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May 03, 2012

Summer Session 1

As I correctly guessed, my Moroccan vacation was a nice oasis where I had time to blog and relax and read and listen to music and now I can do some of those things some of the times but it’s starting to get really pretty busy over here.

Mom arrived yesterday and so the next two weeks will be partly devoted to showing her Florence and Venice and Rome. Sort of flying by the seat of my pants on those things, but I’m pretty sure I remember how to get around and what to see and all.

Coinciding with this is the start of FSU Summer Session 1 for us in the Florence Study Center. 81 students are arriving in Florence today (ranging from 7am to 11pm) and thank goodness that I’m not a Resident Assistant! I did meet the RAs yesterday — all students who have gone through at least one semester in Florence in the past, and all very nice individuals.

My professional business this summer will be slowly mixing in the new library acquisitions into the main holdings (I have all the new materials on display in one area now, trying to get people excited / interested about them) and to weed some old and busted holdings (I’m fairly certain weeding hasn’t been done here for a decade or two; I certainly won’t get rid of EVERYTHING that’s not used, but there are some obvious contenders like multiple copies of books and old sets of reference materials that are essentially multi-pound paperweights at this point in time). See, since the shelves are mostly completely full here, to fit future new acquisitions in, some stuff will need to go out (though there is perhaps JUST ENOUGH room to fit in the things I got this year). I started preliminary weeding by breaking down the paperback graveyard known as the “popular literature” section, and I’ll keep some of those around but will likely get rid of most of those (old worn-out romances, mysteries, thrillers).

In addition to these main “must-dos,” there are the side projects of the (ugh!) random book sampling (to try to get our holdings into the FSU Libraries online catalog), and the (yay!) online cataloging of all our holdings via LibraryThing. Will also be finally launching the study center / library website (soon!) and maybe expand on my idea to invent / implement a shared social media experience for the students who attend the program here. (The norm now is Facebook groups — there’s one official group and I’m sure there are some secret student groups, but maybe there’s a better way…)

And then, personally, I will need to rehaul my resume this summer and start looking for jobs for when I’m done here in August. Mix in some travels in there and the countdown of my final weeks living the Italian dream and it’ll surely be an incredibly busy and memorable summer. So I’ll try to update as much as I can…

Tags: library studies

 

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April 29, 2012

 

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April 29, 2012
Back in Italy. Will have to do a Morocco roundup and upload my photos soon.

Back in Italy. Will have to do a Morocco roundup and upload my photos soon.

 

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April 26, 2012
Following dinner and dessert, ended up back at the hostel. Our manager had procured some beer (not sold in the medina; he had to go to new city for it), which came in 24 centiliter bottles. I had only one. It was okay — a strongly hoppy taste. Then I turned in early.

Following dinner and dessert, ended up back at the hostel. Our manager had procured some beer (not sold in the medina; he had to go to new city for it), which came in 24 centiliter bottles. I had only one. It was okay — a strongly hoppy taste. Then I turned in early.

 

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April 26, 2012
After returning to Fes, I headed to dinner with a group of hostelers to a restaurant know informally by us as “the cat restaurant.” It’s the only place our hostel manager recommends eating, and we’re sure it’s because he gets a commission for bringing us there. The food is good, and so are the prices, and there is a rooftop terrace with a good view where you can eat. The white cat on the roof with circle your table though, putting front paws on your lap for food. The first time I went there I gave the cat some scraps, but this time it was too windy to sit on the terrace (which, every Moroccan will call “terrace with panoramic view!”). All through dinner everyone talked about food — what kinds we liked, what we had tried — and as dinner wrapped up, everyone started fixating on ice cream. Unfortunately, by the time we were done, everything in town was closed. But, in fact, on the way back we passed the “Disney Store Creamery” that served food and ice cream. Not sure about the name of the place or the relevance Disney has in it’s business, but I settled on a mixed fruit cup that came with ice cream and whipped cream and drizzles chocolate. All the fruit was floating in a green sauce, too, maybe some kind of kiwi concoction. Quite good.

After returning to Fes, I headed to dinner with a group of hostelers to a restaurant know informally by us as “the cat restaurant.” It’s the only place our hostel manager recommends eating, and we’re sure it’s because he gets a commission for bringing us there. The food is good, and so are the prices, and there is a rooftop terrace with a good view where you can eat. The white cat on the roof with circle your table though, putting front paws on your lap for food. The first time I went there I gave the cat some scraps, but this time it was too windy to sit on the terrace (which, every Moroccan will call “terrace with panoramic view!”). All through dinner everyone talked about food — what kinds we liked, what we had tried — and as dinner wrapped up, everyone started fixating on ice cream. Unfortunately, by the time we were done, everything in town was closed. But, in fact, on the way back we passed the “Disney Store Creamery” that served food and ice cream. Not sure about the name of the place or the relevance Disney has in it’s business, but I settled on a mixed fruit cup that came with ice cream and whipped cream and drizzles chocolate. All the fruit was floating in a green sauce, too, maybe some kind of kiwi concoction. Quite good.

 

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