So sorry for not updating in so long!  How long has it been since I updated? More than a month??  Well needless to say, this blog is going to be pretty lengthy and rather random.  So, sorry in advance.  This time, I decided to add sections of significant occurrences in my exchange over this period, so it may be more enjoyable to read.  Here we go!    

Allergist Convention

On the first weekend of November, my host family took me to an allergist conference at a hotel-resort in the town of Guspini, near my host dad’s hometown of Gonnosfanadiga.  Guspini is a town of 12,000 or 13,000 inhabitants, while Gonnosfanadiga is a small town with under 7,000 inhabitants.  The towns are located northwest of Cagliari.  In Guspini, we stayed at the Sa Rocca Resort, which included an outdoor pool, a resort spa, a gym with an indoor pool, a restaurant, and a bowling alley, all surrounded by hills and mountains.  The first day we were there, we listened to some of the presentations (including my host dad’s presentation on allergies to metals, in which included English terms that I taught him to pronounce!).  Later that night, we went into Gonnosfanadiga and ate a very fancy dinner at a local restaurant.  The dinner included a ton of things that I had never tried before.  For the first time, I tried oysters (a very expensive kind I was told) as well as another type of shellfish that I don’t remember the name (sorry for the vagueness).  I wasn’t a huge fan of either of the two, but I’m really glad I tried it.  We also ate some more familiar foods, such as shrimp, mussels, octopus, cured meats, cheeses, breads, wines (some rather expensive; apparently Italian allergists love to celebrate), and of course pasta.  It was insanely delicious.  By the end, I was so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open. 

            The following day, my host family, some family friends, and I visited the spa for the late morning.  We all did a session together.  We had a huge room all to ourselves with a large, cold pool, a large hot tub with various messaging jets, a Turkish bath, a wooden sauna.  It was something I had never done before, but it was very enjoyable and relaxing.  After that, we left to see an old abandoned mining complex.  We saw the living quarters of the workers as well as the mansion of the highest official of the complex.  It was extremely interesting to see the contrast of the two. 

            The next day, on our way back to Cagliari, we visited an agritourism hotel for a lunch of traditional Sardinian foods.  The meal included different types of meats and cheeses, breads, small antipasti including one with eggplant and parmesan, various types of pasta and risotto, roasted lamb and pork (a whole lamb and a whole pig, complete with the heads, which I’m finding more and more common here), wines, and a dessert of tiramisù.  Needless to say it was delicious.  Afterwards, we drove through the Sardinian countryside and mountains on the narrow and curvy roads, saw the coast of Sardinia near that area (which is dotted with giant sand dunes), and back to Cagliari. 

           

Sa Rocca Hotel-Resort

Spa facility that we used

Workers' Quarters at the abandoned mine 

A room in the highest official's mansion

The dining room of the mansion

Fieldtrip!

            A few weeks later, my class took a field trip to two different mines outside of Cagliari.  The first, named La Grotta di Santa Barbara is a cave near Iglesias with giant stalactites and stalagmites.  The second was La Miniera di Porto Flavia.  The actual mine consisted of the typical tunnels and carts you think of when you think of mines, but it was dug into a cliff on the coast.  A tower was set into the side of the cliff and a port for loading ships with the minerals was also built in the cliff.  However, the mine is not a functioning mine today.  After we saw the mines, we spent some time on the beach near the mine skipping stones and just sitting.  

