For the past thirteen months my twitter account has described me as "On an academic sabbatical at Essex University studying an MA".
The Chambers Dictionary defines a sabbatical as "relating to, or resembling, the Sabbath; enjoying or bringing rest; on or relating to leave from one's work (as in sabbatical leave, sabbatical visit, etc). --- n a period of leave from one's work, esp for teachers and lecturers, also esp to undertake a separate or related project."
I hadn't reflected on the derivation of sabbatical from the word Sabbath, certainly my year didn't involve a lot of rest and I wasn't on leave from my work in any very meaningful way. Although many of the teachers or lecturers I know would value a period of leave from one's work, I don't know of any who have actually taken one. Chambers hits the target in the last clause, however, I certainly was undertaking a separate project.
After six years living in France, primarily working with my hands although applying my mind in a very different way to what I was used to, I felt ready for a change and a return to more cerebral studies.
Essex University was a good place to study - I had some issues with the teaching methods on my course and some of the "laissez-faire" approaches of academia drove us both crazy at times.
I'll reflect a bit more on returning to student life after 34 years in some future blog posts but in the next few posts I'll include some parts of my final dissertation study on a psychoanalytic interpretation of victory and defeat in sporting teams.
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