Club Med

The much-adored Prof Vettas told us that the INSEAD MBA is just like Club Med. How true is this? I've personally never been to a Club Med trip, so I wouldn't know. But my section-mates chuckled appreciatively, so I think there must be some truth to that.

Club Med or not, I am beginning to understand what previous 'participants' mean by the Insead Bubble. For example, I have stopped reading the news. Now that may sound like a trivial detail but it's actually a big deal beacuse news was all I did for my entire professional life pre-Insead.

And I'm not just giving up reading the news. Four weeks ago, I still had the luxury to re-read Henry James' The American on the subway... and now I rarely go to bed without saying a fond good-bye to my favorite 'finance for executives.'

The lunar New Year, once upon a time the most important holiday of the whole year, was a complete blur. I rapidly skyped mom/dad, brother, uncle, grandpa, cousins, second cousins, bid them lots of felicities in the Year of the Ox, and was secretly relieved that they were too busy celebrating to talk to me.

Now I am not saying I don't enjoy being in the bubble. Quite the contrary. But I am writing this down as a reminder to myself that there's a bigger world out there beyond quizzes, deans lists, and chateaux parties, and I will try my best not to get lost in the forest of fontainebleau.

No more pyschological surveys , please

Between career leaders, career anchors, and MBTI (not to mention various other surveys,evaluations & brainstorming), I confess I'm quickly reaching a saturation point. Is MBA supposed to be this "Massive Brain Analysis" where one does not only look deeply into his/her own soul but must make insightful and shrink-sounding comments about one's classmates? This is on top of stuffing one's head with accounting rules and statistics formulas simultaneously. And just how much more time must be devoted to analyzing personalities and group dynamics? Okay, I will stop ranting. Actually - in 15 minutes i must dash off to meet my lovely groupmates to discuss our group identity.

By the way, I'm a borderline ENTP, if anyone cares to know.

Settling In

Settling in Fontainebleau turns out to be much harder than expected. First lesson learned: NO long showers or hot water runs out.

On the other hand, school is off to a rather good take off. A few hours of warm-up sessions in ethics and general management and a day out in the woods - not bad!

Finally, it did feel a bit solitary walking on Rue Grande Sunday afternoon. There's no way i can deny this: no matter how much i was looking forward to France, i terribly miss new york and my friends.