On 16th February 2022 we arrived in Italy and were welcomed with dinner at the Pizzeria La Lucciola. After not seeing the other students for so long, getting to re-meet some and meet some others for the first time, it was nice to sit together and have a clam evening before the excitement of the project really started. Some delegations brought the same members as before in Norway, others switched out part of or their entire team of students.
The first actual day in Ivrea started with a warm welcome to ISS Olivetti with a presentation about the Confindustria as well as the city and surrounding area. Part of that presentation included the Aosta Valley which we would visit the next day. Also, the team from Croatia presented us with a working prototype using an ESP32 which works great and will be fun to use in the actual train carts. After that eventful morning and a delicious lunch at the school cafeteria we finally got back into working on our tasks for the project. The rest of the work day was spent working on new ideas and developing ones that we already had in Norway. We concluded the day with a school tour which the Italian students guided us on. We saw different computer science and graphic/design labs. At the end we had some time to have dinner individually and maybe explore the town a bit on our own.
The next day was split into a half day of work and a half day of exploring. The morning was set off with a work phase of Workline C as well as Workline D, both were being worked on for the first time which gave a nice new perspective of what else is involved in such a project. Next to the obvious parts of a project titled “digital revolution” like programming and coding, we now also talked about public relations, the project corner and web contents. Working on these workalikes gave a welcome break from all the technical talk that was all that was spoken about up to that point.
After another tasty lunch we all got on a bus to visit the gorgeous Aosta Valley where we received a tour and some free time to explore Aosta on our own. The sights we saw included the Porta Pretoria which are ancient ruins, the teatro Romano which is an old amphitheater and the cathedral Santa Maria Assunta as well as the catacombs underneath the old church. We were then driven to a restaurant in Tavagnasco and enjoyed a Dinner at the “Osteria La Sosta” before driving back to Ivrea for the night and getting some well needed sleep for the next day full of productive work.
Our last day in Italy was packed with project work from start to finish. Every workline was reviewed and we talked about the further steps we should take to keep being productive during our time in our own countries. We also assigned homework to each other in all our workgroups to have an easier time picking back up at the next meeting in Croatia in May. And just like that, the project meeting was over and everyone got back to their hotel to pack for the departure the next day.
Overall we had an amazing time in Ivrea. The people and weather were nice, the food, especially the pizza, will be greatly missed once we can’t have it anymore and the meetings were all productive. We are now, more than ever ready to really get to work on some more prototypes with an actual feasible plan behind it.
Text written by
Cristian Alasotto and Jana Kern