Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Marriachi Band Marks Marks our Halfway Point Through P1... Already!
I cannot stress enough how fast time flies over here... If there is one thing I know I am learning as I go, it's time management. Alas, it has always proven to be a development opportunity for me, but I must say I feel I am already conquering it! I, like many others here, am allocating the scarce resource of time in the most efficient way to optimize results (you can tell I have been listening carefully to Nikos, my Microeconomics Prof!)... Between lectures, group work, individual homework, rugby workouts, parties.. ummm I mean networking, the week just flies by, leaving the slow-paced behind.
The fun has already started... the class reps have been elected, and I was elected one of two career reps for my section. The role is very flexible, and is basically a link between the student body, and the Career Services team at INSEAD. We had our kick-off meeting today with the CS team here, and yet again, it promises to be an interesting year ahead with all the activities being planned on that front. The social reps of the class have been pretty busy keeping us entertained, the IT rep has been running around taking complaints from the section, and the Academic reps have already been approached by a couple of us on several issues involving scheduling of readings and their consolidation, in addition to the different definitions of Free Cash Flow in Financial Accounting and Financial Markets and Valuations courses. Not exactly for the faint-hearted!
This week will also fly by, but when it does, i will not be hitting another Chateau party, or crashing a Le Shaker night... I will rather be visiting London to celebrate my baby sis Noor's birthday, and play with the UNDEFEATED IRFC Rugby club to play a tournament against LBS...
It is Latin week at INSEAD, and the activities include Capoeira demos, Latin American food in the cafeteria, tapas at the bar, a Mariachi band storming lecture halls throughout the day (!), and margarita and tequila tasting sessions (AFTER classes)...
PS. The only thing bugging me so far is that i have been horrible at staying in touch with many of my dearest friends... No excuses, but I have already changed phones twice and lost a bunch of numbers... I WILL reach out asking you for your numbers again... Miss all y'all! Cheers MooN
Monday, January 25, 2010
Outward Bound...
...and I nearly forgot to mention Outward Bound! It was a great team building activity were we were distributed into groups (2 study groups form one team), and let loose in the freezing forest for about 6 hours to do some team building activities including climbing a rock wall, walking blindfolded in the thick greenery in the forest... Lots of fun, and great learnings on both a personal, and team level.
The above pic includes groups 12 and 12 from E8 and E9... Behnaz, Kristof, Jynn, Ho Sup, Kanu, Adriana, Bianca, Terence, Ashutosh and Markus...
Cheers
Moon
Classes, Rugby, Parties and Good Food...
Wow how time flies… It has been a while since I had time to confide in my laptop’s keypad and tell it how things are going… Time is proving to be a more and more valuable commodity with every passing day. Everything happens here at an extremely accelerated pace… From 90 minute lectures that just pass like a breeze, to 6-hour private parties that seem to fly by in minutes. Enough rambling about Father Time…
A great first week introduced us to some great clubs on campus. The INSEAD Capital Partners Club, the Renaissance Club, the VIP party club, Valmont and so on. There seems to be something for everyone at INSEAD, and joining those clubs early on is advisable for academic, social, and career prospect reasons in the future.
After the Business Foundations Program, and 2 short modules on Business Presentations and an Introduction to General Management, the MBA courses have started, and it’s full steam ahead.
Uncertainty, Data and Judgment: This is basically a euphemism for the much-feared term Statistics. However, I must say that Professor Neil Bearden is great at making the class interesting, and far from the number crunching madness… We are still discussing Normal Distributions, Z-Curves, Chebichev’s Rule and so on, but I am quite sure statistics will never be the same again…
Financial Accounting: Professor David Young, a very intense character who relies on cold-calling on students in class has achieved the miraculous feat of deciphering the double entry system of accounting to the uninitiated. We are still doing the simple Balance Sheet and Income Statement parts, and are yet to delve into the more complicated elements, but judging by his book, I have a feeling this course is going to be interesting, and I might even follow it up with the Corporate Financial Policy elective in P3.
Prices and Markets: This is one of the tougher ones, especially when doing the required pre-readings before class. As interesting as the subject of microeconomics is, there is something annoying about indifference curves, cost curves, and non-linear supply and demand functions for substitutes and complementary goods (and that was my practice for Wednesdays Quiz… yes, a Pop Quiz…)
Business Ethics: I will not elaborate here, as I need to get a better feel for the class next time, because I did not particularly enjoy the first lesson. Legal or illegal, ethical or unethical, the distinction between them, and the tolerances of different people (and cultures) for them can be a very interesting subject to learn, and we’ll see how it goes.
Leading people and Groups: Everyone says this is a fluffy course, and it is boring… I beg to differ, cuz I just might be a sucker for Organizational Behaviour (OB). Although the readings are cumbersome at times, when the situations presented are projected on personal experiences, the course offers great opportunities to learn. I hope the ‘haters’ give it a chance.
Financial Markets and Valuation: Again I say Finance has always been a necessary evil for me.I try to like it, but fail to, repeatedly. That said, the clear difference this time is that I am comfortable with the concepts covered so far, and understand them properly… I just do not enjoy it.
On the party-front, Villa Vivante, Flaming Buddha, Valmont, and Le Shaker took good care of us over the past couple of weeks. A couple of nice cozy dinners took place too, and the highlights were fondue at the Savoyard, crepe and coq au vinin at Barbizon, and a sumptuous pot au feu at Cote Sud. Thankfully, I am playing Rugby, so the food is being put to good use... It is actually the first time I play rugby, and a couple of trainings into it, I found out it is a game I would have always wanted to play. The IFRC (INSEAD Rugby Club) has another training this evening, and I can't wait to go! I'll post some pix soon...
PS. I passed my DELF French exam, and thus my 3d language requirement is satisfied.
Behhh, oui, pffff, voila…
MooN
A great first week introduced us to some great clubs on campus. The INSEAD Capital Partners Club, the Renaissance Club, the VIP party club, Valmont and so on. There seems to be something for everyone at INSEAD, and joining those clubs early on is advisable for academic, social, and career prospect reasons in the future.
After the Business Foundations Program, and 2 short modules on Business Presentations and an Introduction to General Management, the MBA courses have started, and it’s full steam ahead.
Uncertainty, Data and Judgment: This is basically a euphemism for the much-feared term Statistics. However, I must say that Professor Neil Bearden is great at making the class interesting, and far from the number crunching madness… We are still discussing Normal Distributions, Z-Curves, Chebichev’s Rule and so on, but I am quite sure statistics will never be the same again…
Financial Accounting: Professor David Young, a very intense character who relies on cold-calling on students in class has achieved the miraculous feat of deciphering the double entry system of accounting to the uninitiated. We are still doing the simple Balance Sheet and Income Statement parts, and are yet to delve into the more complicated elements, but judging by his book, I have a feeling this course is going to be interesting, and I might even follow it up with the Corporate Financial Policy elective in P3.
Prices and Markets: This is one of the tougher ones, especially when doing the required pre-readings before class. As interesting as the subject of microeconomics is, there is something annoying about indifference curves, cost curves, and non-linear supply and demand functions for substitutes and complementary goods (and that was my practice for Wednesdays Quiz… yes, a Pop Quiz…)
Business Ethics: I will not elaborate here, as I need to get a better feel for the class next time, because I did not particularly enjoy the first lesson. Legal or illegal, ethical or unethical, the distinction between them, and the tolerances of different people (and cultures) for them can be a very interesting subject to learn, and we’ll see how it goes.
Leading people and Groups: Everyone says this is a fluffy course, and it is boring… I beg to differ, cuz I just might be a sucker for Organizational Behaviour (OB). Although the readings are cumbersome at times, when the situations presented are projected on personal experiences, the course offers great opportunities to learn. I hope the ‘haters’ give it a chance.
Financial Markets and Valuation: Again I say Finance has always been a necessary evil for me.I try to like it, but fail to, repeatedly. That said, the clear difference this time is that I am comfortable with the concepts covered so far, and understand them properly… I just do not enjoy it.
On the party-front, Villa Vivante, Flaming Buddha, Valmont, and Le Shaker took good care of us over the past couple of weeks. A couple of nice cozy dinners took place too, and the highlights were fondue at the Savoyard, crepe and coq au vinin at Barbizon, and a sumptuous pot au feu at Cote Sud. Thankfully, I am playing Rugby, so the food is being put to good use... It is actually the first time I play rugby, and a couple of trainings into it, I found out it is a game I would have always wanted to play. The IFRC (INSEAD Rugby Club) has another training this evening, and I can't wait to go! I'll post some pix soon...
PS. I passed my DELF French exam, and thus my 3d language requirement is satisfied.
Behhh, oui, pffff, voila…
MooN
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Et Voila... Le Fin de Business Foundations Program!
Poets and engineers in the strange land of ‘Biznistan’…
A kick in the pants, a rude awakening, a preview of horrors to come, too fast paced… Call it what you want, but there is no getting around the fact that the Business Foundation Program proves to be a very useful preamble to the intense MBA program.
After a rather chilled out introduction and dinner last Monday, the group of 60 or so poets and engineers (INSEAD lingo for students with non-financial backgrounds) were taken on a fast ride that accelerated into high gear from the first session of day 1. The course consists of 3 modules that are supposed to level the playing field when the actual MBA program starts. The modules are Financial Accounting, Finance, and Quantitative Methods & an Introduction to Statistics; all very useful in rekindling one’s love for numbers and analysis.
Group work is the name of the game and my group had an American-French-British Chemical Engineer who worked in pharma, a Vietnamese-Belgian-American lawyer, a Canadian wind turbine engineer, a Lieutenant in the French Army, and a nationality-challenged me… The group dynamics are always interesting, and it is amazing to see how the people responsible for putting the groups together make sure that group members complement each others’ strengths, in the majority of cases.
For me, Finance has always been a necessary evil, and it was no different this time around. The class was the fastest-paced of all and covered essential concepts of ‘time value of money’, ‘stock and bond valuation’, ‘investment evaluation’ (using net present value, internal rate of return, payback and their respective pitfalls), in addition to a basic introduction of the notion to capital budgeting.
The Quantitative Methods course is taught by Mrs. Michele Hibon, a very maternal figure who took a liking to me, memorized my name and called on me whenever she was short on volunteers. I honestly felt like a ten year old in her class, and was somehow hypnotized into understanding subjects I have always hated. It is also nice to know that she is responsible for the tutorials required for the upcoming Uncertainty, Data and Judgment course (a euphemism for Statistics).
Surprisingly, of all three courses, I found Financial Accounting to be the most interesting. I know the words ‘accounting’ and ‘interesting’ do not usually co-exist within the same sentence unless there is a qualifying prefix of ‘not at all’ before ‘interesting’, but this week changed my mind, partly thanks to Professor Liz Demers, a very sharp but accommodating expert/consultant in the field of firm valuation. After getting past the tediousness of journal entries, posting and closing, I can now see (a bit) past the numbers in the resulting financial statements. And after getting past the idiosyncrasies of debits and credits, I found the analysis very intuitive and logical.
It’s a shame I will not be in Prof. Demers’ class next semester, but I also hear lots of good things about Professor David Young, a start-status faculty member at INSEAD who wrote virtually all the case studies we worked on. I actually met him during the Open Day back in October ’09 and enjoyed his mock lecture as you might have read that previous post.
In retrospect, I made the right choice of choosing to attend this primer course as it has set the pace, and broken the ice between me and the modus operandi here at graduate school. The additional 1500 Euro paid for this course was money well spent; and I hope to reap benefits come the beginning of a very busy P1…
…. And 7 hours after I wrote all the above, here I am coming back from a crazy night out with the INSEAD crew… So it all starts at Le Shaker in downtown Fontainebleau at about 9pm… The place is too crowded for comfort, but I am really enjoy it… I guess I owe this in part too a legend who also goes by the name Mounir… A fellow Lebanese, Mounir Doumani was apparently the life of the party in the last promotion, and he got Le Shaker great business from INSEAD’ers. I have some big shoes to fill, especially that I am now on first name basis with the owner, and his side-kick/bartender at Le Shaker… I am actually quite proud to be the first guy in my promotion, along with Rami (whom I just met), to go behind the bar and pose for a picture with the pub “emblem”, whose nature I will only disclose in person, and to a select few (and I am not posting the pic, in case you are wondering)… :)
Orientation week starts on Monday, so I hope I get to run my errands during that (bank, ADSL, phone..etc)
A plus mecs!
MooN
A kick in the pants, a rude awakening, a preview of horrors to come, too fast paced… Call it what you want, but there is no getting around the fact that the Business Foundation Program proves to be a very useful preamble to the intense MBA program.
