Wednesday, April 10, 2013 Pampeu Fabra

I woke up early this morning. My appointment was not until 10 am and not far away, but I was a bit nervous anyway. On a normal day, I could have walked it easily, but since I thought I would spend the whole day on my feet, I decided to take the metro. So, I walked about  10 minutes to the metro line I needed to take and took it ONE stop to the Ciutadella/Vila Olimpica stop. This is very near the Barceloneta beach and the Parc de la Ciutadella.

I arrived a few minutes early and found a history of the university with pictures of the three campus/buildings. Pampeu Fabra is quite a new university--established in 1990. To me the library seemed very forward looking and has well-developed services for the users. They have an excellent information literacy program and an extremely well-developed, broad-based service desk. At the same desk, they have Reference (with a librarian), circulation (another person), technology assistance (someone from their information technology dept), and what they called PIE (punto de informacion al estudiante). I found the PIE part extremely interesting. They have 15 people who cover this section of the desk (1 at a time, of course!) from 9am to 9pm and they are not library employees but university employees. So instead of a separate desk in some other location for all the other questions students have, Pompeu Fabra locates it in the library--the place the students know and use. I was very impressed with this.

Inside the library, they have what they call the Factoria--a place with technology; special computer software, scanners, and personal assistance for both faculty and students. The staff there helps faculty with the content management system, Moodle, making tutorials, and anything else they need. They also help students with video editing, scanning, and whatever. I saw the same setup in Tarragona in March.
During my visit  I met with the Directora, Montserrat Espinos and with four of her staff who all explained the part of library services for which they are responsible. About 2 pm, I accompanied several of them to lunch and I had a great time. They were all joking around and telling me places I needed to visit. I pulled out my laminated map (they laughed to see that Pampeu Fabra was circled on it) and they pointed everything out to me. The owner of the place where we had lunch is from Galicia, and they told me that the soup several of us had was Galician. I also had chicken and rice, fresh strawberries in orange juice and a shot of espresso.

After lunch I got the walking tour of the library. They have sort of quiet space in the main part of the library except that groups can work there and talk. They have a glassed in area for real quiet and when we went in, I could tell they had done it right. You could not hear what was going on outside the glass. This main part of the library was located below street level but was open to a courtyard, so it was very light inside. We walked through to the second part of the library which is located in an old water tower--don't picture anything like our water towers. There is no longer water on the top as this picture shows.

 A young Gaudi was involved in the construction, not as the main architect. I thought I could see his hand in all the arches inside. Pampeu Fabra water tower (inside view)
The water tower area is totally quiet. About two thirds of the total space has been retro-fitted for the library. Again care was taken to preserve the historical structure while at the same time making it usable. There are three levels. The 3rd level can only be used by post-grad students--access is restricted. Of course, I was allowed entry! And my guide, librarian Xavier Brunet, took me up the winding staircase to the very top where we walked all around checking out the view. Needless to say, I was very impressed with Pampeu Fabra. Xavier took me back to Montserrat's office where I retrieved some folders I had left. Montserrat gifted me with a Pampeu Fabra bag and fan. We joked that the bag was my new "office" because had I told her I needed to have my jacket with me because it was my "office." I had paper, pens, and my camera in the pockets--things I needed with me all day! I got "dos besos" (what a joyful tradition!) and was on my way. Now I need to get ready for the next visit.

Monday-Tuesda, April 8-9, 2013

There was nothing fixed on my schedule Monday; I was awake by 6:00 am anyway. I decided to scope out the one university location that I had not yet visited. It is located about 30 minutes from Barcelona and I needed to take the train. I am sure you all think I am silly for making these trips twice, but I just feel more secure if I know where I am going. I get lost even when I think I know where I am going!

At Placa Catalunya the train station is a different station from the metro station and a different ticket--I can't use my T-10 metro ticket for this trip. So I left about 10:00 am and  had a nice train trip outside of Barcelona arriving at the stop for the Universidad Autonoma in about 30 minutes. I got off,  located the library without any problem at all,  and then wandered around a bit. I really like  college campuses, so I enjoyed the weather and the campus. (thinking about Minnesota weather made it even nicer!) I returned to Barcelona later on and judging from the number of students waiting for the train, I must have timed it for when they were done with classes as it was quite crowded.

We also had some entertainment on the train. There are often musicians on the trains who will move from car to car in the metro or on the trains playing music and then "passing the hat" for a donation. This time a young man with an amplifier on wheels got on and proceeded to play a pan pipe (I think it is called) accompanied by music played through his amp...right beside me. I would have enjoyed it more from a distance!

