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Bologna: The Red, the Fat, the Learned, and ME!

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  Bologna: The Red, the Fat, the Learned, and ME!  I was so fortunate to receive the IU Faculty Exchange with the University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy. UniBo, established in 1088, is the oldest university in Europe and it is nestled in the region Emilia Romana. Bologna is known as both the land of slow food and fast cars and as the red, the fat, and the learned. Red is for their red wine, fat is from their famous cured meats, and the learned is for UniBo. While I was there, I personally experienced the red wine, the fat (though as a vegetarian it was just from the overall DELICIOUS food), and the learned as I conducted scholarly research on medieval women in Iberian/Mediterranean food culture. I could not have imagined a better place to research food studies. The major focus of my research exchange was a 15th century text housed in the Palatine Library in Parma, Italy. It was a short train ride from Bologna. It was an amazing opportunity and had this been the only part of my researc
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  BLOG/BLOGOñA/BLOG of BOLOGNA. Why is that so fun to say? IU Faculty Exchange Women and Recipes in the Medieval Mediterranean   Checking back in! To round off my sabbatical, I was awarded an IU Faculty Exchange program through the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs (OVPIA). I was so fortunate to receive this award, but I noticed there really wasn’t a lot of information for participating faculty. The Office of the Vice President for International Affairs reacted positively when I told them I could blog about my experience to help future faculty navigate this literal and figurative journey. The paperwork process between the two universities compounded with cultural differences can cause delays for these exchanges. So starting early and having a clear understanding can help faculty meet their research goals.   My exchange is with the University of Bologna, Italy (see photo). There are several possible exchanges through the OVPIA: Germany, Japan, México, Poland, and ot
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Oops. I am late. Update 3.

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 Sabbatical. I love it. I wasn't sure how I would feel. And I am surprised I love it. BUT. I. DO. If you read my first post where I laid out my goals, you saw that my to-do was ambitious (or, some may say, crazy) with around 9 projects. I am so glad I made that list to keep me accountable but also to track my progress. I, being so visually-oriented, also put the list up on our living room chalkboard wall. Tah-dah! By the end of February, I had FOUR DRAFTS SUBMITTED! Two are book chapters of edited volumes and two are peer reviewed articles. When I checked off those boxes, I had an epiphany. I AM GOOD. If all I get accomplished on my sabbatical is these 4 publications, I am still well ahead of what is expected of me. And, I hit that "requirement" at the end of February! Now, that doesn't mean these 4 are finished. I will likely receive revisions, as I explain below. Since then, I have worked on 2 other projects in tandem and supported my husband through a new movie pre
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January: s-UH?-bbatical. Emphasis on the “uh.” A weary academic documents her quest.

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  JANUARY: ​​ s-UH?-bbatical. Emphasis on the “uh.” A weary academic documents her quest. One month down. Really? Today’s blog is partly about the sabbatical process and partly about my research!   THE MECHANICS OF SUHBBATICAL: So far, it is not what I envisioned regarding writing, timing, and wellness. I had this idea that I would wake up and write for 3 hours every weekday. This is really quite funny because I am not new to research. But, for some reason, for sabbatical I didn’t envision all the other parts of research. Reading. Emailing. Searching. Attending lectures. More reading. All the reading. Note taking. Printing. But I just had this image of waking up and writing. Don’t get me wrong. I have written, but I have invested far less time writing than doing the other aspects of research.   Also, timing is interesting. The waking up for 3 uninterrupted hours of research is not turning out to be realistic thus far. It works several mornings a week, but for others I have other life
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