Tradeshow, Presentation, Colloquium

Puck is currently working hard at a tradeshow here in Madrid–from 9 AM until 7 PM, so he leaves the house at 8 and gets home around 8. The tradeshow ends this Saturday, so we’ll have a wee bit of time together before he flies home for 2 months. He’ll make it back just in time to vote and will be staying with some of our friends in Davis. The weather here has been cold and rainy lately–though today we had a relatively clear sky most of the day and no rain.

The upper floor where Paco works in Madrid has a great view of the city. To the left, you can see the Tower of Madrid and the other large building (with yellow building-stuff hanging on it) that are on the Plaza de España.

Tuesday night I went to a book presentation at one of the local museums. I had expected to see some of the Fulbright people there, at least the coordinators, but it turned out to just be me…and a room full of people I didn’t know. However, the gathering was for a book on Madrid’s Plaza Mayor by an American scholar (former Fulbrighter) Jesús Escobar. During the cocktails after the presentation, I introduced myself to historian James Amelang and later to Escobar (who introduced me to several other history professors). Amelang invited me to a monthly cultural history colloquium–with the first one of the academic year being the next day–Wednesday morning.

I went to the cultural history colloquium and heard a lecture on delincuency in Miguel de Cervantes’ prose. There were 7 of us there–representing the fields of history, literature and art history, and after the discussion, 5 of us went out for lunch together. It was a very positive experience, and I enjoyed getting to hear everyone’s opinions and having the opportunity to chat with them about what they were doing.