The next day, I took the metro to the Zona Universitaria to visit Lluis Anglada, Joan's friend and colleague, who had earlier given me names and lists of places to visit. I wanted to touch base with him and thank him for his help. Lluis showed me around his office and I met Ramon, one of the guys that works in the tech side of things. He had met Steve Elfstrand at some European conference and is working on a version of Vu-Find for the Barcelona Consortium. Lluis and I chatted about the state of libraries in general and he asked me if I had visited the National Library and I said I thought I would do it in the afternoon. He offered to make a call to set up a tour for me and he did.

Later on in the afternoon, I met my Chinese friend, Eva, from the language school.  This was our last chance to visit before I leave Barcelona. Since I had a spur of the moment chance to visit the National Library, I thought I would take her along. I met her in the Placa Catalunya and in an effort to avoid walking down the Rambla with its hordes of tourists, I took us on a side street. (I had walked up that way and had no problem). Of course, because I had an appointment, I took a wrong turn and we ended up arriving at the National Library about 15 minutes late!

We located the librarian who was to give us a tour and she took us throughout the library showing and telling us the history and the collections. The building itself is very old and started out as a hospital with "the first stone laid in 1401." (http://www.bnc.cat/eng/About-us/Historical-Building ) Imagine how difficult it would be to retrofit a building like this with electricity, climate control and other modern conveniences. To avoid changing the historical building structurally,  they used raised platforms to enclose the wires/etc and then built long workstations with computers on them.  So some library users sit at a different level from others making good use of the space.

Our guide mentioned numerous collections that have been donated throughout the years. There is a Cervantes Library with more than 8,000 items. We saw a grand piano donated by the family of famous composer, Enric Granados. There is also a player piano with a number of "rolls" (I think that is the right term) of music and both still get played. We went into several places that the usual library user does not get to see and finished our tour by walking back outside along the 2nd floor patio to our starting place. No one is allowed on the patio either! Click here to read more about the "curiosities and anecdotes." This is the same hospital where famous architect,  Antoni Gaudi, died after being run over by a tram.

My friend Eva was very impressed that she ended up on the tour of the National Library. We visited the public library that is nearby too. We had some ice cream at Burger King and then she went off to an "Intercambio" meeting and I returned to La Residencia to get ready for my visit to the library at the University of Pampeu Fabra. So Monday and Tuesday are done.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

It was pretty quiet in my new neighborhood last night; I heard a motorcycle or two but that was it. I woke up early  and was ready for breakfast before it was ready. (had to wait until 8:30) I took my phone down to the big shared living room in the basement where I found a coffee vending machine.  I  checked out the reading material there; it looked like many publications of research projects. Since this is the residence for "investigators," maybe the articles were written here, but I don't know that. There was a small group at breakfast. It looked like most people were making grilled ham and cheese sandwiches--they are called bikinis here. I was not in the mood for that so I had cereal with milk, fruit, a hard boiled egg and coffee. Lola would have liked the coffee. It was served in a regular coffee carafe with hot milk on the side so the coffee was more like we are used to at home. I had to make my own cafe con leche and it was not quite the same, but I made do. Weekdays a hot breakfast is served, so I will be interested in seeing how that is.

After breakfast I went down to the computer room to see what was available. The computers are a bit dated--Windows XP and only 2 GB of memory, but they worked fine for what I was doing...a little email and a quick look at Facebook. Since it was about 2 am at home, no one was on Facebook. At about 11:15 I set off for Sunday mass. There is a church in a little plaza just a short ways off with an 11:30 mass. The small side street I am staying on was filled with people in colorful traditional dress--I think someone said they are Pakistanis. Anyway I arrived at the church shortly and people were streaming out. This puzzled me because I was sure when I read the schedule that 11:30 was the first mass. The whole courtyard was like a big fiesta; people were standing around, talking and eating. I waited until people stopped coming out and then I went in. There was music playing, but it wasn't until about 11:40 that mass finally began. I was beginning to think I had the wrong time. The mass was in Spanish rather than Catalan and for the first time I understood almost everything. They put the songs on a display so everyone could see and I knew just about every word. I think maybe the Spanish lessons did me some good.

After mass I immediately headed over to the cathedral, not because I had not had enough mass yet, but because I heard that people showed up around 1pm and danced the traditional Sardana at the cathedral. Sure enough when I arrived I could hear music and saw several circles of dancers. They join and raise their hands and do some intricate steps while in a circle.

