1 year. 2 campuses. Countless Goodbyes.

At the tail end of the grad trip, I can't help but feel like this is almost anti-climatic. The different buses taking us to the airport from our resort in Galle, Sri Lanka necessitates several sessions of "good byes" as i refer to it.

In these sessions we need to figure out who are the few departing on the first bus, then the next, and so on - and unless you're on the last bus, you are afraid of missing the chance to say your good byes. I already know a handful of people that I wish I had found the time to talk to over these past 5 days, but then again, the nature of the 1yr program is that you prioritize - whether its sleep, fun w/ familiar faces, or just a cold drink by the beach. And in those moments, you "lose" the chance to do other important things.

But so many argue "well, how important can it be if you forgot?" -> and I challenge that statement only because - in a few days, with all that is running through our respective heads/hearts/minds - it really isn't a question of prioritizing as much as it is a question of finding the energy to have these conversations - some of them very difficult for the very reason that you're rebuilding bonds with friends who you have not had the chance to catch up with - and then meeting them on the other side of a goodbye session can just be bittersweet. Maybe that's why I have not made as much effort as I could have.

Or maybe it is because - given the international nature of citizenship & residence at INSEAD - I truly believe that I will probably run into more people in the future from this experience, than from any other school, job, organization in my life.

And for that I'm grateful.

I look forward to celebrating the good times - although this 1 yr on two campuses is over - the countless goodbyes are just starting... and more than that, I look forward to seeing everyone again, if only to say yet another good bye in anticipation of an embracing hello we'll say to one another in the future.

Time to pack up & head out!

Oh the opportunities that await us...

last class...

i know the cliche how time flies can appear so... overused, but i am at a loss for words, so i will need to start with a cliche until i can regain my composure and actually write more eloquently.

for now, let the thoughtful stream of consciousness flow... almost 1 year ago today, i was landing in bangkok after having packed my bags, sold most of my possessions, and basically wrapped up my life in chicago. it felt like eons ago. i was saying the good byes, because for all intents and purposes i was moving away to - well - just about anywhere. and when you're moving "anywhere" its hard to say when you'll see anyone.

and here i am now, sitting, sweating in my gym clothes, under the fan, in an apartment in dover, in singapura, just having finished my last class at INSEAD. and the goodbyes have started, again. this time, however, i hardly believe i won't see your smiling faces. if anything, you are the one group of people in my life i count on seeing somewhere, somehow, and yes - somewhen too. unplanned, though they may be, i believe our paths have only just started to intersect.

10 months.
2 campuses.
countless vacations & destinations.
friends still being made as our cross-campus migration comes to a halt in sri lanka for our grad trip starting tomorrow.... (and i'm still toying with creating an application that super imposes a tracker on each of our emails to indicate where all we have been from Dec 31st 2010 to Dec 31st 2011!)

now, i can't help but wonder - what's changed?
short answer: everything.

you, me, us, what we were, what we are, how we interact, where we will go - it has all evolved into something else entirely. and i'm not saying this in the existential sense necessarily. i'm saying this because the doors that have opened, and through us, the experiences that will unfold, has made the world so small - so small - that i can only hope we start colonizing new planets, because i fear that the class of 11D will run out of unique vacation spots!

and for some reason, i have all this uncapped ambition bursting at the seams, waiting to be realized. the only thing i can think of is to now head over to the barbeque about to start at heritage, in preparation for the imminent awesomeness of sri lanka.

i will miss this. and... i now know why every single INSEAD alum i spoke to echoed one statement without hesitation: "best year of my life"

And no, I did not plan for "Develop Beliefs" to overlap this... but it is a great juxtaposition considering what's on the whiteboard!

KBBQ!

a moment i must share...

korean bbq - especially the buffet style, is basically a hot plate on top of which you place your meats to cook.

beef, pork, chicken, squid, shrimp, etc.. etc...

however, i don't eat beef. my italian israeli friend & south african friend sitting across from me don't eat pork. an asian brazilian eats everything. german chinese as well. and the malaysian on the table is busy eating shrimp while i'm writing this.

so what do we do? we divide a small hotplate (only about 2ftX2ft) into two hot plates by placing two pieces of aluminum foil up against each other, thereby creating a wall for the pork & beef to avoid contact.

we had separate scissors, tongs, plates - an entire dinner set per set of people who could eat one type of meat. and the restaurant was very confused when changing foil (after it burns from 20+ minutes of sitting on the hot plate.

what an experience.

oh and i forgot to mention - we were 1 table of 12 in the restaurant, completely filled with INSEAD students. maybe 5 koreans in the entire group. what a crazy affair..!

(picture coming soon)

i can't believe this part of the trek is almost over. i'm going to miss such adventures with such cultural differences all setting things aside to enjoy the common festivities put on by yet another group of crazies. ok enuff of the mush... i still smell like bbq chicken though. might need a shower before i head out for karaoke!

i don't normally blog about other blogs because it feels like i'm cheating you... that is, only if you actually enjoy reading my updates - although you wouldn't be here if you didn't get something (hopefully) positive out of this relationship!

ANYhow, as things come to a close here at INSEAD, I've been writing a lot of notes that I have yet to post because I want them to be a little bit more crisp... in the meantime, for your reading pleasure, here's a great blog i just got linked to:

http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/08/30/12-things-happy-people-do-differently/

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holi!

having lived in thailand & usa most of my life (at least what i can remember) there are many functions/events that i've had the chance to experience with a diverse sets of individuals - be it diwali in bangkok with all the other indians in thailand, or thanksgiving in chicago with friends from bangkok... its always been a mix of people who might not all be where they would have seen themselves celebrating said-event.

this time around though, i found myself celebrating holi in november in singapore with lebanese, french, indians, thais, koreans, americans, pakistanis, africans, brits, irish... you name it. the nationalities outnumbered the various colors we had!

one of the best celebrations i've ever experienced given the amateur nature of the setup - i mean it was not amateur in the work put into it, but it was by no means the kind of holi setup you would expect.

a tent in a parking lot, with 4 tables for food, 2 tables with color, 2 tables with drinks and one large speaker plugged into an ipod. oh and a renegade hose lying on the floor, used by anyone that realized it was on.

the clincher for me was receiving this email after a night of celebrations & questions from my non-indian counterparts...

so what is holi? whats the significance?

"We put our best guys on this and the short answer is: Although historically celebrated as a harvest festival, in recent times it is more a celebration of unity – an opportunity  to forget all differences and indulge in unadulterated fun. It is typically celebrated in high spirit without any distinction of cast, creed, color, race, status or sex. When everyone is covered in colors and looks the same it brings people closer."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULCQzhIEFhE