C-A's life

Wrapping up in 10 pictures...

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:06:00 +0000

I have neglected this blog for way too long and now the year is almost over and with it, the MBA... :-(

I thought I should still wrap this up with a last post so here it is: the last 4 months in 10 pictures!

Coming back from a very nice summer in Montreal and before jumping again in the madness of INSEAD I when to visit my family in Avignon and Nimes (September 1st and 2nd). Below is the enormous palace where the Pope used to live back when he was in France (notice how small people look).

Now back from Avignon, it was time to get serious and focus on the MBA. So we organized the last Shangri-La party (September 14th); the theme: Tarantino! I am sure you have recognized my imitation of Travolta in Pulp Fiction... :-)

I will let you guess for the others... Note the two new members of the house on the left, Marion and David, who are from the new promotion: July 2008!

Of course, I also had to get back into sports... Having just being nominated as one of the captains of the INSEAD Football Club, I helped organize the July 2008 Section Cup (September 22nd). I helped the E4 team to crush the competition and was able to capture my second title! (Added to the win in the December 2007 Cup)

Having been serious enough with MBA stuff, I allowed myself a little bit of relaxation... OKTOBERFEST!!! We drove to Munich on the Friday (September 28th), slept in the car because they lost our booking, and made it to the entrance of the targeted tent for 7.30 AM on Saturday. We literally fought the massive crowd to be able to get a seat and get one close to the stage. The day was as follows: sat down at 9.00 AM, ordered breakfast and beer, then lunch and beer, then snacks and beer, then beer, then dinner and beer, then beer, then left the tent just before 10.00 PM to try to find one of our own that wondered outside the tent... We drove back to Fontainebleau on the Sunday...

After a week of intense classes and recruiting activities (presentations, dinners and interviews), I visited a friend of mine in Barcelona (October 5th). He is doing his MBA at IESE, a two-year program, and I spent a good portion of my time bugging him that I started after him and would finish before... Barcelona is great, the students mostly leave in the Pedralbes area (very nice area of the city) and have endless BBQ on the rooftops of their buildings. Fantastic!

We did go clubbing one night (picture) and I wish I remembered the name of the place... :-)

The rest of October was spent studying and recruiting, fairly calm, except for one week in Montreal at the end of October for the P4/P5 break, including four days in Tremblant with my lovely girlfriend. Sorry, no pictures... ;-)

And then... SINGAPORE!!!

Actually, it began with Bali because I only spent 2 days in Singapore before we left. 15 or so of us flew there for a long weekend (November 1st to 5th)... Lots of beach time, including body-boarding, and a little bus trip to temples, a volcano, rice terasses (picture), and a monkey forest.

Having spent another full day in Singapore, I left for Toronto for more recruiting (November 7th to 11th). Tanya and I took the time to go see the Falls... Believe it or not, it was my first time! The trip was fun but a little short and I already had to fly 20 hrs back to Singapore.

I spent a full 10 days in Singapore before leaving again for Phuket and Ko Phi Phi islands (November 23rd to 26th). Beautiful beaches and landscapes!!! Below, the view upon arriving to the famous beach of Maya Bay, on the island of Phi Phi Leh, where "The Beach" was filmed... My buddy Laurent (from Montreal/now Paris) joined the group of 11 for that trip, as he visited Singapore for a week.

Spending another few days in Singapore allowed me to rest for my most recent trip: Pangkil (December 1st to 3rd). Imagine: a small private island about the size of the Olympic Stadium, rented to 40 friends, with all you can eat/drink... It was the best weekend of P5!!! As you can see on the pictures, travelling to the island was not easy: 90 min ferry from Singapore to Indonesia, 45 min bus ride, 90 min boat ride and the final 200 meters on a small zodiac to get there... But well worth it!

Having rehearsed a bit on the beach, and a lot more during the 2 days that followed, I was ready for Cabaret!!! (December 5th) This is one of the big INSEAD traditions where, at the end of each promotion, the graduating class performs on stage for everyone... It exposes those of us with talent and those of us, like me, who don/t have any... :-)

I took part in two acts, the first one is a copy of what you'll find if you click on the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b-fJxzpK7s

The second act... Well let's just say I hope no pictures of that ever surface because my masculinity would suffer...

And that's the end of it!!! One more weekend and I fly to France (December 11th), will spend a few days in London, Vienna and Paris with Tanya, and will be in Montreal for the Holidays!!! I look forward to being home again... Until the next adventure...

I did promise 10 pictures and below is little number 10. It is a glimpse to what I know will be a fantastic opportunity, a great learning experience, and a whole lot of fun!!! If you've guessed/recognized, I don't have to explain more; if not, I'll tell you when we speak!

