(no subject)
Well, it has been an eventful two days. Since last I wrote, I've officially registered myself for a carte de lecteur at the archives, and pulled off what turned out to be a fairly complicated, multi-part change of residences. I'm now all installed, with all my stuff, in what will be my "permanent" residence for the duration of my time in Angers. It's quite decent, except for the fact that my promised, and much-anticipated mini-fridge doesn't work, as I discovered after I bought a Camembert and some yogurt. But I plan to discuss it with the nice office people tomorrow and see if I can't get it either fixed or traded in for one that works.
Anyway, getting signed up at the archives went pretty smoothly yesterday, and the receptionist at the front desk, complemented me on my French on the strength of the emails I sent ahead. I'm sure I proceeded to vastly not live up to my carefully-crafted prose in person, but where it really caught up to me is when I met the archivist who deals with the medieval stuff, who has a terrible and unintelligible mumble! I probably got about 60% of what he was saying. I think the plan is that right now I'm making lists of the Breton properties of Ligerian monasteries, and then I'll talk to him and he'll find the documents for me, and then we'll determine which ones are useful for me to look at. I think this is ultimately going to end up with me looking at the real things. For now, I'm slowly working my way through a 4000-page, 2-volume compilation listing all known Latin Christian monasteries and priories and making another giant spreadsheet, which will be more complete than the one I was trying to cobble together from various sources before I came here and found out about this book (available to download from the increasingly amazing Gallica bibliothèque numérique).
Getting moved into my new residence today did not go quite as smoothly, or rather, it went smoothly, but only once it started. Unfortunately, the email I got from the director of residents told me that the welcome office would be open starting at 9:00 today. Lies! I arrived at 9:45 only to discover that it didn't open until noon! I proceeded to sit on my little duffel bag (I left my suitcase in storage at the hostel for the day) and lurk outside the door for the next two hours. And I hadn't had any breakfast! And the residence is smack-dab in the middle of a trades school, so I was periodically surrounded by French students having smoke breaks between classes and ignoring me!
Once the office opened, my move-in did go smoothly. They had everything ready for me, and I paid up, and they gave me a mini tour of the dining halls (part of my rent is actually a prepaid dining hall fee) and sent me off to my room. I ended up having to go back to the office to ask more questions, about the room inventory form, and this evening about getting an internet connection, but both times, I actually found the fortitude to do it!
I went to the archives this afternoon and worked some more on the giant compendium of monasteries and priories, and then went grocery shopping on my way back to my residence. Things started to go downhill again when I realized my fridge didn't work, though, and even more downhill when I realized how dire the evening bus schedule between my new residence and my old hostel is. I then proceeded to miss the second-to-last bus and have to wait half an hour for the next one. As I was retrieving my suitcase, I used my iPhone's last battery power to nip onto the free hostel wireless and check my email. That was when I discovered that my paper proposal was rejected by the organizers of the Kalamazoo panel I submitted it too, making me possibly the only K'zoo reject in the history of time (I've never heard of anyone else having a proposal rejected!). I don't know if I want to be reconsidered for a "general panel" as a consolation prize! The email from the organizer said they had a lot of submissions, but bah.
Then, as I made my way back to the bus stop to catch the night bus back to my residence, a carful of douchebag French teenagers drove by and yelled out the window called me a slut, with some additional details I didn't catch. Then I got slightly lost in the dark coming back to my residence, and was ready to declare it a night and then some, but decided that only checking to see if the welcome office was still open so I could find out about internet access would make my evening worthwhile. Happily, it was open, and I now have internet, no matter how hideously I embarrassed myself asking how to get it.
But to end with the highlight of my day and a moment of definite zen, I had a very nice run this morning! I got up at ten to seven, with the intention of heading out right away, only to discover that it was still almost pitch-dark. By twenty after seven, it was light enough for me to consider going out on the trail, so I decided not to go all the way around the lake, since I had to be out of my room by nine. It was utterly worth the twenty minutes I did get in, though, for the pre-sunrise light over the Lac du Maine, and the mist on the water, and the water-birds floating around, and the lack of other people on the trail! I'm definitely going to have to go down there and run on the weekends, despite the difficulties of getting there (it's not very far, but the big autoroute to Nantes is between here and there, so it's not really walkable). And other than weekends and Mondays, when the archives don't open until 1:30, I think I'm going to have to run in the afternoons during the week, because getting up early to run isn't going to work if it's still dark! There are some places I might feel comfortable running in the dark, but this is not one of them yet.
