I signed up for what some call "Boot Camp" or "Business Foundations" because I have not opened a textbook in over 5 years.
And today was our first day of classes - Finance, Accounting, and Quantitative Methods.
Homework took over 2hrs - we were only finished at around 8pm, but that is because (like fools?) we took a short break during the day to get cellphones figured out. I believe that was a mistake seeing as I was unable to purchase the cellphone AND ending up staying late to finish the problem set.
Tomorrow might be more productive - but there's Tandoori Lamb AND one of my friends/co-teammates wants to go get the cellphone sorted out then... we shall see.
I did purchase a 29 Euro alarm clock which is kinda stupid considering I am about to get myself a phone in which I will set alarms... le friggin sigh.
Best purchase, however, was my INSEAD Backpack!
I should be reading, but I'm blogging, and now I'm le tired.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Ou est LA BANQUE!
Monday morning in Fontainebleau... should've really been Monday afternoon - will explain why.
Anyhow, I got up around 8AM and it felt like 4AM outdoors. Granted, my room has slanted ceilings so maybe the light wasn't really making it through - but I've also heard that this is what they call the "European Winters" - dark & gloomy days...
At around 9am, after trying to find the appropriate health & housing insurance, I got in touch with my airport buddies from the previous day to see if we should meet up to get cell phones figured out and contact our banks for credit cards and cheque books, etc...
We also decided to get something to eat. At around 10AM we met up and walked towards the town center. During this walk I started to notice Chinese restaurants, so with nothing better to do at the moment, I started a tally...
During the day, we really racked up some mileage. First we learned that one of the banks was closed. We continued wandering around, asking for directions to places we didn't want to go - probably just to practice our French, and continued aimlessly through the town.
Finally, we decided to be productive and so walked into a Phone store to look for good prices and deals on phones - this was a bad idea without prior research into the French system for cell phone plans since we had offers for things like 1 hour of talk time a month + unlimited sms & internet. To give you a sense of how different this is, in USA I had 1350 minutes of talk time along with unlimited data & 200 SMS/month. To bring this down to 60 or 120 mins of talk time and unlimited SMS & emailed seemed slightly disproportionate.
BUT I guess we were going for the more cost effective plans (i.e. my plan in Chicago was $150/month so approximately 100 Euros). So, note to all reading this - incoming calls are free and I have unlimited SMS & Email so I will be great about text-based communication and leaving missed calls :)
After a few discussions around cellphones we decided that all the French we were hearing was exercising our brains more than expected so croissants were in order - found ourselves a nice patisserie and indulged in French treats! Ok - I indulged but moreso because I was instructed to do so by my brother to taunt my sister-in-law with pictures of all the treats I was eating in France.
Second note but moreso to self - find gym, sign up for gym, and start a regular workout routine asap...
With a little bit of food in our tummies we ventured towards the bank, again, realizing it was closed. Then walked towards grocery stores (remembered they are called epiceries) and did a lot of random scouring of the town.
Around noon one of our friends decided that he was going to head back before the random discussions regarding HSBC drove him to insanity and it was once again my British Canadian swimmer buddy and I ready to brave Melun.
And brave we did! We figured out that Ligne 34 goes to Melun directly from Fontainebleau. But we did not know how much it would cost, so we emptied our pockets with all the change we had (yes - I'm trying to portray poverty when in fact we basically had too many big notes).
One amazing thing about the bus was that it was a proper bus - not like a public transit bus one might expect - more like a bus you'd take for overnight trips to different cities - make sense? A Greyhoundesque bus - quite the experience. And en route, I spotted at least 4 more Chinese Restaurants!
Tally = 9.
Upon arriving at Melun, we tried to find HSBC which for some reason was a complete mystery to all the locals. They kept sending us to different banks - now I know my French might not be the best, but there were two of us and we were giving every permutation of H (ahj), S (ess), B (bay), C (say) to folks ranging from Domino's Cashiers to Etudiants wandering about town...
