INSEAD 15J Partners meet at Le Grand Café

A message on FB. “ A few of us are planning to meet this evening. Want to join?” I was thrilled! I finally get to meet others who are probably in the same boat as I am – travelled miles, left their jobs, moved to an unfamiliar place just to accompany their loved ones….. I was excited to be meeting these lovely people, some of whom may potentially go on to be my close friends for the next 10 months and years to come.

Given that I have an eight month old little darling of a boy, I have been unable to work to a schedule and hence was about an hour late to the meeting. I walk into the café and I see a large group of women chatting away. One of them smiles and I guess immediately recognised that I am one of them too. :)

We were about 10 of us. So diverse as expected. Indians, French, Brazilian, American, Chilean, Singaporean. Two of them had two month old babies, one of them 8 months pregnant, one 13 weeks pregnant, one newly married. What an interesting mix of people! I couldn't stay for long but managed to chat with some of them.

As I walked back, I couldn’t help but recall my days at Rotterdam. I miss my dear friends and can’t believe that I haven’t been in touch with them. I vowed to get back in touch with them and catch-up on the good old times. 

As I walked back, I felt really good – it feels great to have so many people around with whom you can relate to on so many levels.

As I walked back,I felt hopeful – this is going to be an amazing year – a year of friendships. :)