The Peaceful and Unhurried Life in Cagliari, Italy

This is my first photo of Cagliari that I took while making my way to the university from the hostel

I was selected to be one of the Erasmus Mundus - MOVER beneficiaries of 2013-2014. During the application, I just checked for the possible universities but didn't bother researching about them. So there came the result - I would be spending 10 months in the University of Cagliari, Italy. I was really happy that I would be going to Italy, knowing that I could easily hop on trains to go from one country to another. However, as I got to know more about my host university, these dreams started fading away.

Cagliari is a city located in Sardegna. Even the name of the island was unfamiliar to me. Italy has two main islands - Sicily and Sardegna. Italy is big, so why did I have to go to the island? Since it would be crazy to turn down the scholarship (and it's still Europe anyway, wherever it is), I packed my life in a luggage so big I could squeeze myself in.

After three plane changes and more than 20 hours of flight, I arrived in Cagliari around midnight of September 13, 2013. It was midnight - everybody should be sleeping. But there are still a lot of people having dinners on restaurants along the streets. Music was still playing. But I didn't have the time to enjoy them since I was dead tired. I checked in at the only hostel in the city - Hostel Marina - and immediately took a rest since sleep was so elusive in my last days in the Philippines.

The following days, I got through all the registration procedures and was introduced to my fellow Erasmus students. As we explored the city, I noticed another problem. Most of the people couldn't speak in English. Only the Erasmus students and the staffs in the international office could. How am I going to survive?! Also, the stores close at around 1PM-3PM and open again after two to three hours of rest. They start their day at 10AM. When I began with my class, it was really hard for me to find an open convenience store since the breaks were also aligned with their "siesta" time. In the Philippines, the shops do not close throughout the day. If they do, it's only for one hour to eat lunch.

So the question was, how am I going to survive here? I didn't know the language, the stores were more often close than open, I couldn't go anywhere since our location was isolated. In short - I didn't like the city. But I was wrong for prejudging it. As I learned to adjust myself to the new environment, I eventually loved staying here. As I traveled in major cities of the world, I saw even more reasons to be thankful for being in Cagliari. Here's why:

1. Life is unhurried. For five years, I studied in Quezon City so I know how it is during rush hours. I was used to running to catch the bus or to get ahead of everyone in getting out of the station. Wherever I am on my way to school, everybody is just walking fast and even running to their own destinations. Here, the only time people run is when they are just crossing the street and the bus is already coming. The city is small so it wouldn't take you more than 30 minutes to get to your destination. There are no traffic jams. I just enjoy seeing people happily and calmly making their way to their daily routines.

2. Everybody has the time to chat with anybody. Since no one is rushing around, people have the time to chat with friends and even strangers. Often time, the kind lady in the grocery store would ask questions about me and would tell me about her son who's going to the same university as me. Others would stop because the stranger's dog was so cute and willing to be played with.

3. People try to help even with the language barrier. As new foreigners who knew nothing in the language, we experienced the kindness of the people. With the few words that they can understand to what they want to say, they would point out directions and even ask other Italians if they know how to speak English. Thankfully, they gesture a lot so their body language relays most of the message.

4. Drivers stop to allow people to cross the street. This is one of the things I love most in Cagliari. Living in the cities of the Philippines, I was used to stopping and waiting for a clear road before crossing; simple because the drivers wouldn't just stop to allow you to do so. The funny thing here is that I still stop at the side of the road, but the drivers will also stop to allow me to cross.

5. Living costs are cheaper compared to major cities. My room costs me 180 euros per month. This is really expensive compared to the prices of apartments in the Philippines, but is cheap when compared to other cities in Europe. In Rome, the same room costs around 400-500 euros per month.The same goes with the food.

6. There are good flight connections to major cities. This is the answer to my major problem of not being able to travel. Ryanair and EasyJet are life-savers! The flights are actually cheaper compared to the domestic flights in the Philippines. The cheapest I got was 38 euros from Cagliari to Barcelona. It is also well connected to Rome, Milan, Venice, Brussels, Barcelona, Kaunas, Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris and even Stockholm.

7. The sea. The sun. The weather. It's an island, what more can you expect? The Mediterranean Sea is just a few minutes away. The winter is mild and after experiencing how harsh the weather could be during a Christmas trip up north, I was thankful to the 6-12 degree Celsius average in the this city during the winter. It could be quite hot during the summer, with the temperature reaching 28 degrees, but then it's the perfect timing to go to the beach. Cagliari and the whole Sardegna will never run short of giving you plenty of choices for beaches and water sports.