Finalement we found a map and with the help of the address I always had in my backpack we located the town square/circle around which HSBC was located.
Once again, after all that French-speaking, we needed some treats - du chocolate, du the, et deux tartaletttes (quiches)... hmmm...
AND we were up to 12 Chinese restaurants. Mind you, we were speed walking our way around Melun and in the midst of that brisk pace and yelling "Ou est La BANQUE!" I'm sure I missed a few restaurants...
Needless to say we finally made our way to HSBC, which has amazing security - only one person allowed in or out at a time, buzzed through two separate doors - I think I may apply for a job at this branch :)
... this post is getting really long - and I'm not even done talking about the rest of the escapades of the day, but let me list it:
- back to Fontainebleau by bus
- back home to change
- quick stop grocery shopping w/ housemate (milk, cereal, and 2 cases of beer as a welcome present for our other housemates)
- Welcome Dinner for INSEAD Business Foundations attendants
- Post-welcome Dinner conversations with new students
- Debrief on the walk home...
Oh, Tally end-of-day = 13
Anyhow, I got up around 8AM and it felt like 4AM outdoors. Granted, my room has slanted ceilings so maybe the light wasn't really making it through - but I've also heard that this is what they call the "European Winters" - dark & gloomy days...
At around 9am, after trying to find the appropriate health & housing insurance, I got in touch with my airport buddies from the previous day to see if we should meet up to get cell phones figured out and contact our banks for credit cards and cheque books, etc...
We also decided to get something to eat. At around 10AM we met up and walked towards the town center. During this walk I started to notice Chinese restaurants, so with nothing better to do at the moment, I started a tally...
During the day, we really racked up some mileage. First we learned that one of the banks was closed. We continued wandering around, asking for directions to places we didn't want to go - probably just to practice our French, and continued aimlessly through the town.
Finally, we decided to be productive and so walked into a Phone store to look for good prices and deals on phones - this was a bad idea without prior research into the French system for cell phone plans since we had offers for things like 1 hour of talk time a month + unlimited sms & internet. To give you a sense of how different this is, in USA I had 1350 minutes of talk time along with unlimited data & 200 SMS/month. To bring this down to 60 or 120 mins of talk time and unlimited SMS & emailed seemed slightly disproportionate.
BUT I guess we were going for the more cost effective plans (i.e. my plan in Chicago was $150/month so approximately 100 Euros). So, note to all reading this - incoming calls are free and I have unlimited SMS & Email so I will be great about text-based communication and leaving missed calls :)
After a few discussions around cellphones we decided that all the French we were hearing was exercising our brains more than expected so croissants were in order - found ourselves a nice patisserie and indulged in French treats! Ok - I indulged but moreso because I was instructed to do so by my brother to taunt my sister-in-law with pictures of all the treats I was eating in France.
Second note but moreso to self - find gym, sign up for gym, and start a regular workout routine asap...
With a little bit of food in our tummies we ventured towards the bank, again, realizing it was closed. Then walked towards grocery stores (remembered they are called epiceries) and did a lot of random scouring of the town.
Around noon one of our friends decided that he was going to head back before the random discussions regarding HSBC drove him to insanity and it was once again my British Canadian swimmer buddy and I ready to brave Melun.
And brave we did! We figured out that Ligne 34 goes to Melun directly from Fontainebleau. But we did not know how much it would cost, so we emptied our pockets with all the change we had (yes - I'm trying to portray poverty when in fact we basically had too many big notes).
One amazing thing about the bus was that it was a proper bus - not like a public transit bus one might expect - more like a bus you'd take for overnight trips to different cities - make sense? A Greyhoundesque bus - quite the experience. And en route, I spotted at least 4 more Chinese Restaurants!
Tally = 9.
Upon arriving at Melun, we tried to find HSBC which for some reason was a complete mystery to all the locals. They kept sending us to different banks - now I know my French might not be the best, but there were two of us and we were giving every permutation of H (ahj), S (ess), B (bay), C (say) to folks ranging from Domino's Cashiers to Etudiants wandering about town...