Signing off,

C-A

Montmelian (June 16th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:55:00 +0000

THE very best party at INSEAD so far... This guys put a lot of effort and it was great... It's just too bad I don't have more pictures! The theme was evening or military... As soon as you got to the chateau, an old fashioned army jeep would drive you through the property all the way to the party... Fantastic!

My friend Ralph (center of the picture) who is doing his MBA at IESE in Barcelona came to visit... He thought the party ended quite early as we walked back to the car around 5:30AM... I can't imagine what the party life must be in Catalunya! :-)

By the way, what I have on my face wasn't part of the costume... It's my good looking nose-cast...

Baywatch Party (June 9th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:48:00 +0000

The title says everything about the theme... My house was transformed from Shangri-La to "Shangri-La Bay"... :-)

The party was good! Dominique, a friend of mine from Bombardier who was on vacation, came down from Paris to get a taste of the INSEAD experience... It's just too bad I broke my nose that morning playing soccer: notice the cool plaster!

Golfing again! (June 8th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:26:00 +0000

The "Golf de Fontainebleau" is meant to be part of the top 10 golf courses of Central Europe... Green fee was decent: 50 EUR for INSEAD students... Tried to improve from my last performance, given the competition from Hami and Ian, but it didn't happen... I will need to train harder in Montreal if I want to do better in September!

A camel on the INSEAD lawn?!? (June 6th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:10:00 +0000

It was Arabic Week and they brought a CAMEL!!! So funny, had to take a picture...

Golfing (June 2nd)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 10:09:00 +0000

It was time to put my golf clubs to good use! Girish and I headed to Cely Golf Club to play a little 9-hole... Great scenery, disastrous golf...

Dragon Week Party (June 1st)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:35:00 +0000

Before anyone comments on the dressing, I must mention that the theme was Shanghai 1930s... My friend Laurent from Montreal and his wife Amanda who were at the Ball the week before were still in Paris and they joined us... I guess the venue was decent: in a boat, on the Seine, in the middle of Paris... :-)

Summer Ball (May 26th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sat, 26 May 2007 15:57:00 +0000

Fantastic event in the superb Chateau de Fontainebleau!!! My friend Laurent and his wife Amanda were visiting from Montreal and we all had a blast!!! Wish my lovely girlfriend had been there as well...

The party was very "chic"...

Well, for the most part anyway...

We had a nice breakfast served at 4:30 AM...

Here's a picture of some of the 5:30 AM "survivors"...

Yes, as you can see, it wasn't too dark when we made it home...

Back in Montreal and Golfing!!! (May 5th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sat, 05 May 2007 15:54:00 +0000

So very nice... Picture on Hemmingford's golf course...

End of P2! (April 30th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 15:47:00 +0000

We had a little party on campus to celebrate the end of P2 and say goodbye to the friends going to Singapore for P3... Here's a picture of my section (E8) and one of me because I missed the section picture... :-)

Geek Day (April 10th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 15:43:00 +0000

No comments... lol

Easter in Montreal !?! (April 8th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 15:38:00 +0000

I surprised everyone showing for Easter in Montreal... I was great to see my family and lovely girlfriend... I was only in and out unfortunately and had a difficult traveling schedule: 9.5 hours layover in London on the way to Canada and 4.5 hours layover on the way back... But it was worth it!

Italian Week: Go-Karting (April 1st)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 15:35:00 +0000

We tried to put together a team with people from the house... It ended up being a little difficult as some of us didn't recover from the Italian party in time to race... But the day was just splendid and we had a lot of fun on the track...

Italian Week: World Cup (March 31st)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 15:23:00 +0000

I played with team "America" as there was not enough players to do US, or Canada, or even South America in a single team... We did well (among other things, we took the Italians out with a 3-0 win)... We ended up losing in the finals against team "Africa"... It was weird, the Italians lost playing a very offensive (African) style of game and the Africans won playing a very defensive (Italian) style of game... All in all, great fun!

White and Tight at Villecerf (March 23rd)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:14:00 +0000

The theme is pretty self explanatory... We were all a bit tired from the Dash but great party nonetheless !

The Dash (March 22nd)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:04:00 +0000

What is it? A race through town, from the Chateau de Fontainebleau to school, with everyone dressed up... The house went there as "dirty MDs" carrying our beloved Boris the bore head (see if you can spot us)...

