Sabbatical Diary: Week 10

An odd week that. About 10 reference letters submitted throughout the week, the latest about 30 minutes ago. Remember: a student is for life, not just a degree. There was also a police statement to make following an unpleasant interaction on a train. Apparently photos, CCTV and AI will all be involved seeking the individual in question. Here’s hoping.

However, the main event was the one it started with: the viva previously mentioned at TU Delft. That was good fun: my first viva abroad (indeed, my first outside England). People had told me it was different, being a public defense, and it was: much more formal than ours with much wearing of paraphernalia (their word not mine :) doffing of caps (er, doctors’ bonnets anyway), and so forth.

It was only when it finished that I finally realised why: the viva wasn’t just the viva but also incorporated the graduation ceremony. Probably a good thing that I didn’t take literally the part of the instructions where it said I could wear whatever was customary at my own institution for vivas (shorts? t-shirt?) – more appropriate would’ve been to wear what as customary for graduation. Which I did.

That was followed by two days of admissions interviewing. Technically I didn’t need to do any this year due to the sabbatical but (a) we were back up to about 40—45 being interviewed so I thought I should help and (b) Damon who has taken over as DOS while I’m on sabbatical very kindly did several days interviewing for me last year while he was on sabbatical. So there was at least a moral debt, now hopefully paid, at least in part.

Next: writing. No, really this time. Honest.