So tired...

I was very slow to get out of bed this morning and then it was extra cold on my way to work.  But I did it - I worked a nice full day, like I'm not actually on vacation.  Not only did I put in many hours, I was ridiculously effective.  When I was in graduated school I implemented a variety of time managed/scheduling techniques that help me stay on task and be productive.  But here, I'm not actually using any of those and still being incredibly effective.  Why?

1. While I can access my e-mail, I am getting very few e-mails during the day.  Partially this is because I'm on leave (yay!) but the time difference helps too. 
2. I can absolutely stay on task.  There is only one person who might possibly come in and talk to me (and he does so very rarely).  I don't have any other meetings, etc that I need to go to.   I don't think I have had this much control of my schedule since I was an undergraduate!
3. The hospital apparently blocks a number of websites.  I haven't tried to look up anything ridiculous on the internet, but at one point I thought about blogging (blocked) and had wanted to check the news today (blocked).  So, even if I wanted to take a 5 or 10 minute Internet break, I couldn't.  My phone gets no cell signal in the office - I put it in airplane mode to save battery.
4. I don't have tea or water at my desk.  So, I never need to get up for refills or to use the restroom.
5. I am not listening to music - I don't need to set up playlists or search out a specific song.  

The last two items come from watching my colleagues.  While plenty of people have in headphones on the subway and on the streets, no one in my office area listens to music at work.  Similarly, I don't see beverages outside of the break room.  I don't know if these things are "regulations" or cultural norms, but I don't plan on breaking them either way.

Today I did an incredibly amount of literature searching - it felt like I accomplished 3 days worth of science.  I've even looked at some of these specific topics today - and I found new resources today.  Tracing down literature, even when I'm taking a lot of notes, is much more effective when it can happen all at once, rather than being spread out over a few days.

I had some conversations with a colleague in Italian today - she was doing most of the talking, but I was able to follow almost all of what she said.  She is from Sardinia and was telling me (and showing me pictures and videos) about the Sardinian Carnivale.  She has been very nice and helpful in explaining things about Milan, the hospital, and Italy.  She is also very encouraging of me speaking my (not so good) Italian to her, so hopefully I can keep getting practice!

I returned home exhausted, but hadn't hit my FitBit step goal for the day!  I headed out to a cafe, which ended up being closed, but I visited an interesting store.  It is focused on furniture and home goods, but it really has a bit of everything.  I bought an umbrella and a bread knife.  I think I will need the umbrella tomorrow, and the knife is a big improvement over what I had been trying to cut bread with...