Croissants, Coffees & Cover Letters

I’ve decided to change the way I keep account of my time here at INSEAD- I have now transitioned effectively from weeks to days (I did start with months). In the daily rush to make it to classes, finish assignments, buy the tickets for the next house party and writing cover letters, it’s quite easy to lose track of how quickly P1 and P2 have flown by.  

In the rampant pace that INSEAD throws at us, what I find truly remarkable is our ability find time and establish bonds with people who perhaps have nothing in common.

The diversity (a much talked about and repeated theme at INSEAD) continues to amaze me. I am surprised if a fellow INSEADer fits any typical social stereotype as most have unexpected backgrounds or life journeys. For me, that signifies the true beauty of INSEAD and all the chaos that comes with it.

Now to the more fun part- the class trips! After making sure that our bills at Glasgow are of a comparable magnitude to our house rentals, it’s high time we get out of the forest (provided cabs are arranged for and the trains aren’t on strike). We do like to party and when we get the slightest of chance, we decide to party in the ruin bars of Budapest, the bunker discotheques in Lebanon, the puffy sheesha bars in Istanbul, the techno discotheques of Berlin and the pubs down in Barcelona. Every time, when I am on my way back to Fontainebleau, I have this sinking feeling about getting back to the grind but the feeling is rather short-lived- especially when in no time, you have sundowners, barbeques and house parties lined up again.

The beautiful spring finally welcomed us to the third period at INSEAD. The third period at INSEAD does bring a lot of upheaval to the status quo. We are broken away from our sections which we have dearly fallen in love with (Once an E9er, Always, an E9er!!- Miss you guys!) and we also bid goodbyes to people we have grown close to over the last four months. I bid a hopefully short-lived goodbye to some of my dearest buddies and just hope they remain as eccentric and weird as they are!

At the same time, we are thrilled to have some of our batch-mates join in from Singapore and we ensured that we literally make hay while the sun occasionally shines in the Fontainebleau sky. To my Singapore friends who have been intrigued by the cohesive community feeling they witness in the Fonty starters,all I can say is that it’s funny what lack of dining options and train strikes do to a student community residing in the middle of a forest.

In the end, we have grown as a community that sticks (parties) together and I hope we continue to build on that!

So as I attend the Negotiations lecture later this afternoon, all I want to negotiate is that the next 6 months be as epic as the last 4! Have a wonderful P3, everyone!