The end of P3 - starting my 10 weeks out of Fonty...

It seems fitting that the first time in 2018 that I have the time and muse to write down my thoughts is at 4 a.m. at the busy and loud airport in Doha during a 12h layover with an Australian and a Filipino desperate to get on that horribly delayed plane to take us to Colombo tonight – and we are supposed to hike for the whole day tomorrow…  The last weeks were just a blur, everything went by so fast and now it is time to leave Fonty for 10 weeks – my exchange to Singapore is about to start.

But let's back up a bit.

The 18J cohort just finished its third period of the INSEAD experience. P3 brought a lot of changes: we said goodbye to some dear friends exchanging to Singapore and Abu Dhabi and in return welcomed many new faces from our Asia Campus as well as exchange students from Kellogg, we gave up "our" Amphi, the old sections were dismantled, we worked in different group settings for each of the elective courses we had, the great 18D cohort joined our campus… I could continue for a long time!

I was immediately reminded at the words of a senior partner in my consultancy firm when I started: "The second you realize you have the role figured out, the firm will hand you a new challenge". For me, P3 felt exactly like that. At the end of the second period, nearly everything went smoothly; classes were neatly spaced over the seven weeks and my amazing study group had found a great working rhythm to minimize the stress for assignments.

This all went away in P3. Some classes had seven weeks of sessions in the span of 12 days, groups with completely unknown people and unknown working-styles were created and the coordination between individual schedules was a tough challenge on its own.

Overall, it was a completely new experience – challenging but a lot of fun.

The third period also means the start of elective courses and this offers us to get a deeper glance at specialized subjects. My chosen subjects gave me a great learning experience into special areas of finance, organizational design and strategy. I very much look forward to continuing these experiences in the next two periods to come.

But now, it is time to make another step and create even new memories. After our P3 break in Sri Lanka, I will continue further South-East and head off tocSingapore for the fourth period of my MBA. I cannot wait to see our second campus, meet the rest of the 18J students and enjoy a bit nicer weather compared to the infamous "seven weeks of rain" in Fontainebleau.

I will definitely give feedback if the relatively unusual choice to spend P4 in Singapore as a Fonty starter is a good choice or not… but first, let's board this plane and catch some sleep…