What a crazy four days it's been since I last blogged. I've been on another technical visit, presented our second project, took an exam, went to the beach, saw flamingos in their habitat, and went to Rome! 

To begin this span of days, on Thursday we went to Campidano Ambiente for a presentation on door-to-door collection on different Municipal Solid Waste fractions. We had this cute little old man talk to us for the presentation, named Luigi. Afterwards, they served us a light lunch of sandwiches and pastries (one of the sandwich options with mayo and mushrooms--can honestly not imagine a worst sandwich). However, the other sandwiches were very good and the pastries were delicious. For the rest of the day, we worked on our second project, which for us was researching the current waste management system in Krakow, Poland and using the WARM model on the EPA website to make suggestions for the direction of Krakow's waste management.

The next day, Friday, we presented our group project. This project was very interesting, as we got to research a country that had little infrastructure for municipal waste management, that just got granted funds to build a huge waste-to-energy plant. We talked about our suggestions for the next piece of infrastructure the Krakow government should built, given their political and social standings. Other groups did different cities, such as Portland (shout out to my hometown!), Rotterdam, Stockholm, Nashville, etc. Later that day, we had Giorgia come talk to us about composting, and then took our exam in the afternoon. 

The next day, Divya and I woke up at 4am to begin getting ready for our 6:45 flight to Rome! We arrived in Rome at around 8am, and got to St. Peter's Square by 8:30am. We headed straight to St. Peter's Basilica, where we could take in the amazing architecture. 

Outside St. Peter's Basilica

Inside St. Peter's Basilica. 

Another photo outside St. Peter's Basilica. Truly amazing.

The dome in St. Peter's Basilica after hiking to the top of it!

The view from the top of the Dome of the Vatican City. Truly spectacular. 

Next, Divya and I headed to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Every room was spectacular--Michelangelo's next to Raphael's. It seemed that every Pope had to add a room during their term, and were determined to make it more splendid than the last. 

Inside the room of maps--my favorite room! This photo doesn't capture the beauty of it.

Found the Sardinia island on the wall! 

Raphael painting.

Next, we headed over to the Colosseum, where the Imperial forums and the Arch of Constantine also are. 

Imperial Forums--absolutely beautiful. 

Me at the colosseum!

Inside the colosseum.

Arch of Constantine. 

We flew back late that day, only to end the day in a sprint to the train station from the Cagliari station. What an amazing day though!

The next day, I went to the Santa Maria church in Cagliari and poked my head back in the King's Palace (I'd already been here before, but one of my friends wanted to see it). Still amazed by the Venetian sconces. 

Chandelier in the King's Palace

A view into Santa Maria church

Later that day, we went to the Flamingo national park! I've always loved flamingo's, so it was really cool to see them in their natural habitat. We then headed to the beach, where we spent the rest of our day.