My INSEAD MBA experience in France: Day 01

Ladies & gentlemen, we have arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

I had finally reached my destination after a 12-hour flight & 4-hour layover in Istanbul.

My sleep deprivation couldn’t curb my excitement. I started following my co-passengers through several escalators to finally reach the luggage belts. Looking around, I saw my friend Hicham who came from Fontainebleau to receive me from that dome-shaped airport.

I met Hicham after both of us got into INSEAD MBA that year. He was from Morocco and was active in our social media groups. Before we met in Singapore for our Welcome Day activities, we worked together to create branded polo shirts and goodies for our batch mates. We were also working on a video that would be shown during our orientation.

So when Hicham got to know that I was looking for cab partners from CDG Airport to Fontainebleau, he offered to drive an hour to CDG and drive me back to Fontainebleau. That was a huge relief, as I would probably struggle with my 2 large suitcases and finding a taxi to Fonty.

Fontainebleau – My home for the first leg of INSEAD MBA

It was a cold-ish summer day. While we were driving back down the highway, Melun and eventually Fontainebleau forest, I kept looking out to see the setting sun and the beautiful scenery of France. Even at 8 PM, the sun was shining brightly.

Hicham drove me through the forest to get me to Arbonne la Forette. The calm and serene surroundings reinforced I took the right decision to choose a house there. My landlord, Christophe, started waving when he saw the car. A middle-aged man with an everlasting smile, Christophe owned the house, which would host 7–8 INSEAD students. He quickly showed me around and promised that he will hand over my car the next day. That meant I would have to find some other way to get to the city center for dinner that evening. Hicham once again offered me a ride to and from the city center.

I remember being very clueless along the way. The roads seemed complicated, and I felt the restaurant was quite far. Eventually, when I would get used to the roads, I would realize they were very easy to follow. The quaint French restaurant was just in the city center. When we got there, the evening started to set in. Although it was in August and most residents were out on vacation, the restaurant was filled with 40–50 guests. All of them were my classmates. That was a trend that continued for a few days. Someone would post on the WhatsApp group regarding dinner or get-together and dozens would eventually join.

I was saying hi to a lot of new and old faces while I moved towards an empty seat. I knew a lot of faces because I was in charge of editing the video for orientation, which had hundreds of submissions from my batch mates.

Unsurprisingly, I was not that hungry after airline meals and lunch at Istanbul Airport. But I still ordered something familiar and started getting to know others. I was glad later that I did because I’d not get to eat in the next 20 hours. After a slow dinner, when my jet lag started kicking in, someone suggested that we move to Club 16 next.

Club 16 was a house with 16 rooms that MBA students could rent. Without any outsiders, they always had 16 INSEADers in the house. It was close to the city center and 50–60 people moved there. I said hi and started talking to a few. Everyone was excited and super friendly. But was also feeling the tiredness of flying thousands of miles. I went back to my place soon after.

I walked through the house and went to my room. After getting ready to sleep, I opened the sole window in my room. The quiet little French village was welcoming me. I was ready to start my MBA, after months of preparation.

There I was, after months of preparation.

That was the beginning of my INSEAD experience.

This article was first published on Medium.