La Grotta di Santa Barbara

the tower on the side of the cliff of La Miniera di Porto Flavia 

View near entrance to La Miniera di Porto Flavia 

View from the tower on the side of the cliff

Thanksgiving in San Sperate

            On Thanksgiving Day, my Italian friend Sara invited Matthew, Natalie (exchange student friends), and I to her hometown of San Sperate for the day.  After school, we all took a bus to the town.  When we got off, we all immediately liked the town.  The town is basically one huge mural.  Everywhere you look there are murals of all types of art, including one with a group of whales and dolphins with castles on their backs as well as realistic scenes, abstract figures, and murals including poetry in Sardo (the Sardinian language, which I have yet to learn), Italian, English, Spanish, and Latin.  We walked through the town towards Sara’s house, and as we made our way there the townspeople would smile at us and say “Ciao”.  Whether they were smiling at our obviously foreign ways or because we were in or a part of their town, everyone was genuinely friendly and happy to see us.  We arrived at Sara’s house, and met her extremely friendly parents and dog.  We sat down for a delicious “Thanksgiving Meal” which included an excellent chicken risotto, pecorino, marmalade, honey, bread, vegetables, chocolate cake, and caffè.  After the lunch, we left the house to meet with a group of foreign teachers, along with a Vice President of our school, for a tour of the works of a local artist of San Gavino by the artist himself.  The artist’s name was Pinuccio Sciola, and he was known for carving stones, and particularly for carving them in a way that they could be played almost like a xylophone.  We got a tour of his “gallery” which was a field dotted with orange trees and the stones he has carved.  He played a few as demonstrations, and then we made our way to his house.  His courtyard of his home was basically a workshop, filled with carved and un-carved stones and carving instruments.  He gave us another demonstration on a smaller stone, which he played with his palms.  Here are some videos of him!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xto24oUYKDk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUaPeyxjKgE

After we ate some of the complementary food and drink, we headed back to Sara’s house, got a tour of the entire house, and headed back to Cagliari.

The "Gallery" Orange Tree Orchard

Sciola playing his work of art! 

Streets of San Sperate

One of my personal favorite murals

Sara's House

Natalie, Matthew, Sara, and I and the dinner table! (Sara's mom is behind us)

Alghero

            On the first weekend of December, the other Rotary exchange students in the Cagliari area and I made our way to Alghero for a Rotary convention.  We left at 7:30 in the morning, so I had to wake up the earliest I had woken up in a very long time.  We drove all the way to the Northwest area to Alghero, a city of about 44,000 inhabitants on the Northwest coast of the island.  We arrived at the small hotel where the meeting was to take place and took our places.  Apparently, I was to give a bit of a speech at this meeting, along with my friend Natalie.  So we prepared something very simple as we listened to the rest of the meeting.  When our turn came up, we made our way up front and improvised a simple introduction speech.  It was a bit rough, but I would say it was excellent for our first ad-libbed speech in Italian! After the meeting, we met the other Rotary exchange students on the island, and went to a seaside restaurant for lunch.  We ate risotto, patatine (which are basically french-fries and are surprisingly rather common hear), a platter of a variety of meats, and caffè.  After the meal, we walked outside on the beach for a bit and talked, and left for Cagliari.  We didn't really get to see much of the city, which was a bummer, but it was a fun experience anyway!    

Beach at Alghero

The whole group!

Here’s a list of other random things that happened!

-          I joined a choir at the music conservatory in Cagliari.  It’s very different following directions in another language, but it definitely helps my listening.  Generally, I understand perfectly and feel very comfortable with what to do. 

-          A friend of mine and I made Pancakes for Ale and Silvia (my host siblings), and I made Minnesota Wild Rice Soup for my entire host family.  They loved both the pancakes and the soup, but I think they were a bit unsure about the packaged soup.  They seemed to like it anyway, though! 

-          A few exchange students and I visited Castello di San Michele, which is a tower on top of a large hill overlooking the city.  It was built in the 12th Century.   

View from the top of the hill on which sits Il Castello di San Michele

Il Castello di San Michele

-          I haven’t had actual dreams that I can remember in Italian yet, but I have spoken in Italian in my sleep to my host brother.  The first time, I said “Cosa significa?” which means “What does it mean?”  The second time, I had apparently been having a nightmare and I woke up with a start, shined my cell phone around the room, startling my host brother and here’s the conversation we had while I slept, in Italian:

Me: “I thought I couldn’t stay here…”

Ale: “What do you mean?”

Me: “I thought…oh nothing…it’s hard to explain…goodnight…”

Ale: “Goodnight…”

I’m not exactly sure what it means and it’s rather simple Italian, but at least I know I’m thinking and capable of speaking in Italian in my sleep!

            I strongly urge you to look up some of these things on the internet, because my photos do not do them justice.  Also, I apologize again for my long and infrequent blog entries, and I know how annoying following a blog like this can be.  I promise to update more often.  But then again, who knows how long that promise will last….I will do my best! 

A presto!

Daniel