Today a few interesting things happened. I went shopping, and then went to a self-organized dinner for the incoming Insead class.
I assumed that when I signed up to rent a furnished house, "furnished" meant that there would be some place to put clothes, and there would be a bed and sheets. When I entered my room, there was a bed... but little else. No sheets, and nothing that would qualify as a closet for anyone over the age of three. As if this weren't bad enough, it was about zero degrees Celsius, and my heat was, shall we say, inadequate. Let's just say that I'm glad I brought loads of ski gear; I wore most of it last night. But I digress; I needed lots of things for my room, so I went with my roommates to Carrefour, a French hypermarket. Sunday afternoon we arrived in their parking lot, only to find it completely empty as the store was closed. Of course! Why would a billion-dollar retail institution be open on a weekend? This is France after all! I think I have a bit of a difficult adjustment period coming up.
Later this evening, I went to a dinner arranged by one of the students, Olivier. First, he called a restaurant and asked if he could bring twenty people. Later, he called back and asked if thirty was OK. A bit later, forty. Halfway through the dinner, we had counted 72 students (out of 350-ish). It was great! People from all over the world, sitting in random groups of six, just getting to know each other. Each person had a remarkable story to tell; they wouldn't be at Insead if they didn't. Just listening to everyone is an incredible reminder of how big the world is, and how many interesting things there are to do in it. Also, I told the story of how I got to this point in my career, and some people found it fascinating, because it was so different than the career path they had followed. It's a bit of "grass is always greener", but it was nice to share stories.
I met so many cool people. Jo, who has worked on almost all continents on postings from Proctor & Gamble. Nick, her husband in oil services (and who rock climbs!). Rajiv, who is in movie distribution in India. The whole New York City contingent, a 15-odd motley crew, all worldly and jaded. Milena, who has been running the Eastern European division of TMP (think Monster). And Isabelle, a microfinance expert straight from Mauritania, who loaned me a sleeping bag so I wouldn't freeze tonight, and to whom I will be forever grateful.
2:01:26 AM 
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