Finalement we found a map and with the help of the address I always had in my backpack we located the town square/circle around which HSBC was located.
AND we were up to 12 Chinese restaurants. Mind you, we were speed walking our way around Melun and in the midst of that brisk pace and yelling "Ou est La BANQUE!" I'm sure I missed a few restaurants...
Needless to say we finally made our way to HSBC, which has amazing security - only one person allowed in or out at a time, buzzed through two separate doors - I think I may apply for a job at this branch :)
... this post is getting really long - and I'm not even done talking about the rest of the escapades of the day, but let me list it:
- back to Fontainebleau by bus
- back home to change
- quick stop grocery shopping w/ housemate (milk, cereal, and 2 cases of beer as a welcome present for our other housemates)
- Welcome Dinner for INSEAD Business Foundations attendants
- Post-welcome Dinner conversations with new students
- Debrief on the walk home...
Oh, Tally end-of-day = 13
Monday, January 3, 2011
Krestel - my first night in France!
Je suis arrive!
I met one of my first friends at INSEAD at the Terminal. Her luggage had been misplaced so she'd spent several hours at the airport already and you could see that she was quite tired. Add to that the aforementioned grimy feel of that specific terminal at CDG and you've got yourself an antsy friend - but she was still pretty chill and fun to hang out with. We chatted about travel through India, our respective trips to INSEAD, Canada, stereotypes and what we're waiting to see at INSEAD to reinforce or negate certain "myths" - also realized we have a bit in common - i.e. mainly out love for swimming :)
So we hung out waiting for another INSEAD friend - he was coming in from Islamabad - except that she and I kept looking at Istanbul when we were checking arrival time. Initially he was to arrive at 2pm, which got delayed to 3:50pm and then pulled back to 3:15pm.
At some point around 4pm, she asks me to watch the exit area while she grabs a bit of water. In the few minutes she steps away and I'm asked to hold down the fort, there's an ad for a TV show featuring this really talented juggler - mind you this is being played on a TV right above the exit door (from the baggage claim) which, in my defense, is a horrible place to put a TV.
ANYhow, the juggler was dribbling four basketballs while standing on a wheel-less skateboard on top of a cylinder. Yeah, that's right - it was pretty damn cool.
And yes, that is precisely when our mutual friend exited, did not see anyone remotely interested in his exit from the terminal - he was also looking for a girl (since she'd done the email coordination) - and had walked on out to the taxi area to try to find out shuttle driver. LUCKILY for us the shuttle driver walked into the terminal at precisely the same time - in fact they walked past each other.
After waiting for another 30 minutes, we started to look around for other signs of interested parties and eventually our friend from Islamabad made his way back to the terminal where we were all reunited!
The drive from CDG to Fontainebleau felt like any other long drive in any other city in the world! I kid you not. Sometimes I felt like I was driving through the midwest in USA, while at others I felt like it was New England area. Eventually, after missing several signs pointed directly for Fontainebleau we arrived at our respective homes.
I was lucky enough to meet one of my housemates, who, after leaving me alone in my room to unpack for a little while, suggested that we exit to get a few beers & crepes.
This was my first night in France and I sure as heck was going to spend it drinking a couple of beers and eating Crepes!!!
Krestel being the first beer we tasted - I recommend all of you reading this to give it a taste - don't chug it or go get a 12 pk to get drunk off it or any such thing. Just taste it - amazingly fresh and refreshing. What a first sip that was...
The Galettes, Salades, and Crepes were equally delicious... and our entire experience was really something to remember - even a slightly humorous episode that consisted of someone at the restaurant breaking a chair while sitting on it (wasn't me) - we watched him descend slowly from seat height to the floor and it was quite the odd but really hilarious moment. Everyone at Les Caves De Martins enjoyed that... And that was my first night in France!
