30 Aug 2004

Today was the first day of classes. If every day of classes is like this, its not too bad at all. Just have some reading to do. Also went to the Sous Prefecture for Carte de Sejour and visa issues. In the evening Bikram, Raoul, Shan and I went over to CarreFour to buy a suitcase and food etc...We ate at a steakhouse after that.

29 Aug 2004

Guy built a fire in the backyard and we roasted some pork and bbq'd it. Then it started raining a bit so we went inside. My bicycle tire had a flat to

28 Aug 2004

Today was the big welcome party sponsored by Bain. It was in this huge Chateau. Very medieval looking and a dance floor in the "dungeon" of the chateau in the basement. I saw dungeon because of the cold stone walls. Great DJ and a lot of fun. Met a lot of people. They say its probably one of the best parties of the year.

27 Aug 2004

Today we had the outward bound programme. So we went into the Fontainebleau forest in our sections. The class has been divided into 5 sections with groups of 5 people each. So we were mostly with our groups of 5 all day. It was a beautiful day luckily so the events that were organized by this company "Outward Bound" were quite fun. It was all about teambuilding and seeing how one works in a group. Similar to some of the teambuilding events I did at Deutsche. But this was with a better crowd, instructor and it was in the beautiful Fbl forest. From walking on ropes, finding object blindfolded to tying a harness and doing mission imposssible kind of stunts -- it was quite fulfilling. At the end of the day there were drinks at the auditorium and I met up with my group for a presentation tomorrow. Apparently I am doing this presentation tomorrow! oh no. Got to get back to the slides...

26 Aug 2004

We had our French Language test today. Wasn't quite as easy as I thought it would be. I can't really frame French sentences to make an essay. I think all I got was the Multiple choice. If I can make it to Level 1 or 2 it would be great. There was also some politics going on amongst the INSEAD students, the January promotion (I am in the Sept promotion). Some arguments and disruptions at the Club fair and some nasty emails exchanged between Brits and Indians. Funny. Never thought things like that would happen at INSEAD. Wasn't too nice being around school when 170 nasty emails are exchanged amongst a mass mailing list of all the students. Anyway, I joined the club that seemed least in the limelight. Les Artistes. So I went over to an Amphi (one of the INSEAD lecture halls) and drew some guy and girl who were modeling. I think this might be the only club I'll join! The others seem a bit selective and I don't think I'll bother. We also had an Indian today. All the Indians at INSEAD that is. Its a tradition to have a national dinner in the first week. Food was okayish and I met a lot of Indians including my neigbor in Delhi (Geetanjali enclave).

25 Aug 2004

Today was more registration events. Getting the Carte De Sejour (student visa) social security, health insurance and other such things. We also had our first lecture on Intro to General Mgmt. It was more of an orientation lecture and we got broken up into groups. Not random groups but groups that have an even spread of people with different backgrounds. There was also a welcome presentation that showed the avg. age at INSEAD as 29 and 52 (most represented) as the number of Indians at INSEAD.

24 Aug 2004

Today was registration. Pretty chaotic. Not as well organized as I would expect from INSEAD. Got in at 9:30 am and was running around from booth to booth. Cell phone, insurance, fitness center, restaurant card, ID, library card and on and on. Then a little campus tour and some presentations. Then a welcome by the Dean and a guest speaker on how great INSEAD is. Especially in terms of the community. Then champagne and cocktails. Met a lot of new people. And after that a little dinner in "downtown" fbl. Quite busy. Was in a suit all day for a picture was taken for the Resume Book that INSEAD publishes for recruiters.

23 Aug 2004

My last name starts with S. So my registration is tomorrow. Some INSEADers had their registration today though. I woke up thinking I'd go to Paris. But because of the events of the weekend (traveling) I woke up late and couldn't make it. So I read up on some French. We (Raoul, Jacqueline, Guy and I) went to the Piscine nearby for some coffee/ice cream. We just chilled there for a bit and went on a little bicycling excursion. All the bikes lying in the backyard are very old but Guy fixed some of them up. So I had an oversized bike. We biked to the nearby town Samoreau and through the forest along the Seine and out into some fields. Very scenic. There were some fireworks behind the Fontainebleau castle in the evening. Once a year fireworks. Has some historic significance attached to Saint Louis. So we went and caught the fireworks after eating dinner. The whole house biked down to Fontainebleau Chateau to see the fireworks. It was like the Von Trapp family. The whole house also had dinner together. The landlord, Guy, is pretty accomodating and has these friends who make some food every now and then. So the residents of the house are invited to eat together.

22 Aug 2004

Just came back from a long trip. Well, it was only one night two days long but seemed much more than that. Wenkan, Aviv, Gilbert and I set off in a Citroen C3 for Versailles. We saw the Chateau at Versailles and the gardens. Very nice. 16th century history and paintings. There was also a hallway where they showed all the victories of france and napoleon. The hallway where the Treaty of Versailles was signed. The chambers of the Dauphins and Louis the 14th, 15th and 16th.We made a spontaneous decision after that to go to Normandy. Mont Saint Michelle on the north west tip of France. Fantastic place. It was so medieval. Built in 800 AD.The gothic architecture and the streets reminded me of LOTR or Harry Potter. The surroundings are even more amazing. Flat land with the tides. At times the Abbey at Mont Saint Michelle is surrounded by water and at times its dry. The next day we went to Omaha Beach to see the DDay landing site. I drove for a bit as well! And after that to Etretat where we saw the jagged white cliffs and ate some good seafood and chocolat au mousse. Very serene and natural place on the northern coast of Normandy. We got back to fbl by 3am.

20 Aug 2004

Guy (the landlord) had his friend come over with his Russian girlfriend and they cooked dinner for the whole house. So I had a true russian meal (Borscht and all). Delicious. After that we went to the nearby Restaurant/Bar/Piscine (Pool) and had some coffee/beer. All places at Fontainebleau close at 1am. The Piscine was an interesting place. They had a trapeze as well and have shows on occasion.

20 Aug 2004

Guy (the landlord) had his friend come over with his Russian girlfriend and they cooked dinner for the whole house. So I had a true russian meal (Borscht and all). Delicious. After that we went to the nearby Restaurant/Bar/Piscine (Pool) and had some coffee/beer. All places at Fontainebleau close at 1am. The Piscine was an interesting place. They had a trapeze as well and have shows on occasion.

19 Aug 2004

Well I just reached Fontainebleau yesterday. It was very nice of Sally Uncle to pick me up from Etoile. I took the air france coach to the Arc De Triomphe and then Sally picked me and dropped me to my place at Fontainebleau. It was even pouring cats and dogs.

My place is pretty quaint. On the rim of a forest. Every now and then I see a caterpillar in my room. Then I sweep it outside the window. Very old place. Not that big, but big enough. More like a log cabin it feels sometimes! Fontainebleau itself is a small town. I'm guessing typical french town. But its actually a town and not countryside. There's a main road with shops and all. And a big Chateau in town.

Today I went to the countryside as well. Some students live a 20 min drive away in big houses with huge gardens with swimming pools, table tennis, snooker tables etc...Most students have leased cars. I found a place about 2 kms from campus. Either a 30 m in walk or a 25 min bike
ride. So I'm going to do it that way. The landlord has plenty bikes in the backyard so I've been using those.

I have to work on my french now. There is probably a test sometime next week which I have to pass. If I don't, I'll have to take classes and pass it later.