Finals are over.
It has been a rough week, filled with things left undone, subjects not fully understood, and careless mistakes made. I'm not even sure whether I'll be on the Dean's list (on which sit the 15% with the best grades) or on the Other Dean's list (on which sit the 15% with the worst grades).
I have learned a lot in the last two months, about subject matters, of course, but much more about myself. I have learned how I work, why I work, and the numerous ways that I can improve. I have some ways of understanding how certain behaviors tend to create certain situations; it's amazing how much there is learn, how staggeringly ignorant I can be; I'm surprised I can even tie my shoes some days.
As with any context that expects far more from you than you can possibly deliver, I have learned to study what is important to me, and better identify what it means to be "good enough". For someone who despises shoddy work, this has been a tough pill to swallow. I think I went for a month without finishing anything that I consider to be a superlative effort. Is this unreasonable? I am reminded of a favorite aphorism: "The perfect is the enemy of the good."
There have been many memories that will stick with me. The continuous references to the consultants Akbar and Jeff in the statistics final (most of the class had no referent); the rumors of Scientology and the Insead behavior testing lab near the Sorbonne; the conflagration of my team a couple days before the OB final... and still I am meeting new people every day. I had dinner today with a group of people from the following countries: Croatia, Italy, US (2), Bulgaria, China (2). It sounds strange as I write this, but that was a group of only average diversity.
Tomorrow I will run several errands and then it's off to skiing in Val d'Isere. Have a great weekend!
1:39:20 AM 
|
