Discounted analysis of my first three weeks

The mythical first week experience (now an accumulated three weeks) has been a hard one to describe, therefore the lack of posts. I have had good days, bad days and amazing days.

Good days are those when you nearly feel on top of things, lessons make sense, you find time to skim through pre-readings, your social circle seems to be coming together, and finally you have made some progress on the internship application front.

Bad days are undoubtedly the ones where Nikos Vettas, the micro-economics teacher whizzes through 3 complicated chapters that make no sense in 9 hours forget 90 minutes, other students seem to getting interview calls and you have a panic moment wondering whether the carpet bombing strategy of internship application will work (should I apply to Merrill Lynch even though I would bet my life on disliking the experience intensely?), social life seems a bit low and you have had three days on the trot of driving back home through the forest in daylight and everyone seems to get invited to these clique chateau parties except you. And ofcourse there is no milk or sugar in the house because the shops close early.

The amazing days are those when your group seem super productive and the 7 hour crash session on the FMV assignment feels good, you stumble upon the internship dream-come-true opportunity, you’ve been to the gym five times a week and still managed to get to class on time and prepared, evenings are packed with dinners and fine wine, everything makes sense and fits. These are also the days I sit back and graciously accept that I have truly been given the opportunity of a life time.

3 weeks ago I sat back in the big amphitheatre sniggering at the psychologists who were preparing us for any counselling sessions we may need. They talked about social paranoia, stress of the first two months, relationships and partners and how all of it starts piling up very quickly. Its true. All of it. And I shouldn’t have sniggered.

The work load is nothing like I have seen before (and I have had some very long days in London), unless you have speed reading skills or a very high absorption capacity, class makes very little sense without the pre-readings. The flurry of activity surrounding the job search, the interviews for all the big investment banks and any other opportunity that seems to be going on Career Link makes me dizzy. First round of interview calls for some and rejection for others drives home the point that no job waits at the other end.

Socially, its taking longer than I thought for the process to coagulate. Although little cliques have started forming a lot of us are testing the waters cautiously. Given on average the longest conversation I have with someone at school is 30 minutes, its hard to get to know some of these people well enough. And there is immense pressure from all fronts – staff, alumni, friends and my useless career counsellor – to ‘Enjoy the Best Year of My Life’. And thats when you can feel the clock ticking. 3 weeks down, another 47 to go.

That is my first impression in a nut shell.

Today is a good day. I will vegetate on my couch with a cup of tea for hours and I will nurse my first hangover at Insead. The American frat party and the fact that I didn’t have to drive home pushed me into playing drinking games with a vengeance. Beer flips, beer pong, ice luges and a few drinks later, I was staggering up my drive and into my bed at 4am.

Next few posts will be short and crisp, excerpts from my classes in school. Neil Bearden on the Central Limit Theorem and Nikkos on the Marginal Rate of Substitution for Beer Vs Pizza.