(no subject)
Eep! The days are currently going very fast, considering that I'm not accomplishing at maximum levels. I can't believe it's Wednesday again already. It's two weeks since I arrived in France! And I have yet to visit the archives...
That said, I've pulled out of my weekend research-related slump. As I was emailing advisor R to get her to talk me down off the cliff (already improved at that point by some sleep), I talked myself off it by coming up with a way to deal with the article that was so discouraging to me in the first place. I've now also made my first foray to the library at the university, to be followed by a second one tomorrow in which I will actually get my borrowing privileges enacted and visit the stacks, rather than occupying a table and downloading articles, which was today's task. I'm also at work on working out a relative chronology of my charters as an early step in the data-crunching for my Haskins paper, to be presented a month today.
In other major developments, I decided yesterday that it was time to take action on getting my plane tickets for Haskins (back at my home institution in Boston), despite the uncertainty surrounding my ability to leave France. I did some pricing and came dangerously close to buying some Air France tickets for around $800, but I ended up chickening out and spending a couple of hours yesterday evening googling to find out the deal with travelling outside the EU with an unvalidated visa of the type I currently hold, and trying to figure out the possibility of getting a return visa if I needed one. This morning, I facebook-messaged former Dijon fille CC, who now works at the French consulate in DC, for her take on the subject. Then I did various things like dishes and having my shower and reading an article, and then I got an email from Air Canada announcing their various winter flight sales and was like... I should check Air Canada's fares too. WELL. Sometimes you have to reserve flights and then put them on hold rather than buying them right away, and go away and flip out for a while, and then boggle a little, because you can't believe fares that low actually exist. Then you come back and read the fine print about holding a reservation not actually being a guarantee of the fares until you actually buy them, and you decide to believe and get out your credit card. HOLY SHIT. Obviously, they're the "we'll only refund your fare if you're dead, and we'll only make changes once you're at the airport the day of" kind of tickets, but still... *pinches self* Apparently Air Canada really wants people in Europe to choose them for round-trips to North America in early November!
Then, I heard back from CC, and the word at the consulate in DC is that I shouldn't have any problem travelling with my visa as-is in November, and later on, if it isn't validated, with my visa in combination with the document (which I'm still waiting for) that proves I've submitted my paperwork to the OFII here. Awesome! I'll probably check in with the OFII before I get on a plane, but that's a huge relief. And, in combination with the OMG fares, it's so excellent that I fear the other shoe is going to drop, somehow. I've been periodically having moments of fear that there will be a train strike - but if not, I should actually be able to take the train straight from Rennes to De Gaulle the day I leave (and when I get back), thus avoiding potential further Paris hotel boondoggles.
Anyway, hmm, other news. I'm waiting for my internet service to be activated. I went and signed up with Orange last Friday morning. They said in the shop that it would be activated by today, but in the online tracker, it says by the fifteenth at the latest, which is not thrilling. Hopefully it won't be that. I had a long conversation with my landlady on Monday when I took her my month's rent on Monday, which helped pull me out of my research slump too, because it apparently wasn't exclusively a research slump, but in fact had elements of a lonely slump. She reports that one of the other renters here (the house has several apartments) wants to hang out with me, which seems promising. But the main thing I have to work on is really applying my nose to the grindstone. Otherwise, I'm not sure a year the next seven months are going to be enough for all the work I potentially need to do while I'm here.
That said, I've pulled out of my weekend research-related slump. As I was emailing advisor R to get her to talk me down off the cliff (already improved at that point by some sleep), I talked myself off it by coming up with a way to deal with the article that was so discouraging to me in the first place. I've now also made my first foray to the library at the university, to be followed by a second one tomorrow in which I will actually get my borrowing privileges enacted and visit the stacks, rather than occupying a table and downloading articles, which was today's task. I'm also at work on working out a relative chronology of my charters as an early step in the data-crunching for my Haskins paper, to be presented a month today.
In other major developments, I decided yesterday that it was time to take action on getting my plane tickets for Haskins (back at my home institution in Boston), despite the uncertainty surrounding my ability to leave France. I did some pricing and came dangerously close to buying some Air France tickets for around $800, but I ended up chickening out and spending a couple of hours yesterday evening googling to find out the deal with travelling outside the EU with an unvalidated visa of the type I currently hold, and trying to figure out the possibility of getting a return visa if I needed one. This morning, I facebook-messaged former Dijon fille CC, who now works at the French consulate in DC, for her take on the subject. Then I did various things like dishes and having my shower and reading an article, and then I got an email from Air Canada announcing their various winter flight sales and was like... I should check Air Canada's fares too. WELL. Sometimes you have to reserve flights and then put them on hold rather than buying them right away, and go away and flip out for a while, and then boggle a little, because you can't believe fares that low actually exist. Then you come back and read the fine print about holding a reservation not actually being a guarantee of the fares until you actually buy them, and you decide to believe and get out your credit card. HOLY SHIT. Obviously, they're the "we'll only refund your fare if you're dead, and we'll only make changes once you're at the airport the day of" kind of tickets, but still... *pinches self* Apparently Air Canada really wants people in Europe to choose them for round-trips to North America in early November!
Then, I heard back from CC, and the word at the consulate in DC is that I shouldn't have any problem travelling with my visa as-is in November, and later on, if it isn't validated, with my visa in combination with the document (which I'm still waiting for) that proves I've submitted my paperwork to the OFII here. Awesome! I'll probably check in with the OFII before I get on a plane, but that's a huge relief. And, in combination with the OMG fares, it's so excellent that I fear the other shoe is going to drop, somehow. I've been periodically having moments of fear that there will be a train strike - but if not, I should actually be able to take the train straight from Rennes to De Gaulle the day I leave (and when I get back), thus avoiding potential further Paris hotel boondoggles.
Anyway, hmm, other news. I'm waiting for my internet service to be activated. I went and signed up with Orange last Friday morning. They said in the shop that it would be activated by today, but in the online tracker, it says by the fifteenth at the latest, which is not thrilling. Hopefully it won't be that. I had a long conversation with my landlady on Monday when I took her my month's rent on Monday, which helped pull me out of my research slump too, because it apparently wasn't exclusively a research slump, but in fact had elements of a lonely slump. She reports that one of the other renters here (the house has several apartments) wants to hang out with me, which seems promising. But the main thing I have to work on is really applying my nose to the grindstone. Otherwise, I'm not sure a year the next seven months are going to be enough for all the work I potentially need to do while I'm here.