Omar heeft vandaag zijn derde schooldag en ze houden hem en de mensen met wie hij het voorbereidende programma volgt goed bezig. Afgelopen zondag begon het met een diner en wat uitleg over de week die zou gaan komen (deze dus) en daarna kregen ze een map mee met ongeveer 5 uur aan huiswerk voor de maandag. ' s Ochtends gaat hij, samen met Irina en Aliya naar Insead en ergens tegen 1900 (gisteren 20.30) komen ze thuis om aan de slag te gaan met een uur of 3 huiswerk. Hij heeft zelf het gevoel dat hij al 3 weken op school zit en hij begint vakken zoals finance en accounting zelfs leuk te vinden!
Ik zelf ben verschillende dingen aan het doen om me te vermaken, al moet ik zeggen dat het slechte weer (op dit moment komt het weer eens met bakken uit de hemel) het niet makkelijk maakt om de toerist uit te hangen en met de camera op pad te gaan. Omdat ik de afgelopen dagen wel al een aantal dingen heb gedaan en gezien kan ik wel al een korte opsomming geven van hoe het leven er in Fontainebleau aan toe gaat, zo vanuit de ogen van iemand die niet aan het voorbereiden is om naar school te gaan.
-De mensen zijn over het algemeen vriendelijk en als jij eerst groet dan doen zij het terug. Ik herken zelfs al een aantal mensen van vorige keren dat ik ze gezien heb, we hebben nog geen contact en ik moet eerlijk bekennen dat al deze mensen allemaal een hond hebben en dat ik die herken.
-Ik heb me aangepast aan het Franse leven en koop nu om de dag een stokbrood. Hier loop ik dan met het brood onder mijn arm mee naar huis. Het enige waar ik nog aan moet wennen is het meel. Het is me nu al een aantal keer overkomen dat ik dacht relaxed naar huis te lopen met het ding onder mijn arm of soms tegen me aan houdend, om dan bij het wachten op een stoplicht er (weer) achter te komen dat de stokbroden hier royaal bepoederd worden met meel en dat ik dus grote witte meel vlekken overal op mijn kleding heb. Ik zal dus nog beter de Fransen moeten gaan bestuderen aangezien ik nooit witte vlekken op hun jassen zie...
-Vandaag hadden we afgesproken met een paar Insead partners. Leuke mensen en we hebben een tijdje zitten praten en de eerste ervaringen zitten vergelijken. De interesses zijn wel gevarieerd, dat merkte ik vooral toen er een vroeg of we zin hadden om een brei-clubje te vormen. Ik heb toen maar eerlijk (en op een aardige manier) verteld dat ik niet kan breien en dat ik het ook niet echt graag wil leren. We hebben wel afgesproken om naar Parijs te gaan om kleding te kopen aangezien bijna iedereen hier zit met dunne zomerkleding.
-We hebben al 1 paraplu gedoneerd in de trein van Fontainebleau-Avon naar Gare de Lyon. Jammer want die hadden we nu goed kunnen gebruiken.
-Er zijn maar weinig mensen hier in huis die willen of kunnen koken. Onze Indiase overbuurman kan heel goed verpakkingen in de magnetron doen en de rest houdt het bij brood of afhaal pizza. Ik moet eerlijk bekennen dat ik, in tegenstelling tot de Indiase partners waar ik vanmorgen mee gesproken heb, ook niet zoveel kook en dat pasta en omelet mijn grootste culinaire wonderen waren. Bij de Indiase partners was een van de eerste vragen die ze stuurden in hun emails, waar ze meel konden vinden om chapati's te maken en kruiden voor de curries voor hun manlief als deze van Insead af komt.
-Ik ben zelf begonnen aan CFA boek over ethiek. Ik ben nu bezig alle onderdelen van de 7 Standards of Professional Conduct te leren. Vaak wel eenvoudig te begrijpen, uit de voorbeelden kan je al zien of er een standaard violated is. Echter, je moet alle standaarden kennen, compleet met voorbeelden waarin het fout gaat en hoe je het wel goed kan doen.
Een van de boeken die Omar 'moest' kopen is "A random walk down wall street" van Burton G Malkiel. Hierin beschrijft de beste man onder meer een aantal voorbeelden van beurs bubbles, waarbij de prijzen van tulpen, waardepapieren en aandelen in eerste instantie omhoog schoten omdat de mensen elkaar gek maakten en dat iedereen die dingen moest kopen. Iig, om weer terug te keren, in het boek worden voorbeelden beschreven waardoor ik beter het nut en de achtergrond van de gortdroge ethiek regels begrijp, wat het lezen dus makkelijker maakt.
