When I walked off the plane five months ago in Singapore and headed straight for our launch day at INSEAD, I had no idea what was in store for me. I had been living in South Africa working as a Product Manager for Tencent.

• Read more about Lessons From An INSEAD MBA

Coming from a background in science and start-ups, many of my MBA programme options felt like a strong departure from the unfamiliar mind-expanding experiences, on-the-job learning, and team-building challenges of start-ups into a world of conservatism, risk management, and generally-accepted best practices—except for INSEAD.

• Read more about How INSEAD Compares to Life in Start-ups

I’m no stranger to live music nights. When I lived in Hong Kong (where I grew up and also worked before INSEAD), I used to volunteer for Sofar Sounds Hong Kong, a global movement based on secret gigs built to promote live music in intimate settings.

• Read more about Experiencing the INSEAD Spirit at Music Night

It was two weeks into the 10-month INSEAD MBA programme. Six strangers were dining pasta on a weekday. What we didn't know however, is that this was an evening that would change our lives forever.

• Read more about The Wisdom of Sharing Pasta

It has been three weeks into the start of my TIEMBA programme journey and here I am suffering from withdrawal symptoms following an intense 1.5 weeks of adrenaline-packed, intellectually stimulating flurry of activities, discussion and experience sharing. I still occasionally dream of class discussions and even competing again in the TechMark competition (where teams within the class compete with each other to design, produce and market products for global markets). Not sure if any of my classmates experienced the above.

• Read more about The TIEMBA Experience: A Great Beginning

Imagine yourself lying on the beach on a hot summer day: you are comfortable, and you could spend the whole day like that. But then there’s this endless ocean right next to you – inviting but somewhat scary – where you can swim, dive, surf and do other exciting things. So, you carefully approach it and try the water with your feet – it’s wet, chilly and uncomfortable. Five steps further you are waist-deep in the water and that’s when it gets really cold, and you think of going back to lying under the sun for the rest of the day.

• Read more about TIEMBA Module One – A Jump Out Of The Comfort Zone