Allo from Le Foret

Allo allo mes amis. Bon jour, bon soir or bon jovi depending on where in the world you are reading this. I am in the forest of Fontainebleau about 12 km from INSEAD's original Europe campus. As evident from this blog, I was part of the 153 strong cohort that begun the MBA in Singapore and has moved to Fontainebleau for P3.

There are big differences. The campus in France is bigger, but also older. Admittedly it has more character but is tainted also by 70's architecture while the smaller campus in Singapore has minimalist clean lines everywhere. Then there are the prices. You certainly pay more for poorer products in most cases. Whether its food and drink, transport, banking services, phones etc. The exceptions are housing, which is cheaper (but you are in a forest, not a metropolitan city) and the other exception is clothes because for clothes you pay a LOT MORE for a LOT BETTER. Then there is the weather, it is still 12-15 degrees and cloudy here in May. Which apparently is excellent weather by local standards.

Strangely though the biggest difference is in the human atmosphere around campus. This place is large (2x Singapore Campus) and people dont always know each other or have the same sense of camaraderie prevalent amongst those in Singapore. I think this is primarily a function of size and that people dont all live together.

In terms of teachers and courses there is no difference, the courses are taught equally well (or poorly, depending on who you ask and when). The parties here are at people's houses, not at clubs as in Singapore, and on balance seem marginally more rowdy. There seems to be as much weekend travelling (1-2 times a month to neighbouring countries and towns).

Alright Im boring even myself with these descriptives now, I think I too, like most of the people here am beginning to take myself more seriously (perhaps the French influence - non?).

Im tired now, so will sign out but promise to write something more interesting shortly.

Voila! Bon soir avec frites.