There seemed to be one energetic group that jumped up and down more than the others but for the most part people seemed to take it seriously as you can see from my photo.  I saw people break into the groups by just grabbing the hands of people already in the circle. I have some video of two people doing the dance by themselves. There seemed to be a lot more women than men and while there were a few younger people, most were on the older end of the spectrum. I enjoyed it and wonder if I might be able to learn it--maybe from YouTube?

Then I was off to the Picasso Museum which is free to enter on the first Sunday of the month. I found out that it is free to enter but you still need a ticket. I stood in line for about 25 minutes which I did not think was too bad considering how long the line was when I started. When I got to the ticket counter, the attendant asked me in English where I am from--apparently I am not fooling anyone--and gave me my free ticket.

 I enjoyed the exhibit more than Alberto thinks anyone should. I  read up on it last night so I would know how the exhibits are laid out. I know that I like his earlier work more than his later work--I think my favorite was the painting he did of his mother when he was about 15 and I have always liked his Don Quixote drawing. In the 1950's he did a series of 58 paintings based on different aspects of Diego Velasquez' Las Meninas which is considered to be one of the most important paintings of Western Art. If you see the series that Picasso did, you can see that he had his own take on how he saw it! (a little to the left?)

The Barcelona museum was the idea of Picasso's lifelong friend, Jaume Sabartés, who had many paintings given to him by Picasso. He planned to locate it in Malaga, Picasso's birthplace, but Picasso suggested it be in Barcelona. It is the only Picasso museum opened in his lifetime. The works came from some Picasso had given to Barcelona, those from his friend Sabartes, over 700 that Picasso himself donated, some his wife donated after he died, other collections from other galleries, and other places, I am sure. The Picasso Museum occupies five large palaces on Calle Montcada in Barcelona so the building itself is quite interesting. You can find out more with this Wikipedia article.

I have about a 32" flat screen TV in my Residencia room and it is much nicer to watch than the TV at my former piso. I don't have as many channels, but they seem more interesting. Tonight I have been watching Steve McQueen and Richard Crenna speak excellent Spanish in some war movie and Sean Connery was also doing a fine job in some other movie earlier!

Well, enough with the procrastination--I still need to work on how my language study has benefited my professional development. More later.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

The guys were up late last night with the TV on loud and even with my headphones on I could still hear them. I did not get a lot of sleep and at 7 am I heard Rickard get up and leave. I got up a bit later, got some coffee, and cleaned out the refrigerator. I took some things down to the recycling bins.With the guys, everything ends up in the trash, so I try to rescue some of the bigger things for the bins. When I came back, Alvaro was up (out on the balcony having a smoke) and when he came in, he asked me if I knew where John was. A strange question I thought but apparently John stayed out all night. Alvaro went back in his room and I left things like laundry soap and giant bottles of shampoo for them--wrote a goodbye note and left.

As I got to the elevator at the metro stop, a woman was looking at a map and I was actually able to help her with directions (in Spanish). Then I went down to the metro and ran into a couple of young people from the states (one from New Orleans and one from Pittsburgh). They had just arrived from Madrid and were on their way to the same stop I was. We got on together and chatted about what they would want to see during their two days in Barcelona. By this time I felt like such an experienced city dweller! I soon arrived at my new home for the next six days, La Residencia de Investigadores. I was too early to check in as I had expected, but the receptionist held my luggage for me. Relieved of a lot of dead weight, I walked off to the Hotel Indigo to return the keys to the "piso." I stopped for coffee and a croissant and hung around the Placa de Catalunya until I could return to the Residencia and check in. The Placa was packed as usual but the area felt very familiar to me.

Back at the Residencia, I checked in and dragged all my stuff to my third floor room. My room is at the very end of the hall, so I think it will be fairly quiet unless I get a lot of noise from outside. I am in the livelier part of town now. My current room is much bigger than my room at the apartment so I have space to set up my computer and I can keep my stuff in the bathroom. It feels more like home! I must say, I am relieved to have my own bathroom again, but at the same time, I am glad I had the experience of meeting the three guys. I unpacked everything and then went out to explore the neighborhood. I found a church for tomorrow and found the route to the cathedral. I want to go to the cathedral tomorrow because that is where  people can be seen dancing the Sardana, the Catalan national dance. It is also the first Sunday of the month and some of the museums are free to enter. I want to go to the Picasso Museum ( my afternoon teacher, Alberto, said it has nothing). You have to go Figueres to see the best of Picasso. If Alberto is right, I don't want to spend a lot of money to see it and I don't have time to go to Figueres.