-Eergisteren hebben Omar en ik samen met Sid en Marloes gechat, compleet met camera. Erg leuk om te doen. Plus punt voor de Apple lap tops!! Ik ben bijna zo ver dat ik kan gaan skypen (bellen via internet)
Goed, het is inmiddels etenstijd geworden, ik ga er een eind aan breien (haha). Prettige avond en tot ziens.
Wednesday, 22 August 2007
Monday, 20 August 2007
Student Life
It has started...
Transition completed. Our house is getting fuller by the day, as our housemates move in. Our reception in the house was excellent, we had barely arrived or we were treated to wine, cheese, and good company! The mix of cultures is a great source of inspiration and will ensure many interesting topics for conversation, varying from different languages and habits, to food, economy, politics, and things we all have in common, regardless of our backgrounds.
Talking about backgrounds, this week started our Business Foundations week. It has brought together most people with non-quant, or non-finance backgrounds: so no Finance experts, Private Equity specialists, iBankers; Instead, we have PR people, Engineers, Pilots, Military Officers, Economists, NGO professionals, and probably a few more combinations of diverse individuals.
Student Life really started Sunday night. After a short opening session from our professors Cohen and Hietala, we were treated to an excellent and abundant French diner with plenty good wine. Before diner we all received a thick binder containing the week's material, the schedule and the stuff to do and read before and after each class. When we set out for the diner together with the faculty, we knew that we were looking at 5 hours of reading to be done before Monday morning. Still we all enjoyed this first diner before going home to study. Somehow I feel that this is the trend for the nearby future. Fun, party, food, good company, and huge amounts of work.
This week's schedue:
- classes from 9am 'till 3pm
- followed by 5 hours of groupwork
- followed by x hours of further reading
- squeeze in some food, sleep, and bloggin'
- a lot of laughter, good spirited humor, and fun
I quickly go back to reading now...
Transition completed. Our house is getting fuller by the day, as our housemates move in. Our reception in the house was excellent, we had barely arrived or we were treated to wine, cheese, and good company! The mix of cultures is a great source of inspiration and will ensure many interesting topics for conversation, varying from different languages and habits, to food, economy, politics, and things we all have in common, regardless of our backgrounds.
Talking about backgrounds, this week started our Business Foundations week. It has brought together most people with non-quant, or non-finance backgrounds: so no Finance experts, Private Equity specialists, iBankers; Instead, we have PR people, Engineers, Pilots, Military Officers, Economists, NGO professionals, and probably a few more combinations of diverse individuals.
Student Life really started Sunday night. After a short opening session from our professors Cohen and Hietala, we were treated to an excellent and abundant French diner with plenty good wine. Before diner we all received a thick binder containing the week's material, the schedule and the stuff to do and read before and after each class. When we set out for the diner together with the faculty, we knew that we were looking at 5 hours of reading to be done before Monday morning. Still we all enjoyed this first diner before going home to study. Somehow I feel that this is the trend for the nearby future. Fun, party, food, good company, and huge amounts of work.
This week's schedue:
- classes from 9am 'till 3pm
- followed by 5 hours of groupwork
- followed by x hours of further reading
- squeeze in some food, sleep, and bloggin'
- a lot of laughter, good spirited humor, and fun
I quickly go back to reading now...
Saturday, 18 August 2007
Insead, Fontainebleau and a parking ticket
We have now been in Fontainebleau for exactly one week, and so far it has been good. Living (for some days just with the two of us) in a large house with 10 rooms, a garden so big that a herd of cows can graze in it, a large terrace to enjoy the sun and a soccer and basketball terrain next door has been a nice start of our year.
I must admit, some months ago my impression of how easy the preparation would go was too naïve. There were so many things to arrange (insurance, loan, work in Singapore etc etc) and at some moments I walked around with 3 lists of to do's. I lost a lot of sleep and hair about it and I know that I will still have to get used to not waking up early to go to work each day and sharing a house with 10 other people instead of one. But I realized that this would be the moment for me to relax, do things I have dreamt about and make new friends. And then the car broke down.....
