Campus Days at SLU Madrid

I met with Dr. García-Serrano early this morning to get his thoughts on the completed sections of my propectus. He's a scholar of the medieval Dominicans, so I was really eager to hear what he thought. When I arrived at his office he had it all printed out full of little notes and suggestions. Right away I saw on the top of the paper though that he had written, "Amy – This is a great prospectus and it sounds very exciting" so before we even got into discussing it, I breathed a sigh of relief knowing already that he'd liked it. He told me that it is really interesting and exciting, and said that if he were to do grad school over again, he'd want to do this too! That felt like such a great assurance that I am on the right track, knowing that this specialist was so on board. I've appreciated the enthusiasm and excitement that both he and Damian have expressed about my prospectus so far.  It was also very cool that he suggested I outline my chapters exactly as I had planned to in my mind – more positive confirmation that it's going well!

We talked about a lot of interesting problems – questioning whether it's possible that Marti could really have been such an accomplished polyglot, whether it's worth considering that he or his father may have been a converso, this tension of questioning religious ancestry in the historiography of medieval Spain, the differences between the Mediterranean milieu and the Northern European world, how Marti's career represents an encounter of these worlds and how his experiences in multicultural Iberia set him apart from French Dominican contemporaries,  wondering why it is that Marti has been ignored by biographers, whether he's exceptional or a product of his time, the problems and benefits of using early modern sources… He told me this is my time to brainstorm all kinds of theories - I can always abandon them as I go through the research, but keeping my mind open all kinds of answers to these complicated questions is important at this stage.

 It was a lot of fun to talk with another professor besides Dr. Smith who really GETS what I'm working on and the exciting issues and problems that I'm facing! Very validating, and made me excited to attend the conference that will hopefully fill in some context for me. I hope to meet with him again soon, (maybe Tuesday?) to get more of his thoughts on what direction to go next with research. Good to make use of his office hours while it's still so easy to just drop by.

After meeting I sat in on his class to get a sense of how it's run, how he lectures, etc. I was also curious to see how the challenges of this international campus are handled. It was neat that he could call on the very European experiences of the students when discussing the history of Europe, and other than needing to explain some American phrases, like "a Catch-22" and such, it was run like a normal class. So that was fun and interesting. Made me realize how much I've missed being in the classroom working with undergrads. I'm really looking forward to guest lecturing in that class on the dark ages in a few weeks. I also hope I can secure an adjunct position, because I know I'd be really good at that and would really enjoy teaching my own class.

So it was a busy and way fun morning, and after class I went to the library to start incorporating some of the changes Dr. García-Serrano had recommended for my prospectus. I think it's looking even better.

Yesterday on campus was nice too! I ran into Alyssa and we grabbed a cup of tea between her classes. She told me the issue of "In Madrid" was out with her article on the Rastro and one of my pictures! I grabbed a copy and read it outside in the sun. It was really entertaining! I hope to get back to the Rastro, now that I know what it is and what to expect, to do a bit of fun shopping one of these Sundays.  I also got to pick up my package with my little blue book on Marti. YAY! In the afternoon yesterday I worked on my guest lecture a bit on campus, which was quite fun. Here's a few pictures from yesterday:

YAY my book arrived!

Reading an English newspaper about Madrid outside in the sun

Alyssa's article on the Rastro and my picture

Early evening sunset from campus

Enjoying the view

SPRING IS COMING! 

The afternoon today was uneventful. Had a great lunch at Ferro's complete with a ridiculously delicious dessert, stopped at home to drop stuff off, pick stuff up, and relax a bit, and then went to spend the evening at the Biblioteca Nacional, where I copied a few sources. Not all that exciting, but not a bad night! Here's a few more lovely photos of the BNE from today to enjoy:

Hola Queen Isabella!

Relics of research days long past

Finished up the night with dinner here with my host family, which was also delicious, and a super hot shower. Now I'm just waiting to chat with Casey before bed. Buenas Noches!