After a rather chilled out introduction and dinner last Monday, the group of 60 or so poets and engineers (INSEAD lingo for students with non-financial backgrounds) were taken on a fast ride that accelerated into high gear from the first session of day 1. The course consists of 3 modules that are supposed to level the playing field when the actual MBA program starts. The modules are Financial Accounting, Finance, and Quantitative Methods & an Introduction to Statistics; all very useful in rekindling one’s love for numbers and analysis.
Group work is the name of the game and my group had an American-French-British Chemical Engineer who worked in pharma, a Vietnamese-Belgian-American lawyer, a Canadian wind turbine engineer, a Lieutenant in the French Army, and a nationality-challenged me… The group dynamics are always interesting, and it is amazing to see how the people responsible for putting the groups together make sure that group members complement each others’ strengths, in the majority of cases.
For me, Finance has always been a necessary evil, and it was no different this time around. The class was the fastest-paced of all and covered essential concepts of ‘time value of money’, ‘stock and bond valuation’, ‘investment evaluation’ (using net present value, internal rate of return, payback and their respective pitfalls), in addition to a basic introduction of the notion to capital budgeting.
The Quantitative Methods course is taught by Mrs. Michele Hibon, a very maternal figure who took a liking to me, memorized my name and called on me whenever she was short on volunteers. I honestly felt like a ten year old in her class, and was somehow hypnotized into understanding subjects I have always hated. It is also nice to know that she is responsible for the tutorials required for the upcoming Uncertainty, Data and Judgment course (a euphemism for Statistics).
Surprisingly, of all three courses, I found Financial Accounting to be the most interesting. I know the words ‘accounting’ and ‘interesting’ do not usually co-exist within the same sentence unless there is a qualifying prefix of ‘not at all’ before ‘interesting’, but this week changed my mind, partly thanks to Professor Liz Demers, a very sharp but accommodating expert/consultant in the field of firm valuation. After getting past the tediousness of journal entries, posting and closing, I can now see (a bit) past the numbers in the resulting financial statements. And after getting past the idiosyncrasies of debits and credits, I found the analysis very intuitive and logical.
It’s a shame I will not be in Prof. Demers’ class next semester, but I also hear lots of good things about Professor David Young, a start-status faculty member at INSEAD who wrote virtually all the case studies we worked on. I actually met him during the Open Day back in October ’09 and enjoyed his mock lecture as you might have read that previous post.
In retrospect, I made the right choice of choosing to attend this primer course as it has set the pace, and broken the ice between me and the modus operandi here at graduate school. The additional 1500 Euro paid for this course was money well spent; and I hope to reap benefits come the beginning of a very busy P1…
…. And 7 hours after I wrote all the above, here I am coming back from a crazy night out with the INSEAD crew… So it all starts at Le Shaker in downtown Fontainebleau at about 9pm… The place is too crowded for comfort, but I am really enjoy it… I guess I owe this in part too a legend who also goes by the name Mounir… A fellow Lebanese, Mounir Doumani was apparently the life of the party in the last promotion, and he got Le Shaker great business from INSEAD’ers. I have some big shoes to fill, especially that I am now on first name basis with the owner, and his side-kick/bartender at Le Shaker… I am actually quite proud to be the first guy in my promotion, along with Rami (whom I just met), to go behind the bar and pose for a picture with the pub “emblem”, whose nature I will only disclose in person, and to a select few (and I am not posting the pic, in case you are wondering)… :)
Orientation week starts on Monday, so I hope I get to run my errands during that (bank, ADSL, phone..etc)
A plus mecs!
MooN
Monday, January 4, 2010
And so begins the journey…
After a sleepless night in Beirut, a crowded airport, an exorbitant fine for extra luggage, 4 and a half annoying Airbus A330 seat rendered even more uncomfortable by turbulence, a crazy taxi driver, 3 hours of unpacking, and a well deserved 10 hours of sleep, my journey begins… :)
By the time I post this from campus, I would have spent another internet-less day in my apartment. It will take another couple of weeks before I can set this up, as for virtually any subscription services in France, an RIB (a bank account number) is needed. So if you are reading this before coming here, try to set up your bank account remotely to avoid the hassle of waiting. Some banks close on Mondays, so my Saturday mid-day arrival wasn’t exactly perfect timing for opening a bank account, setting up ADSL, TV, fixed line, and mobile service.