Six Nations Rugby: France - Scotland (March 17th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:17:00 +0000

Very exciting game! France needed 24 points difference over Scotland to secure her win of the tournament, just ahead of Ireland... They had a 25 points lead with 4 minutes left when Scotland scored to reduce the difference to 20 points... However, in the dying seconds of the game, France managed to dramatically score again and win it 46-19, thereby securing the championship...

The Scots were only smiling in the beginning (Scotland dominated the first half)... Left to right are Ian and Iain...

Other supporter and mediators were (left to right) Frederic (French), Felipe (Spanish/Basque) and Pipa (Argentina)...

Fontainebleau and PSG (March 11th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:56:00 +0000

The day was just amazing and we spent the whole afternoon walking around the grounds of the Chateau de Fontainebleau...

We then headed to Paris to watch Paris-St-Germain (PSG) face Auxerre in a French D1 game... Exciting atmosphere but unfortunately, PSG lost 1-0...

Notice that we were a bit late and I literally left the car in the middle of the street... :-)

Visiting Beaune/Burgundy (March 10th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:44:00 +0000

We got to Beaune just in time for lunch and had one of our best meals of the week in a little wine bar serving wine by the glass with a cold cuts and cheese plater...

We then went on to visit the famous Hospices de Beaune: l'Hotel-Dieu...

We continued with a wine testing session in the wine market... Beaune is still considered by many to be the wine capital of Burgundy, ahead of Dijon. Some centuries ago, both were the same size: around 20,000 people...

We concluded the tour with a little walk around the old town...

Visiting Reims/Champagne (March 9th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:24:00 +0000

It took a bit less than two hours to get to Reims and it rained the whole way there but, luckily, we did not have any rain once we got there. We first spent the afternoon tasting the champagne of Taittinger... notice that they sell to the SAQ!

We then went on to Piper-Heidsieck, enjoyed the tasty bubbles and the comfortable Piper lounge...

Finally, we could not miss the beautiful and famous cathedral, where most kings of France were baptized and crowned...

Visiting Paris (March 8th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 22:10:00 +0000

Exams are over, P1 and 20% of INSEAD is now behind me! On a beautiful Thursday, Tanya, who had arrived a couple of days ago from Montreal, and I went to spend the day in Paris... We spent a good portion of the morning and early afternoon visiting a fraction of the Louvre...

Hungry, we headed for Montmartre and had lunch just behind Sacre Coeur... And yes, we climbed all the steps we faced: in the metro and to get to the church... Proofs available below:

We concluded the day walking around the Marais and the Bastille areas before heading back to Fontainebleau with the train...

Football Section Cup (Feb 24th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 22:23:00 +0000

A little bit of background information on this one... INSEAD's December intake is currently divided into 4 sections: E6, E7, E8 and E9. The football club organized a little competition this Saturday between the different sections. My section, E8, played E6 in one of the semi-finals and we managed to win the tight game 1-0...

We then went on to play the powerful section E7 winners 3-2 over E9... E7 took the lead 1-0 then again 2-1 but we managed to tie them after regular time and overtime... We went on to penalty kick: no one was scoring on the kicks until the 4th shoot were we scored and they didn't... When I managed to block their last shoot, championship was ours!!! Some great fun in spite of the rain!!! A HUGE thanks to the guys from the July intake that gave us a hand because we were missing a couple of players!!!

Chinese New Year's Eve (Feb 17th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 23:57:00 +0000

I forgot to bring my camera to the party but I managed to find one picture of the group from Shangri-La that did go... Bonnie's friend Trina (next to Ian) came from London and they both cooked a fantastic Chinese meal the day before (Friday)... My friend Laurent, visiting from Montreal, is the one taking the picture...

And now, the party! Of course, since it was Chinese New Year, we had to GAMBLE... Poker found its way in the middle of the traditional Chinese games...

Happy New Year!!!

I'm sure that the INSEAD guests (my friend from Montreal and Bonnie's friend from London) were talking about their impressions of the student body... Laurent is a bit red... Did you like the wine my friend? :o)

All in all, very cool/fun party!

Brazilian Carnival (Feb 16th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 08:06:00 +0000

All the house went and we were the Brazilian soccer team from the 70's... with their cheerleaders!

The stars: Gopinho, Felipao, Ronaldian, Ze Armando and Carlos-Albertano...

Decor for this party was amazing! 20 people worked hard all week and it showed... Most people came disguised and the evening was quite colorful...

Visite chez Suzon et Victor (Feb 11th)

noreply@blogger.com (Charles-Albert) — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 23:55:00 +0000

On Sunday I went to Paris for a short visit to my aunt and uncle... They are convinced that I don't do any work at INSEAD... lol