I met one of my first friends at INSEAD at the Terminal. Her luggage had been misplaced so she'd spent several hours at the airport already and you could see that she was quite tired. Add to that the aforementioned grimy feel of that specific terminal at CDG and you've got yourself an antsy friend - but she was still pretty chill and fun to hang out with. We chatted about travel through India, our respective trips to INSEAD, Canada, stereotypes and what we're waiting to see at INSEAD to reinforce or negate certain "myths" - also realized we have a bit in common - i.e. mainly out love for swimming :)
So we hung out waiting for another INSEAD friend - he was coming in from Islamabad - except that she and I kept looking at Istanbul when we were checking arrival time. Initially he was to arrive at 2pm, which got delayed to 3:50pm and then pulled back to 3:15pm.
At some point around 4pm, she asks me to watch the exit area while she grabs a bit of water. In the few minutes she steps away and I'm asked to hold down the fort, there's an ad for a TV show featuring this really talented juggler - mind you this is being played on a TV right above the exit door (from the baggage claim) which, in my defense, is a horrible place to put a TV.
ANYhow, the juggler was dribbling four basketballs while standing on a wheel-less skateboard on top of a cylinder. Yeah, that's right - it was pretty damn cool.
And yes, that is precisely when our mutual friend exited, did not see anyone remotely interested in his exit from the terminal - he was also looking for a girl (since she'd done the email coordination) - and had walked on out to the taxi area to try to find out shuttle driver. LUCKILY for us the shuttle driver walked into the terminal at precisely the same time - in fact they walked past each other.
After waiting for another 30 minutes, we started to look around for other signs of interested parties and eventually our friend from Islamabad made his way back to the terminal where we were all reunited!
The drive from CDG to Fontainebleau felt like any other long drive in any other city in the world! I kid you not. Sometimes I felt like I was driving through the midwest in USA, while at others I felt like it was New England area. Eventually, after missing several signs pointed directly for Fontainebleau we arrived at our respective homes.
I was lucky enough to meet one of my housemates, who, after leaving me alone in my room to unpack for a little while, suggested that we exit to get a few beers & crepes.
This was my first night in France and I sure as heck was going to spend it drinking a couple of beers and eating Crepes!!!
Krestel being the first beer we tasted - I recommend all of you reading this to give it a taste - don't chug it or go get a 12 pk to get drunk off it or any such thing. Just taste it - amazingly fresh and refreshing. What a first sip that was...
The Galettes, Salades, and Crepes were equally delicious... and our entire experience was really something to remember - even a slightly humorous episode that consisted of someone at the restaurant breaking a chair while sitting on it (wasn't me) - we watched him descend slowly from seat height to the floor and it was quite the odd but really hilarious moment. Everyone at Les Caves De Martins enjoyed that... And that was my first night in France!
Bkk - Doha - Paris
Getting out of Bangkok was quite the hassle, I must say. First off (the omen I should've listened to) my backpack strap snapped off just as we were getting into the car on the way to the airport.
THEN because I had not checked the baggage allowance properly - I realized on the day of (and at the airport in fact) that I was only allowed 23kgs TOTAL. Furthermore, the supervisor at the counter was not willing to budge much. I had packed two bags totally approximately 46kgs.
SO at the airport, I repacked my bags. I pulled em both open and moved things around from the essentials to the BARE essentials and so on. After that, I redistributed the weight between the bags, got 1 bag to 25kgs (after basically going from 29 - 22 - 28 - 27 - 25), checked that in, and got started on figuring out how to ship the 2nd bag over. (I also consolidated carry-on by stuffing my guitar case with a lot of paperwork!!!)
Luckily we got to the airport very early - 10:30PM for a 2:35AM flight.
Anyhow, after a couple of hours worth of repacking bags, negotiating (to no success), and $300, we got MOST of my stuff on the way to France. I did forget my flip flops which is really quite upsetting since I do need a pair and I really loved that specific set. I might even ask Mom & Dad to mail them to me. Let's see how desperate I get.
