Writing my dissertation at the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève

This is the line for the Bibliothèque Sainte Geneviève this afternoon. It is right next to the Panthéon (which is hideous right now, since it's been under construction since I got here...), and is generally considered one of the most beautiful libraries in the world! This line is standard. You just have to wait and wait and wait. When I studied abroad in Paris oh so many years ago, I think I went two or three times. I liked it a lot, but you lose so much time in the line that you end up doing all your reading outside rather than inside!

Well, not anymore! I am now the happy owner of a "carte rose" (a pink card), which allows me to bypass this line completely. Yes sir! Now I just waltz past the crowd, right up to the door, and the guard lets me in! Am I the luckiest person in the world? Well, maybe not. It is just a library, after all, and I'm not even sure I can take books out. But, it must be worth it if there are so many people waiting in line, right???

This is a (not so great) picture of the inside. Gorgeous, right? Imagine would a good picture would look like! It's also very quiet, because everyone in there is very serious. They have a very poor free wifi connection and not tons of light (since it's pretty cloudy in Paris nowadays), but if you're typing on the computer, I suppose that's ideal. 

Today in this library, I spent maybe 3 hours refining my dissertation introduction. It is now 22 pages long and includes a detailed chapter summary. It also—thanks to a very long Skype conversation with a professor in Maine last night—explains exactly why this work is important in today's academic context, lists the reasons why I am the only person alive who can do the work (well, maybe not in those exact terms...), and expands on the reasons why I chose these chapters and why I put them in this particular order. 

Anyway, I was happily productive today in this lovely workplace. Maybe I'll go there again soon!