Posts Tagged ‘Tradition’

Grad Trip to Sri Lanka (12 – 17 December)

Tuesday, December 18th, 2012

Two days after the last class of the MBA, we left for Grad Trip. Traditionally, every INSEAD promotion goes for one last trip before graduating. My promotion went to Sri Lanka, and more than 300 of the 500-odd students of the promotion actually came (which is really impressive especially since Sri Lanka is not exactly around the corner from Fontainebleau).

The two of us went to spent two nights in Galle Fort first, before joining the others in the beach resort town of Beruwala. Galle Fort is an old fort, built mainly by the Dutch from the 17th century onwards, and used to administrate their colonies. It is quite well preserved and has been classified as UNESCO world heritage. Especially in contrast to the bustling Sri Lankan city outside the Fort gates, the insides of it are very peaceful and quiet. It is quite nice to walk around the outer ramparts, which are surrounded by the Indian ocean, and that sport a (British-built) lighthouse on their outermost tip. In addition to the many gem stores (that we did not really visit other than to go to our guesthouse, which was run by a gem store owner), there were also lots of nice restaurants with really good food.

After two nights in Galle we went up  by train to Beruwala, where most of the other students had already convened. We did not stay at the hotel where most of the other students were, but next doors in a different hotel (where funnily enough most of the couples stayed). However, we joined the others at their hotel to hang out, talk, and party every day. It was quite an interesting experience: never before have I been on a trip with that many people – and even regular INSEAD parties never had that many participants.

In the end, it was a bit sad to say goodbye to some people who are graduating only in Fontainebleau and who I will not see again very soon. For those that are graduating in Singapore, this moment of saying goodbyes will come tomorrow after the graduation ceremony…

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Monsoon Ball (10 November)

Saturday, December 8th, 2012

On 10 November, we had the Monsoon Ball here in Singapore. INSEAD has two gala balls a year, the Summer Ball in Fontainebleau and the Monsoon Ball in Singapore. At these events, lots of alumni come back to reunite, and there is also always a big group of current students attending. The dress code for the ball was black tie, so I wore for the first time in my life a (rented) tuxedo. The ball was held at the National Museum of Singapore, which provides ample space for events like this (not between the exhibits themselves, but in separate rooms) and was a really nice location for the ball.

At the ball, our band from cabaret had its second gig – with two more rehearsals we managed to practice five more songs so that we could play for a good 40 minutes. All in all, the night was awesome: we had a great show (great stage, great light show, and more than anything, a great audience), and dancing with friends in this unusual environment and attire was also good fun. Plus, there was awesome food (fried cheese on a stick! what else could you want in life…).

Some pictures follow.

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INSEAD Cabaret II (7 November)

Saturday, December 8th, 2012

On 7 November, it was time for our last cabaret. In P3, I had already witnessed the last cabaret which was mainly organized by the then-leaving 12J promotion, and this time around it was my promotion that was preparing to leave INSEAD. A very strange feeling if you think about it.

I was involved in the cabaret in two ways: Firstly, I was part of the band that concluded the evening with playing four songs. Secondly, since I was at Fusionopolis Theatre where the cabaret was held on the day of the event anyway to set up my equipment (and I didn’t have any classes or anything yet), I ended up helping with setup and organization of the whole event (which in the end meant that I didn’t have to pay for my ticket, sweet!)

As for the band part, I was very glad that I had brought my bass guitar with me for P4 and P5, since I had missed playing it a lot in P1-P3. With a few quite talented musicians (mostly from my promotion plus a keyboarder from the next promotion), we met twice before the cabaret for multiple hours and arranged four (cover) songs. It was great fun playing again, making music in a group, and being on stage.

Of course, the other performances were great as well. There were the classics like the men’s ballet, the rugby club’s performances, and the obvious candidates like Bhangra dance. But there were lots of really creative and great performances as well, and just naming a few of them wouldn’t do any justice to the others. Obviously, a lot of the performances of my promotion had something to do with looking back at the year, and preparing to leave all of this behind – it made me somewhat melancholic. Even though after a year the thought of going back to work is not as distant anymore as it was in the beginning (and I am still glad that I went for a one-year MBA program as opposed to a two-year one), I am now starting to realize that in a few weeks this intense experience will come to a close, and many of the people that I spent so much time with I will not see again for quite some time, and most certainly not all of them together at the same time again…

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INSEAD Cabaret

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012

On 15 June, the INSEAD Singapore campus saw the summer incarnation of the student-organized INSEAD cabaret (the Fontainebleau campus had theirs a few days earlier). The INSEAD cabaret is another long-standing INSEAD tradition, and the one in the summer is primarily staffed by the leaving July promotion – my promotion will have their bigger event towards the end of the year (some of the events in fact featured students from my promotion, but the by far larger amount of people on stage were from the July promotion).

The event took place in the theatre of the shopping and business complex Fusionopolis, which is next door to the INSEAD Singapore campus and provided a worthy and glamorous environment for the cabaret. Some of the highlights of the program (from my point of view) included the impersonation of accounting professors Benjamin Segal and Jake Cohen, the July promotion’s theatrical review of their INSEAD timeline, and the Rugby club’s fun performance.

Some videos of the event have been posted on YouTube, links are provided below.

Phantom of the Opera Duet by Corrine and Francisco
Bhangra Sandwich
Francois Guillet Solo Guitar Performance
P5 Girls Dance
The Real Neil
Ze Undefeated Rugby Club
Professors Act
Mens’ Ballet
This is INSEAD P5 Act
Rhythms of the World
The Band: Part 1 Part 2
Insead In Da Club Video

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The DASH!

Saturday, April 7th, 2012

Last week, we had the infamous INSEAD Dash. The Dash has been a tradition for a long time, and while I do not know its origins, it was fore sure a fun experience to be part of it.

On the day of the Dash, almost the whole class assembled in the morning in front of Heritage View, which is the condominium where I and a large proportion of the INSEAD students live. Everybody was wearing costumes, most of them rented from costume shops across the city. A very colorful crowd that assembled there indeed 🙂 After everyone had joined, the group then moved to campus – some literally dashing, others normally walking the 10 minute walk that I take every morning to school.

At school, everybody assembled in the courtyard for picture-taking, breakfast and small talk. Most people kept wearing their costumes the whole day, including in classes. A truly hilarious sight, a classroom full of Romans, bunnies, Indians, ducks, and many other strange creatures. The professors are obviously already used to this and didn’t let the students’ apparel distract them from their teaching.

In summary, it really was a fun day, and not quite the usual MBA routine. Some pictures follow.

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