Maison Royale: Our Beloved Home Away From Home
A week after graduation, I still don’t feel like leaving campus. I’m literally writing this post in a breakout room reminiscing the past few days. Friends, academics, recruitment, trips, parties and so on. Looking back, one of the best decisions I made was about where to start my MBA journey.
I was a Fonty starter (who stays on the Fontainebleau campus for the initial two periods of core courses) and I chose to live in a garret of Maison Royale, a French two-storey house with nine rooms, for a reasonable rent, proximity to the campus and downtown, and a bathtub.
I had never lived or shared a house with flatmates before, so I didn't know what it would be like.
It turned out to be an amazing party of attractive and diverse people that wouldn’t otherwise gather at one place altogether.
Despite our very busy schedules at INSEAD, we enjoyed cooking, dinner, drinks, life stories, cards, board games, and table soccer together.
We also came up with a great tradition to celebrate everyone’s birthday at home with a cake, wine and photos.
The process of our becoming a family under one roof was full of insights that complement the multi-cultural learning on campus and, more importantly, was simply beautiful to go through. As time passed and the seasons changed from winter to spring to summer, it got merrier with longer days, and cozier with warmer weather.
They say “once a family always a family” and I can’t agree more in view of our bond getting even stronger after we got out of the house and moved from Europe to Asia.
The one-year INSEAD MBA is said to be intense, challenging, and transformative.
I cannot agree more. I have changed in unexpected ways both professionally and personally (and I hope I will have a chance to tell you about this soon, by the way). So it truly is so encouraging to have place to call home, and people to call family when you are away on such an intense journey.
It will be hard to imagine life without my INSEAD family anymore, and while it’s of course sad for us to leave the school and get dispersed around the world, I also look forward to seeing how our respective lives evolve in the future.
To those who have a secured a spot in Maison Royale, lucky you! To those who are considering to stay, do it! You will have an awesome time!
Maison Royale forever!