I was one of the last few to make it to the boarding counter and as soon as I hit the seat in-flight I passssssssed out. I was awoken a few times by the stewardesses because I had somehow been put down for a Hindu meal - which automatically means, for some reason, not-too-great-veggie options. That is quite frustrating since "Hindu" can mean so much but I guess if you are an airline, you want to err on the side of the most religious possible Hindu you might come across. Needless to say, I did bow my head towards the big G man up in the sky as we took off :)
My layover in Doha lasted a very short amount of time. Most of the time was spent on a shuttle from the flight to the terminal and then another shuttle right back out of the terminal to an aircraft parked next to the one I had disembarked from... something about the efficiency there seems lacking - might be a great business idea to exploit. Speaking of business ideas - I watched a bit of Badmash Company, all of Megamind (highly recommended), The Town, and Dabangg.
Doha - Paris was also without much activity. However, once I arrived in Paris it was another story. CDG is a bit old & grimy. At least it feels that way. From the terminal I walked to Customs and this is the first time that I was in the shorter line - Foreign Passports. The other line being EU :) Felt pretty good to be getting the VIP treatment!
The wait for my bags was approximately 1 hour. I guess since I checked in so early for the flight in Bangkok, my bag was in the very back of the plane!
And then I walked out of the terminal to meet a couple of INSEAD students I'd coordinated with to shuttle over to CDG...
THEN because I had not checked the baggage allowance properly - I realized on the day of (and at the airport in fact) that I was only allowed 23kgs TOTAL. Furthermore, the supervisor at the counter was not willing to budge much. I had packed two bags totally approximately 46kgs.
SO at the airport, I repacked my bags. I pulled em both open and moved things around from the essentials to the BARE essentials and so on. After that, I redistributed the weight between the bags, got 1 bag to 25kgs (after basically going from 29 - 22 - 28 - 27 - 25), checked that in, and got started on figuring out how to ship the 2nd bag over. (I also consolidated carry-on by stuffing my guitar case with a lot of paperwork!!!)
Luckily we got to the airport very early - 10:30PM for a 2:35AM flight.
Anyhow, after a couple of hours worth of repacking bags, negotiating (to no success), and $300, we got MOST of my stuff on the way to France. I did forget my flip flops which is really quite upsetting since I do need a pair and I really loved that specific set. I might even ask Mom & Dad to mail them to me. Let's see how desperate I get.
I was one of the last few to make it to the boarding counter and as soon as I hit the seat in-flight I passssssssed out. I was awoken a few times by the stewardesses because I had somehow been put down for a Hindu meal - which automatically means, for some reason, not-too-great-veggie options. That is quite frustrating since "Hindu" can mean so much but I guess if you are an airline, you want to err on the side of the most religious possible Hindu you might come across. Needless to say, I did bow my head towards the big G man up in the sky as we took off :)
My layover in Doha lasted a very short amount of time. Most of the time was spent on a shuttle from the flight to the terminal and then another shuttle right back out of the terminal to an aircraft parked next to the one I had disembarked from... something about the efficiency there seems lacking - might be a great business idea to exploit. Speaking of business ideas - I watched a bit of Badmash Company, all of Megamind (highly recommended), The Town, and Dabangg.
Doha - Paris was also without much activity. However, once I arrived in Paris it was another story. CDG is a bit old & grimy. At least it feels that way. From the terminal I walked to Customs and this is the first time that I was in the shorter line - Foreign Passports. The other line being EU :) Felt pretty good to be getting the VIP treatment!
The wait for my bags was approximately 1 hour. I guess since I checked in so early for the flight in Bangkok, my bag was in the very back of the plane!
And then I walked out of the terminal to meet a couple of INSEAD students I'd coordinated with to shuttle over to CDG...
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy New Year!
I apologize for disappearing. It has been a really eventful past few weeks. Let me give you a quick rundown...