Thankfully though, the close-by Fromagerie does not close early on Saturdays, and a healthy appetite, and a gastronomically inquisitive nature helped fill my fridge (and stomach) with cheese for the past day and a half… It is actually all I have been eating since I arrived! Franprix, a supermarket on the way from my place to the town centre was also very convenient stop to shop for toiletteries, cereal, milk…etc
The Business Foundations Program (BFP) is just around the corner, and my not-so-stellar time-management skills will be put to the test soon. Monday the 4th of January is pretty chilled out: An Excel skills mini-course followed by an introductory reception and dinner. The three subjects covered by the BFP are Finance, Quantitative Methods, and Financial Accounting, and are sure to keep us busy over the next week… I am looking forward to the classes, and they will get me back into the groove of studying, problem-solving, and group work before the official kick-off of the MBA program on January 11.
As expected, it is COLD here… -5 °C in the mornings, crawling slowly up to about 3°C at mid-day, only to drop back again by sunset. That thermal underwear saved my ass… Literally! (thanks mom… hehehe)
MooN
By the time I post this from campus, I would have spent another internet-less day in my apartment. It will take another couple of weeks before I can set this up, as for virtually any subscription services in France, an RIB (a bank account number) is needed. So if you are reading this before coming here, try to set up your bank account remotely to avoid the hassle of waiting. Some banks close on Mondays, so my Saturday mid-day arrival wasn’t exactly perfect timing for opening a bank account, setting up ADSL, TV, fixed line, and mobile service.
Thankfully though, the close-by Fromagerie does not close early on Saturdays, and a healthy appetite, and a gastronomically inquisitive nature helped fill my fridge (and stomach) with cheese for the past day and a half… It is actually all I have been eating since I arrived! Franprix, a supermarket on the way from my place to the town centre was also very convenient stop to shop for toiletteries, cereal, milk…etc
The Business Foundations Program (BFP) is just around the corner, and my not-so-stellar time-management skills will be put to the test soon. Monday the 4th of January is pretty chilled out: An Excel skills mini-course followed by an introductory reception and dinner. The three subjects covered by the BFP are Finance, Quantitative Methods, and Financial Accounting, and are sure to keep us busy over the next week… I am looking forward to the classes, and they will get me back into the groove of studying, problem-solving, and group work before the official kick-off of the MBA program on January 11.
As expected, it is COLD here… -5 °C in the mornings, crawling slowly up to about 3°C at mid-day, only to drop back again by sunset. That thermal underwear saved my ass… Literally! (thanks mom… hehehe)
MooN
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
3d Language Requirement
Right... Without going through the details of INSEAD's language policy, the university requires that all students speak three languages before graduating... With Arabic and English under my belt, my logical choice for a third language was French, since I am already familiar with it from school...
I just sat for the DELF A2, which is the exam used to prove a Basic level of proficiency in French, and I have a feeling I did very well, given the fact that my only recent preparation was one course at CCF (centre culturel francais) and a nice pot of hot brewed coffee before the actual exam...
I must say that I advise anyone planning French as an exit language to sit for the DELF, instead of waiting to do the INSEAD test (a sample of which is available at MBA Connect) for several reasons...
1) Don't waste valuable party time at INSEAD studying for language courses
2) Don't wait till after you are done, and receive a blank paper when graduating
3) DELF is EASY! And by easy, I mean 3'd-grade-special-needs-style-easy... If the sample test I have seen on MBA Connect is 8 on a 10 level scale, then the DELF is easily a 3/10...
With this said, wish me luck... Results are out in about 3 weeks time...
PS, a blogpost about the pre-readings is long over due, but alas, so are the pre-readings themselves!
MooN
I just sat for the DELF A2, which is the exam used to prove a Basic level of proficiency in French, and I have a feeling I did very well, given the fact that my only recent preparation was one course at CCF (centre culturel francais) and a nice pot of hot brewed coffee before the actual exam...
I must say that I advise anyone planning French as an exit language to sit for the DELF, instead of waiting to do the INSEAD test (a sample of which is available at MBA Connect) for several reasons...
1) Don't waste valuable party time at INSEAD studying for language courses
2) Don't wait till after you are done, and receive a blank paper when graduating
3) DELF is EASY! And by easy, I mean 3'd-grade-special-needs-style-easy... If the sample test I have seen on MBA Connect is 8 on a 10 level scale, then the DELF is easily a 3/10...
With this said, wish me luck... Results are out in about 3 weeks time...
PS, a blogpost about the pre-readings is long over due, but alas, so are the pre-readings themselves!
MooN
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