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

Before I talk about my experience, I want to tell you about Ahmed (name changed). Ahmed graduated with a degree in hydraulic engineering from the UAE, before completing a traineeship with the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza. Unsure about his career goals, he decided to open a supermarket with his brother, where he was the general manager in charge of inventory management, customer service and financial record keeping.

• Read more about How Business Can Truly Be a Force for Good

Having regarded my past few months at INSEAD as experimental grounds, the MBA’s 2-month break felt like an exciting new experimentation window. And with a “single” professional 4-year experience in management consulting, an internship seemed like the perfect opportunity to test new professional variables around sector and work setup.

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Before the business trek during the school's P3/P4 break, there has always been a certain expectation on what Israel should look like. Probably due to the images often portrayed in news of conflicts, tensions, grief… it's no surprise that these are the words often associated with this land. So when I first touched down in Tel Aviv, I was shocked by it's liberal culture and lively atmosphere.

• Read more about Discovering Israel, the Start-up Nation

I am still fairly new to Singapore having just passed my eleven-month anniversary since arriving from Washington, DC. I regularly advise students to build relationships in the industry where they want to work.  Relationship building can happen in many ways and one way to learn more about an industry, give back to your professional community, and build strong bonds with like-minded individuals is to volunteer.

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And just like that, P3 draws to an end, ushering the way to P4.   P3 started with major changes in the student body: 17Ds were now gone, replaced by super enthusiastic 18Ds, and the 18J population churned as well - many having gone to Singapore and few coming this direction.   People often ask me why I chose to stay in Fontainebleau for the whole programme. My answer?

• Read more about Winterlong

Having just concluded INSEAD Fintech Club's first company trek (we visited Aviva Digital Garage, Curve, iwoca, Techstars, TransferWise, and

• Read more about "Disruption" And "Innovation" Are Overrated

Entering INSEAD as a 16J Partner, I viewed the coming year as an endless stream of potential paths, but one avenue I didn’t expect to go down was towards the start-up world. However, one can say that at INSEAD there are a growing number of Entrepreneur-spirited individuals. Personally, this journey started during the first few weeks when my B-schooler and I received an invitation to the INSEAD Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, hosted by the INSEAD Centre for Entrepreneurship. Why not, we said, lets have a go at this.

• Read more about Discover Your Inner Entrepreneur

Israel is a remarkable, fascinating and controversial country, bursting with energy, innovation, attractions and interesting challenges. With (by far) the highest number of start-ups per capita of any country, and massive venture capital investments, Israel is one of the world's premier technology and entrepreneurship hubs and has been dubbed the “start-up nation”.

• Read more about Discover Israel: Start-up Nation