Many people say that getting along with Culture is an art, as with all relationships. But the optimist in me would like to think that what we call "art", like magic, is just science waiting to be understood, and technology waiting to be invented.

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A songwriter, a real estate investor, and a world traveler. A middle child, a husband and a dad. Bungee jumped from 100 meters high, scuba dived 40 meters deep, camped, hiked, climbed, rafted and kayaked. Been on a sinking ship, witnessed a mass revolution, performed at an opera house and built an automated warehouse prototype that received academic distinction…these are all hobbies, skills and experiences that have shaped the man I am right now.

• Read more about A Series of Fortunate Decisions

Starting from this week, our INSEAD Class of 2019 December is officially in session. We can finally meet the peers of our class, our study group members, our Career Development Coaches, our Deans and faculty, and our Personal Leadership Development Coaches. But it is not only that, we met the chef in the canteen, the staff in the gym, the library, the staff of the Student Experience team, who will provide us the warmest support of the year.

• Read more about The 19D's INSEAD Journey: Officially Starts !

I’m sitting on a plane heading for my first week at INSEAD’s Fontainebleau campus, trying to decide whether to watch Skyscraper featuring Dwayne The Rock Johnson or to overdose on Ambien until I hallucinate about sky cats who want to wear my skin as a jacket (again). In the meantime, I thought it would be appropriate to knock out the first blog post and explain how I got here, wedged between an overweight man who is using way too much elbow to eat that banh mi sandwich and a small child that is judging my outfit.

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Indian engineers doing an MBA is such a common phenomenon that nowadays people are surprised if an engineer says that he/she wants to continue working in the technical field throughout his/her life. Continuing this tradition, I had decided to go for an MBA three and a half years back. At that time, I was working as a design engineer in Qualcomm (having graduated from IIT Roorkee as electronics engineer in 2011). I was not too clear as to why I wanted an MBA degree apart from the fact that I did not like my work and this was not certainly something I could continue doing throughout my life.

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This is a long overdue recap of the Fontainebleau electives module that occurred during the summer of 2018, in a little French town an hour and a half from Paris. 

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While there are already many wonderful and life-saving posts on tips to get into top business schools, this isn't one of them. I had embarked on the MBA application process not knowing what to expect and took it one step at a time. Along the way, I was surprised by a number of developments, and drew some life lessons that I wanted to share. In fact, the journey was so valuable in and of itself that even if I hadn't gotten admitted, it would have still been worth the time, effort and cost of fulfilling all the requirements. I've distilled these thoughts below.

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Photo of the magical Chateau de FontainebleauBut first, let me introduce myself and my background (since this my first blog).

• Read more about How I Scored Well on GMAT and Why I Only Applied to INSEAD

Dear All, I joined the Business Foundation Programme in December 2018, prior the beginning of the school in January 2019. This programme is designed for those who are not yet familiar with finance and accounting. With an engineering background, I thought that it would be better for me to enhance my knowledge, and to "catch up" with my classmates who already did business-related work before joining INSEAD.

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Before starting your INSEAD journey, everybody is very excited and curious about an awful lot of things. One of these are the study groups: a group of five to six people that will work together during all the courses of P1 and P2. Who will I be grouped with? Where are they from? How much smarter are they than me? How many consultants are in the group? After completing P2, I can share some insights about the reality of study groups and tips on how to make the most of the experience. Let’s focus first on some truths and myths…

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