But this is all over now as Omar has already written and it was an excellent opportunity for Omar to drag some extra stuff with him to decorate our rooms. When we will move back home in December, we will probably need a U-Haul truck☺
Insead was more or less closed this week because they were redecorating the restaurant and the bookshop Footnote. And with no internet in the house (our very technical housemate Wim later discovered that we only had to press a button…) we decided to explore Fontainebleau and the surrounding villages, including Paris. The forest with its boulders (large stones) is beautiful and we have bought a book with VTT (Velo Tout Terraine) mountainbike routes. Paris was as good as always and we have a mall with a large Carrefour closeby (maybe some American influence accepted by France?) All in all our first week was good. We have been eating French cheeses and buying French bread at the Boulangeries. The only small culture shock we experienced was when we noticed our first French parking ticket!!!!
Our crime was not participating with the rest of the French people and moving our car from the left side of the street to the right side. In France (and according to Wim also in Belgium) there is a rule that states that from day 1 until the 15th all cars are parked on the left side and from the 16th until the end of the month all cars must be parked on the right side of the street. And we did not know about this. The Fontainebleau Municipal Police was so kind to explain the rule and everything was ok after we paid our ticket (EUR 11) by buying a stamp from the Fontainebleau Treasury.
Tomorrow is the start of the Foundations program for Omar and housemate Irina. I have some other plans, including testing my new soccerball and investigating the SNCF (French train) site to find out how I could get a discount when traveling by train. Au revoir et a bientôt!
I must admit, some months ago my impression of how easy the preparation would go was too naïve. There were so many things to arrange (insurance, loan, work in Singapore etc etc) and at some moments I walked around with 3 lists of to do's. I lost a lot of sleep and hair about it and I know that I will still have to get used to not waking up early to go to work each day and sharing a house with 10 other people instead of one. But I realized that this would be the moment for me to relax, do things I have dreamt about and make new friends. And then the car broke down.....
But this is all over now as Omar has already written and it was an excellent opportunity for Omar to drag some extra stuff with him to decorate our rooms. When we will move back home in December, we will probably need a U-Haul truck☺
Insead was more or less closed this week because they were redecorating the restaurant and the bookshop Footnote. And with no internet in the house (our very technical housemate Wim later discovered that we only had to press a button…) we decided to explore Fontainebleau and the surrounding villages, including Paris. The forest with its boulders (large stones) is beautiful and we have bought a book with VTT (Velo Tout Terraine) mountainbike routes. Paris was as good as always and we have a mall with a large Carrefour closeby (maybe some American influence accepted by France?) All in all our first week was good. We have been eating French cheeses and buying French bread at the Boulangeries. The only small culture shock we experienced was when we noticed our first French parking ticket!!!!
Our crime was not participating with the rest of the French people and moving our car from the left side of the street to the right side. In France (and according to Wim also in Belgium) there is a rule that states that from day 1 until the 15th all cars are parked on the left side and from the 16th until the end of the month all cars must be parked on the right side of the street. And we did not know about this. The Fontainebleau Municipal Police was so kind to explain the rule and everything was ok after we paid our ticket (EUR 11) by buying a stamp from the Fontainebleau Treasury.
Tomorrow is the start of the Foundations program for Omar and housemate Irina. I have some other plans, including testing my new soccerball and investigating the SNCF (French train) site to find out how I could get a discount when traveling by train. Au revoir et a bientôt!
Monday, 13 August 2007
Waiting for the mechanics...
We had it all planned...
Wednesday and Thursday for cleaning the house and packing; Last party on Thursday night, right after Angela's last day at work; Friday for finishing up packing, and sorting out last details; Saturday morning drive to Fonty with 2 cars (ours and Angela's parents' Volvo stationcar);
The goal was one week of relaxing before the start of Business Foundations. Unfortunately Murphy reared its ugly head on Friday: Our car's climate control unit broke and no repair was possible before Monday (=today.)
With everything arranged and planned, we had to push through and go ahead with the move anyway. My motorbike was allready enroute to France. With us in the car as additional unplanned cargo we could not pack everything. Still more than half of our stuff could be moved with us on the Saturday trip (thanks to Volvo's habbit of making seriously big cars!) While Angela stayed in Fonty, I drove back home with her parents on Sunday to pick up our own car.
At this moment it's 16:00h and the garage-man (not my regular one, climate controls are not his cup of tea) has got me on tenterhooks all day. It's supposed to be an easy fix once you have the parts, and he got the parts on Saturday afternoon... but still no word from him. With nothing that I can do to influence the process, I decided to do something usefull instead of just hanging around.
So here I am in an empty house blogging, loading a few more CDs in iTunes, and waiting for the mechanics...
Saturday, 4 August 2007
In between phases
1 more week untill we move to France...
Many other J08 bloggers already commented on the eariness of this "calm before the storm" period. It is a kind of twillight zone sensation. Work has ended, I even had a great farewell party at work the other day, with many fantastic colleagues. Still the MBA hasn't started yet...