I got back to the Residencia and have spent the last of the day writing a report for the first part of my sabbatical. I have to turn it in within two weeks and I won't get the grant money for it until the report is turned in--I am motivated! I am also working up files of the libraries I will be visiting. I am just realizing that I am bushed--lack of sleep and 18,749 steps on the pedometer. (supposed to equal more than 9 miles) That's it for me today.

Thursday, Friday April 4-5,2013

Thursday in class I got my reminder that I will be done with classes on Friday and that I need to vacate my "piso" on Saturday and return the keys before noon. This was not a surprise because I have seen the reminders delivered to others every week.

As I was organizing my stuff for packing,  I finally got around to reading some of the information that I got in an Enforex packet the first day and found out that the school has a library. I thought about that for a while because I have been all around the school where the classrooms are and there sure isn't any library on that floor. Then I remembered seeing some bookcases along the wall across from the big classroom on the main floor. Sure enough that is the library. The main part looked like the library of someone who bought fancy-bound books that look good and the rest of it consisted of DVDs of popular movies in Spanish and popular reading in Spanish. It was all locked up and I wonder if anyone ever uses it. The other thing I noticed in the information is that it is forbidden to have alcohol in any school housing. Do you think that includes wine?

Thursday, when we had the first part of the morning class; the part where we each have to say something about what we did or contribute something to the conversation, Diego asked how we liked our new afternoon teacher. I asked him if it was Alberto's first time teaching. He said yes, and I said I could tell because he did not have the "skill and experience" that Diego has. He laughed and then, of course, he went around and asked all the other students how Alberto compared with their "estupendo" morning teacher. They all said Alberto talks too fast and is hard to understand.

After school I washed clothes because I am not sure I will have a washer available in the next place I stay. And, of course, since we have no dryer, I needed a day to get everything dry. I don't know if I mentioned that before, but every apartment has a clothes line and throughout Barcelona you can see laundry hanging out to dry. I don't think anyone has a dryer. The clothes line for our apartment is outside the two single bedroom windows-meaning I could hang clothes out in my room and the other fellow in the other single room could. I found it a bit scary to kneel on my bed and hang out the window hanging up clothes. The distance between my window and the windows across from me looked to be about 20 feet. Really no sun comes into that area and things do not dry very well. If I dropped anything there would be no way of retrieving it without going downstairs and knocking on someone's door.  Hmm. I am missing a sock.

Rickard came back while I was doing the laundry. He is the roommate that I have seen the least of and he stopped to talk for a bit. He is a Spanish teacher in Sweden and every year he spends a week (it must be their spring break)studying in Spain to improve his Spanish. This was the first time he had been to Barcelona to study Spanish. He said he went to Alicante last year and liked that better, even though it is the same language school. From what I have heard, Enforex is better than the Don Quixote school--as least the Don Quixote students seem to complain more. So Rickard will be leaving when I do. The other two, John and Alvaro, will stay on. They are both students and I suppose need a second language for whatever reason.

My last class on Friday was a bit anti-climatic. I think I am ready to move on. Diego shook my hand and wished me well. Taina from Brazil is leaving also and she, Caroline (from New York) and I exchanged contact information. Others that left last week I now see on Facebook. At the end of the second class Alberto handed Taina and me our certificates. I think everyone gets good reports if they come to class at least that is what Veronica said last week. They don't fail anyone, but if anyone needs to pass a certain test for any reason, that is where the competency shows.

I have been in contact with my husband who will arrive Friday April 12 and my brother and his wife who will travel first to Germany for a week and then arrive in Barcelona on April 15. On the 17th, our cruise leaves Barcelona. My library visits are in place and I am excited to see what is inside since I have already seen the outsides of most of them!

So, it is about 11 pm and I have all my clothes squashed into my suitcase, and my backpack and a shopping bag (that I didn't have when I arrived). I have liked having a kitchen, laundry and balcony here in the piso, so in that way, I am sorry to leave. On the other hand, it will be nice to have one all enclosed hotel room to stay in by myself again. So, on to Sabbatical 2013, Phase Two!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

I got the first shower today since the guys were out late last night. I heard a phone alarm go off later; some kind of horrible squawking bird that went on until I got in the shower (and probably longer). I think whoever finally "snoozed" it because I heard it again later! Alvaro left for class while I was still in my room. I don't believe Rickard and John (who are supposed to start at 9am at Don Quixote) were up yet when I left for my 9:30 am. class. They were probably speaking lots of Spanish in the clubs the night before!