And with that compendious update, I think I'd better make up my bed and get into it.
Anyway, getting signed up at the archives went pretty smoothly yesterday, and the receptionist at the front desk, complemented me on my French on the strength of the emails I sent ahead. I'm sure I proceeded to vastly not live up to my carefully-crafted prose in person, but where it really caught up to me is when I met the archivist who deals with the medieval stuff, who has a terrible and unintelligible mumble! I probably got about 60% of what he was saying. I think the plan is that right now I'm making lists of the Breton properties of Ligerian monasteries, and then I'll talk to him and he'll find the documents for me, and then we'll determine which ones are useful for me to look at. I think this is ultimately going to end up with me looking at the real things. For now, I'm slowly working my way through a 4000-page, 2-volume compilation listing all known Latin Christian monasteries and priories and making another giant spreadsheet, which will be more complete than the one I was trying to cobble together from various sources before I came here and found out about this book (available to download from the increasingly amazing Gallica bibliothèque numérique).
Getting moved into my new residence today did not go quite as smoothly, or rather, it went smoothly, but only once it started. Unfortunately, the email I got from the director of residents told me that the welcome office would be open starting at 9:00 today. Lies! I arrived at 9:45 only to discover that it didn't open until noon! I proceeded to sit on my little duffel bag (I left my suitcase in storage at the hostel for the day) and lurk outside the door for the next two hours. And I hadn't had any breakfast! And the residence is smack-dab in the middle of a trades school, so I was periodically surrounded by French students having smoke breaks between classes and ignoring me!
Once the office opened, my move-in did go smoothly. They had everything ready for me, and I paid up, and they gave me a mini tour of the dining halls (part of my rent is actually a prepaid dining hall fee) and sent me off to my room. I ended up having to go back to the office to ask more questions, about the room inventory form, and this evening about getting an internet connection, but both times, I actually found the fortitude to do it!
I went to the archives this afternoon and worked some more on the giant compendium of monasteries and priories, and then went grocery shopping on my way back to my residence. Things started to go downhill again when I realized my fridge didn't work, though, and even more downhill when I realized how dire the evening bus schedule between my new residence and my old hostel is. I then proceeded to miss the second-to-last bus and have to wait half an hour for the next one. As I was retrieving my suitcase, I used my iPhone's last battery power to nip onto the free hostel wireless and check my email. That was when I discovered that my paper proposal was rejected by the organizers of the Kalamazoo panel I submitted it too, making me possibly the only K'zoo reject in the history of time (I've never heard of anyone else having a proposal rejected!). I don't know if I want to be reconsidered for a "general panel" as a consolation prize! The email from the organizer said they had a lot of submissions, but bah.
Then, as I made my way back to the bus stop to catch the night bus back to my residence, a carful of douchebag French teenagers drove by and yelled out the window called me a slut, with some additional details I didn't catch. Then I got slightly lost in the dark coming back to my residence, and was ready to declare it a night and then some, but decided that only checking to see if the welcome office was still open so I could find out about internet access would make my evening worthwhile. Happily, it was open, and I now have internet, no matter how hideously I embarrassed myself asking how to get it.
But to end with the highlight of my day and a moment of definite zen, I had a very nice run this morning! I got up at ten to seven, with the intention of heading out right away, only to discover that it was still almost pitch-dark. By twenty after seven, it was light enough for me to consider going out on the trail, so I decided not to go all the way around the lake, since I had to be out of my room by nine. It was utterly worth the twenty minutes I did get in, though, for the pre-sunrise light over the Lac du Maine, and the mist on the water, and the water-birds floating around, and the lack of other people on the trail! I'm definitely going to have to go down there and run on the weekends, despite the difficulties of getting there (it's not very far, but the big autoroute to Nantes is between here and there, so it's not really walkable). And other than weekends and Mondays, when the archives don't open until 1:30, I think I'm going to have to run in the afternoons during the week, because getting up early to run isn't going to work if it's still dark! There are some places I might feel comfortable running in the dark, but this is not one of them yet.
And with that compendious update, I think I'd better make up my bed and get into it.