I awoke early this morning and got ready only to discover that all of the early events today were not open to the public. My host had to attend to a variety of tasks associated with his office as the examination officer, but there wasn't anything for me to do with respect to the conference. So I changed in to more appropriate clothes for walking and headed into town. I walked for a couple of miles, just down the main street and back. I could see one of the bastions from when Komarno was a walled city. I turned back eventually as I began to get hot and decided I didn't need to be so adventurous all at once. When I got back, I rested, read, and even took a late-morning nap.
In the afternoon, I met with a Bulgarian who has created an "international university". He was very interested to hear about my Fulbright and is excited to think I might be available to participate in future events. He took my name and address and intends to correspond and collaborate. He said he would be interested in having students participate in my sabbatical project, so that might make for an interesting additional study site. We'll have to see how things turn out.
Afterwards, my hosts, the Bulgarian and I all went to Hypernova to pick up some groceries. Yesterday I got some seed bread that was very good, but this time I picked up a few rolls that have cheese (and a bit of bacon or salami) melted onto them and some little pieces of cheese to try. I also got a few backs of weird snack foods: crackers and stuff. It would get tiresome to eat this way for a long time, but there's enough stuff to try that I'm doing fine so far and getting by very cheaply: the first day I spent 108 kronoj and today 128 kronoj. Kronoj are more than a penny, but less than a nickel -- I think the exchange rate was 33 or 35 to the dollar.
After we returned with the groceries, we took a taxi downtown for the solena inauxguro. We went first to the Akademia Domo, the location where the new Libera Universitato Kelemantio de la Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj de San Marino is located. The Akademio now has a courtyard with three small houses in it where that will form the nucleus of a small university. They still don't have all of the legal details worked out, but the kernel is in place. After some confusion, we all headed over to the Museum where the formal opening ceremonies took place. We were seated in a grand salon with portraits and a huge painting of a battle scene. A pair of musicians performed two songs on violin and piano. When they were done, a tape player played the San Marino national anthem while everyone stood, followed by La Vojo while the officers of AIS came in, dressed in blue and white academic regalia.
The president spoke at some length followed by remarks from my host (who is an officer) and the woman who has been the leader of the new University project. The president provided some background, clarified the current state of the project, and outlined the strategy that led to this point and where it was leading. He described each of the classrooms, who it was named after, which section of the organization it belonged to, and why it was appropriate to name the room after that person. Afterwards, we went back to the Akademia Domo and then visited each room where someone would make remarks about who the room was named after, and a picture would be hung with the person's name. It was thoughtful and the symbolism appropriate, but everyone was ready to leave long before were done.
Finally, we went to a restaurant called "The Black Dog" (I can't tell you what it was in Slovak or Hungarian, but that's what it was in English) and I sat with a German fellow, drank a couple of beers (it was by then too late to get any dinner), and eventually we walked back to the student housing together. He showed me a shortcut, so I'll be able to walk back more easily tomorrow morning.
After I changed into shorts and a t-shirt, I tried to go and call home. The woman at the counter didn't speak English, but she understood enough of what I was asking to say that the phone was "kaput". I'll have to try again tomorrow while I'm downtown. It's hard because I can't really call before mid afternoon. And it's not like I have any idea how to make a calling card call from Slovakia anyway. I'll see if I can find someone to help me tomorrow.