Lots of dinners & travel around Bangkok with my girlfriend & her family - her brother arrived on the 25th as well. We wanted to shop and eat and massage our way through the city in the few days we had together... some of it was quite stressful and I would say that starting around Dec 23rd I have been getting approximately 4hrs sleep/night - which I hear is what I should be shooting for during my year at INSEAD!
Dec 26th was the Roka Ceremony which can be considered an Engagement Ceremony (some say its the informal engagement) whereby my parents and my girlfriend's parents agree to stop (rokh) looking for or entertaining any prospective suitors ;) What a day/night/evening/event/ceremony. I'm still reeling from the day's activities...
Dec 27th my girlfriend & her family left for Iowa. It made sense not to extend her trip (and once you read the next few days notes you'll see why).
Dec 28th was the Mehndi Ceremony for a very close friend's bride-to-be. My brother also arrived at around midnight...
Dec 29th = The wedding for aforementioned friend, so I was running around Bangkok trying to figure out random details for the wedding. It was a blast and I remember dancing for about 2hrs and needing to dry clean my suit the following morning!
Dec 30th - 31st I went to a beach resort with my brother and sister-in-law... halfway through our lunch we realized how much we were missing Mom & Dad so we convinced them both to join us for the night! It worked out really well and we were able to relive the good ol days of family vacations to the beach! Really missed my newly Roka-ed family as well ;)
Dec 31st - Jan 1st, first off we spent the night on a cruise with family and friends from India. My maternal grandmother was also there - rang in the new year on the boat watching fireworks all around the Chao Praya River.
Jan 1st I've spent packing and repacking ever since I learned that my airlines MIGHT not allow more than one bag! w00t w00t! what a great realization to come to now!
Pics to be posted. I thank you all for reading and hope to see you soon and/or hear from you as well! Email/Comment/Post/Facebook or just think about me and our fates will align :)
OH - I also have a lot of INSEAD related things to update so I will be posting separately on those topics, including Housing & Medical Insurance!
Lots of dinners & travel around Bangkok with my girlfriend & her family - her brother arrived on the 25th as well. We wanted to shop and eat and massage our way through the city in the few days we had together... some of it was quite stressful and I would say that starting around Dec 23rd I have been getting approximately 4hrs sleep/night - which I hear is what I should be shooting for during my year at INSEAD!
Dec 26th was the Roka Ceremony which can be considered an Engagement Ceremony (some say its the informal engagement) whereby my parents and my girlfriend's parents agree to stop (rokh) looking for or entertaining any prospective suitors ;) What a day/night/evening/event/ceremony. I'm still reeling from the day's activities...
Dec 27th my girlfriend & her family left for Iowa. It made sense not to extend her trip (and once you read the next few days notes you'll see why).
Dec 28th was the Mehndi Ceremony for a very close friend's bride-to-be. My brother also arrived at around midnight...
Dec 29th = The wedding for aforementioned friend, so I was running around Bangkok trying to figure out random details for the wedding. It was a blast and I remember dancing for about 2hrs and needing to dry clean my suit the following morning!
Dec 30th - 31st I went to a beach resort with my brother and sister-in-law... halfway through our lunch we realized how much we were missing Mom & Dad so we convinced them both to join us for the night! It worked out really well and we were able to relive the good ol days of family vacations to the beach! Really missed my newly Roka-ed family as well ;)
Dec 31st - Jan 1st, first off we spent the night on a cruise with family and friends from India. My maternal grandmother was also there - rang in the new year on the boat watching fireworks all around the Chao Praya River.
Jan 1st I've spent packing and repacking ever since I learned that my airlines MIGHT not allow more than one bag! w00t w00t! what a great realization to come to now!
Pics to be posted. I thank you all for reading and hope to see you soon and/or hear from you as well! Email/Comment/Post/Facebook or just think about me and our fates will align :)
OH - I also have a lot of INSEAD related things to update so I will be posting separately on those topics, including Housing & Medical Insurance!
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