First day of work

I arrived at my office this morning at 9:00 am after about a 5 minute walk, a subway ride of about 30 minutes (had to transfer midway), and then about a 10 minute walk up a steep hill. From what I can tell, that seems to be a typical commute in Barcelona. I have my office key, my laptop from the US, the power cord and mouse (good thinking!), and a few folders with notes and papers. Dr. Blum has already told me that he will be in Vienna today, so I am on my own.

The work day was prematurely cut short, however, since I forgot the mechanical adapter for my laptop power cord that takes the two narrow prongs used in the US and converts them to the two cylindrical prongs that the European plugs need (bad thinking). But at the end of the day, I had accomplished the following items:

1) determined the phone number for the telephone in my office;

2) determined that you have to dial "0" to get an outside line from the university (this was not at all obvious and took at least 30 minutes to determine);

3) found the restrooms (again, not as obvious as one would expect);

4) found the water fountain;

5) read and commented on two papers;

6) left the computer with a discharged battery.

Not a bad day. Plenty of "hmmm" moments like when I tried to find the department secretary. There is a "welcome to the department" visitors guide that has the secretary's office number on it. I found the office but the door was closed and there was a sign with Catalan words (I believe) and an arrow pointing to the door on the left. I walked down the hall to the next door, which was also closed and had a sign with words and an arrow pointing to the door on the right. Hmmm. I decided to talk to the secretary another time.