Whatta Class!

My first introduction to my classmates via e-mail was quite a shock.  "Wow," I thought.  "When these people are bored they are way more productive than me.  I can only imagine when they're excited about something."   I thought this when I opened a spreadsheet developed by a certain INSEAD July 09 classmate, known as "very entrepreneurial" by school administration, emailed us our "stats."  It's pretty insane - so here goes:

• Over 35% of the class has at least a masters degree (if not a PhD)
• We speak over 67 languages (ave. # of languages is 3.6!) 
  
• There are over 70 nationalities (our ave. age is 29.5 and our class is 70% guys)
  
• No one nationality makes up more than 11% of the class
• Roughly a third of us had a manager title

Pretty incredible to start with a group of people as diverse and motivated as this...  I have to say motivated because coming here and getting started has not been easy.  It's been pretty funny that basically the only communications I received from INSEAD were - "You're been admitted" and "Please send money."  Otherwise, its my new network of classmates that have sustained me and my sanity moving to France including - what time to get started on campus (registration, laptop configuration, driving directions, communicating, healthcare, etc).  

So, from time-1 (aka. arrival), the best thing about INSEAD has been the networ

k.  The flow of information is incredible and Facebook has been sent from above.  Even now I don't know how many Facebook groups I'm part of on Facebook, but its by far been the best method to disseminate information and learn about activities, social and otherwise.  Not to spend too long on the various benefits of Facebook, but I also think its been one of the best ways to share my experiences with friends back home.  

But enough on Facebook, and more about my 'friends' that make it awesome.  From those I've talked to, maybe about 1/3 of the class so far, we've had similar experiences in many ways and share many motivations in common.  Generally speaking, people seem to be humble, fun, relaxed, fun, very smart, fun, socially flexible, fun, motivated, fun, resourceful, fun, witty, and, did I mention?, fun.

Well, in case I'm not clear - the INSEAD Class of July 2009 is awesome and I'm excited for what's ahead! 

PS. For my visual readers, attached is a picture of my home, Le Vivier.  More on the infamous LE VIVIER! in my next blog...  Adieu