In class today we had a lot of discussion about different things in the first two hours of class, so even though we didn't finish the assignment, we did speak a lot of Spanish. The afternoon class was not as interesting. A question about the why of something in Spanish had our novice teacher stymied for a while. We are studying when to use the "preterito indefinido" and when to use the "imperfecto." Then they threw in the "preterito perfecto." To make things more complicated, the instructors gave answers that were different from the key in our book, saying it could be either way sometimes. I have always struggled with these concepts and still do.

After class, guess what? I took a walk! I found a park I had never noticed right next to the Sants. It had these huge metal sculpture and when I walked up to it, I saw it had steps.When I went up the steps, I found out it was a slide. (no, I did not go down the slide-had to go back down the steps) Beyond the slide was a pool and statues and walkways and benches. I went down and walked through thinking I might sit and read for a while, but an older building that you could walk through caught my eye.

When I went inside, there was a pod-looking thing made by Cisco. At first I thought it was someone's work station, but then I realized that it was a telepresence connection to a government entity to ask questions. I thought maybe it might be used by people who had questions about things like Spanish social security if there is such a thing. But then I realized that all the signs on it were in English. I took my phone out to take a picture and an employee appeared at my side and enthusiastically started explaining to me what it was used for. We chatted (in Spanish!) about what it was used for (asking questions), how long it had been there (1 month-it is a pilot project) and whether it got used very much (not really but since it was so new, I was not surprised) He asked if I wanted to use it and I demurred. He went back to his office but I was still wondering why all the information on the outside of the "pod" was in English, so I went back to ask him. I did not really get a satisfactory answer but he did talk me into trying it. I sat down and without prompting pushed a button on a touch screen, heard dialing and a nice young man in a remote location popped up. My  friend from my end had hung around to explain my curiosity and then the remote man and I chatted a bit (still in Spanish), I thanked him and he disconnected. I got up to leave, but the employee wanted to fill out the log for the call so we did. I thought it was a very interesting useful service, but I don't think it was in the right location.

Back at the piso, John and Alvaro were there. Alvaro was doing homework and John was reading a Swedish book (looked like Hunger Games). I poured myself some wine and then offered them the rest since this bottle was not my favorite and I definitely didn't want to move it on Saturday. They graciously accepted and we toasted each other (salud!).

After that I did some homework and now have almost finished updating my blog. I have noticed that since the fellows arrived, my previously speedy faultless internet connection has started dropping and fading at night. This has slowed me down a bit!

Monday, Tuesday April 1-2, 2013

Easter Monday and most everything was still closed. The day started out rainy, but I had decided that I would buy a one day ticket for the metro and use it to make sure I could find all the places I need to be in the next two weeks. I left my "piso" about 9 am and spent the whole day on the metro, walking around (empty) college campuses, visiting the beach, and planning my route to my next lodging, the Residencia d'Investigadores. Doesn't that sound impressive? Well, it is where I will stay when I do the rest of my sabbatical project, so I guess it is a fitting place!

Tuesday morning, two of my new roommates who are also new students at the Don Quixote and Enforex school, were up early to take their placement tests. Rickard could see Don Quixote across the street where he needed to go, but I gave directions to Enforex to Alvaro and later saw him in the classroom across from mine (he is in a higher level than I am) I don't believe John made it to class that morning. He told me that his phone had been stolen and I think he had no way of knowing the time or of waking himself up.

My class at school is down to six people. We have no one new and the girl from New York City, Caroline, returned from her week of travel. We do have a new teacher in the afternoon. He is originally from Brazil and just completed his doctorate (I think) in Spanish here. He is new to teaching and I can tell. I would have preferred to have Ana (who had vacation last week) back.

In the afternoon I took a walk and also went back to Las Arenas where I had bought a sim for my phone the week before. I bought Yoigo service (the name is a takeoff on Yo oigo-I hear in Spanish) and since this is my first smart phone, I had some questions that I didn't think of at the time. I also forgot to get a receipt. I suppose you think it is funny that I have my first smart phone in Spain and have to deal with all the questions I have in Spanish. Well, I agree!

After my walk, I was working on my homework and I asked John if he knew there was a big "futbol" game tonight, Barcelona vs. Paris (in Paris). So he turned on the TV and he, Alvaro, and I watched for a while. Honestly, I didn't understand what was going on at all and when the first time period was over, I retreated to my room. Rickard came home later and they  enthusiastically watched the rest of the game. I checked the score online and the game ended in a tie 2-2. So nobody even won? The boys went out clubbing and returned at 3:30 am. I heard them come in even though they weren't all that noisy. So that was the end of Tuesday for me.