Our long list of action items is slowly coming to an end. Our landlord left the keys of the house at INSEAD so we can pick them up next week. I'm filling iTunes with all our favourite CD's. A guilty feeling is creeping up on me for not having done more pre-reading (however there is still time, and 'me is a speedreader now, so me will be fine!')
The time is also nearing for "last" everythings...
- Last visits to friends,
- Last weekend at home,
- Last lunch, dinner, whatever with family,
- Last farewell parties,
- Last things to do...
In my head though, I've started to focus and think about all the "first" moments...
- First day in France
- First day at INSEAD
- First class
- First weekend as a student
- First, oh boy, so many firsts to come...
I get vivid memories of my first day as a Marine recruit... so many things happened since that day, and yet this Marine is about to start a new journey, and discover so many more new things...
"One year to challenge your thinking, change your outlook, and choose your future."
This famous INSEAD slogan almost sounds incredible for the average 30-odd guy in his mid-career after having done many different things in his life. Still, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense and the more it sounds like a challenge and an announcement at the same time.
All the considerations about the amount of money that we will pay, and the opportunity cost of not having a job for a year are completely fading away. In fact, I realize that I bought a ticket to something special: a ride along with other likeminded individuals who went through the same preparation in their pursuit of discoveries, opportunities, challenges and positivity. In many ways there is a strong parallel with my choice to join the Marines. A different slogan, but that too challenged my thinking, changed my outlook, and helped me shape my future...
It's about time the new phase starts, so let me quote PINK:
"Get this party started!"
Many other J08 bloggers already commented on the eariness of this "calm before the storm" period. It is a kind of twillight zone sensation. Work has ended, I even had a great farewell party at work the other day, with many fantastic colleagues. Still the MBA hasn't started yet...
Our long list of action items is slowly coming to an end. Our landlord left the keys of the house at INSEAD so we can pick them up next week. I'm filling iTunes with all our favourite CD's. A guilty feeling is creeping up on me for not having done more pre-reading (however there is still time, and 'me is a speedreader now, so me will be fine!')
The time is also nearing for "last" everythings...
- Last visits to friends,
- Last weekend at home,
- Last lunch, dinner, whatever with family,
- Last farewell parties,
- Last things to do...
In my head though, I've started to focus and think about all the "first" moments...
- First day in France
- First day at INSEAD
- First class
- First weekend as a student
- First, oh boy, so many firsts to come...
I get vivid memories of my first day as a Marine recruit... so many things happened since that day, and yet this Marine is about to start a new journey, and discover so many more new things...
"One year to challenge your thinking, change your outlook, and choose your future."
This famous INSEAD slogan almost sounds incredible for the average 30-odd guy in his mid-career after having done many different things in his life. Still, the more I think about it, the more it makes sense and the more it sounds like a challenge and an announcement at the same time.
All the considerations about the amount of money that we will pay, and the opportunity cost of not having a job for a year are completely fading away. In fact, I realize that I bought a ticket to something special: a ride along with other likeminded individuals who went through the same preparation in their pursuit of discoveries, opportunities, challenges and positivity. In many ways there is a strong parallel with my choice to join the Marines. A different slogan, but that too challenged my thinking, changed my outlook, and helped me shape my future...
It's about time the new phase starts, so let me quote PINK:
"Get this party started!"
Wednesday, 1 August 2007
UN mission to Darfur is a GO
It is with great joy that I read today about the UN's long overdue approval of an international mission to Darfur. The mission will include 4 times more personnel as the current African Union mission. The AU has been struggling for so long with limited funding and insufficient material and manpower. It is a disgrace that the genocide in Darfur has been allowed to go on for so long. I genuinely hope that the UN and AU troops will have a powerfull enough mandate for their mission. They need to be allowed to do their work in this region that has for so long been ravaged by Janjaweed thugs and Sudanese militias. This is a good start for SG Ban Ki-moon. Let's see if the UN bureaucracy can get its operational act together and that UN troops will soon arrive in the region. I may not agree with all the western military intervention in the world, but I strongly feel that this is a much needed mission. Dear Clea Koff (recommended read: the Bone Woman) after stability is restored in Darfur, there may be more good work for scientists like you. Like in Rwanda and Bosnia, the people behind the killing need to be held responsible for their actions. Mr. Rodolphe Adada will lead the AU-UN peacekeeping mission and he may well be the best person for the job. I'm very happy with this news, life is not only about work, studying, money and fun.
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