Feb '15 to June'15 - What kept the INSEAD spouses and partners busy

Spring in Fonty is absolutely gorgeous! Lush green, mostly sunny days, cool spring breeze, smell of freshly cut grass and oh! those colourful flowers. It's that time of the year when you want to start getting out of your home and the lush surroundings within and around the town won't disappoint.

So as you can imagine, it's a perfect time for picnics! There are two-three picnic spots in Fonty. One at the entrance to the forest right behind the INSEAD campus and the other in Le Parc behind the chateau. For those with kids, there is a playground in the park which is a perfect spot to spend a few hours with the little ones.

Walks in the forest behind the campus and le parc behind the chateau were something we did quite often and some partners also visited near by towns. I was away for two weeks in March and Apr-May, so couldn't participate in a lot of those activities but as you can see in the photos below, my friends had great time! There is also a great spot for horse riding, tree climbing and zip lining. So yes! Plenty to do outdoors when the weather is nice and bright :)

Besides the picnics and sightseeing, there were:

Knowledge Exchange Sessions - as mentioned in my earlier posts, the objective of these sessions is to share your experience, knowledge, interests and learn from each other. Over the last three months, we've had four talks - basics of psychology, language and the brain - how it works, dementia - why, how and what can we do to help and finally a session on raising international kids introducing the concept of third culture kids (TCK). As you can imagine, it was super interesting and so refreshing to learn something new in an environment which is so diverse and safe.

English Classes - One of the partners took this fantastic initiative - to run weekly language classes for non-native speakers where she facilitates discussions around various topics (very interesting ones) to help learn and practice better. 

Bracelet Making Class - One of the partners hosted a bracelet making session. I missed it because of my little boy but what a great idea!

Sports - Some partners also met on a regular basis to play squash, badminton and volleyball

Student Club Activities: I got an opportunity to meet Sandrine Henton from the Educate Global Fund (Impact Investment in Education). It was a part of the Social Entrepreneurship in Residence program and a group of us had a meeting with her to understand more about the fund and how it works. It was something completely new to me.. so interesting indeed. We also had a Women in Business club event to discus Women's role in leadership, community and society. I got to meet several students and they were so welcoming to the partners. Felt like a part of the INSEAD community :)

National Weeks - there's been the Dragon Week, Lebanese Week, Brazilian Week and Low-lands weeks (which is the last one for the Js :( ). I attended the Brazilian week dinner and it was amazing. The music, dance and atmosphere was so vibrant!! 

So I guess this is my last post about Fonty Partners' Activities. Just one more month to go in Fonty! I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. The next few weeks is going to be all about packing, winding up and good byes :( . I am going to miss this place.. but I can't wait for the next adventure! 

Let's see where life takes us next.... 

New Year, New Friends

6-Jan-2015 : The official welcome for 15Ds (INSEAD’s December Intake). It just seemed like yesterday that I was in the audience listening to the 14Ds give us the office Partners’ Welcome presentation. And there we were, standing in front a new batch of Partners’ (from both 15Ds and 15Js from Singapore). It was so nice to see new faces and even better to catch up with them after the presentation.I personally was very excited – what a great opportunity to make new friends. Everyone seemed so nice and eager to participate, organise and stay active within the Partners’ group

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After the presentation, we gave some of them a campus tour and soon headed to the family room to baby sit for the 15Ds so they could attend the official welcome ceremony with their partners. Keeping the tradition alive you see :). It was the first time I baby sat and it went better than I thought. We were about 5 of us baby sitting 5 kids ranging from 5 months old to 2.5 years old.  An experience I won’t forget J

We also organised a market visit and a walk around the chateau gardens for the new batch of Partners to give them a flavour of Fonty and well, also a good excuse to get together and get to know eachother. :) A LOT of them turned up for the market visit. We, am sure, annoyed quite a few locals at the market that day – such a large group, stopping often to check out local stuff at shops, asking so many questions and of course chatting away while others were there for some serious shopping. Lol. Anyway, after the visit, we went for a short stroll around the Chateau and sat down at a café for some crepes and coffee at the end of it all. I got to meet so many new people and had some really interesting conversations.

A few days later, a few of us went for a walk around the Chateau gardens and stopped for some afternoon coffee, crepes and sandwiches. Again, such lovely company! My favourite thing about being at INSEAD – the people you meet always have such interesting backgrounds and stories!

INSEAD organised more activities for the new batch of Partners as well like wine tasting and Chateau tour. Similar to what was done for our welcome week.

Some other activities that were kicked-off / restarted:

• Cooking Classes: Yes! The most popular activity before the holiday season is back. The Partners' met for a Moroccan cooking class. Perfectly coordinated and very well organised. Everyone seemed to have had a lovely time. Those who are waitlisted am sure can't wait for the next one.
• Playgroup : One of the 15D partners has created a playgroup for mums and babies to meet every week at her home. A great way to connect with other mums over coffee and cakes whilst the little ones explore, play and do their thing :) I love the idea and definitely plan on being a regular.
• Restaurant of the week: Last week we went to Le Mediterranee . The food was SO good and flavourful. The Mezze range is fantastic and so is the menu overall. The staff does speak a bit of English and they have an English menu as well. I would highly recommend it for anyone – even vegetarians. This week, we went to Meatlovers (Don't be fooled by the name dear vegetarians - they have an amazing veggie burger). I am enjoying meeting the ladies every week.. it's great to catch-up with almost the same group every week. I feel like otherwise, I would barely get to hang out with them. 

Oh by the way, how can I forget! For the first time after my son was born (more than a year), I left him late evening with my husband to go out for a ladies night!! My husband actually pushed me to go for it when I was in two minds even as I was leaving.. was a tough decision (Motherhood has totally redefined what qualifies as a "tough decision". lol).. Well, I guess there always is a first time. So I went for about an hour and glad I did! I met such nice people and had a lovely time. All thanks to my dear hubby!! :)

And that reminds me, he has also been so supportive and kind to baby sit my son in the family room thrice in the last two weeks despite his crazy schedule so I can do some work. So thanks to him, I ended up having a pretty a productive week. Made some good progress on the marketing work I am doing for Hua-Dan, I am about 80% done with it and I am already thinking about what next. Btw, once I complete my work with Hua Dan, I will write a separate post about it. 

Also, I finally got to meet the president of the INSEAD Entrepreneurship Club. Super nice guy. He was very supportive and appreciative of my ideas and has given me the go-ahead for them. So quite excited. 

This week I got to be a part of a market research for a new business venture of some students. It was a 45 minute interview and I really enjoyed sharing insights. At the end of it, I couldn't help but wonder... well more like dream about their success..that someday I may see their products on the shelves of some great stores and have a big smile on my face, thinking back to the time when I was interviewed by these super successful guys :) Lol.

Last night, one of my friends organised a welcome party at her home fore the desi partners (and their partners ;)). Loved it!She is such a wonderful host!!!

At the end of the evening I realized how much I love being a 15Jpartner, because Js get to spend so much more time with Ds (And get to know more Ds) than the Ds would get to spend with the next batch of Js. We are so lucky!! :)

With this, I guess I’ve got you all up to speed with all the happenings here at Fonty.

Stay tuned for more!