Chaos is consistent. As students at INSEAD, we can learn to rely on that. Now that we are in the midst of November and already making plans for our long winter break, our first period here in Singapore now seems like eons ago. When we were all in our first semester it was clear that – through all of the gatherings by the pool, parties in Marina Bay, barbeques, and inevitability long nights at the library – everyone was stretching themselves thin to be everywhere. This time around, it is just no longer feasible. Period 2 kicked in high gear with group assignments, double session classes, extracurriculars, competitions, trips, and career talks. By nature, we have thus eliminated what the administrative board had warned us about early in the year and diagnosed as “fear of missing out.”
Unlike many of my peers, this is the first time I am living so far away from home, so naturally my experiences feel more amateur. Regardless, when fifty plus of us travel to various countries on the weekends, I can’t help but notice how wide-eyed, curious, and even appreciative everyone becomes, and I see that this is just one of the many elements that truly bond us through this journey. While in Cambodia, we spent a day in Phnom Penh visiting the killing fields and the Genocide Museum to better understand the still existent after-effects of the terrors that took place during Pol Pat’s ruling, which was a stark contrast to the tranquil landscape of temples in Siem Reap (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) we had visited just before. The day in Phnom Penh will always be remembered as a difficult one; we discovered an inconceivable truth of brutalities that were so real and recent, and we saw the results of a ‘leader’ being able to wipe out more than three million people of his own population in a matter of three years. At the same time, this learning complemented what followed during INSEAD’s Social Impact week, INDEVOR. A week after visiting Cambodia with fifty classmates, INDEVOR’s kick-off event involved watching our fellow classmates brilliantly debate against each other and our professors on whether, as an MBA graduate, it makes sense to invest time or money when it comes to charitable causes. Students were spilling outside of the classroom to listen in, reflecting that we are not here simply as a stepping stone for our careers, but also to understand the world from different perspectives and see what we can do to change it in an effective manner.
Overall, I can already feel my colleagues and I becoming more aware. But that is what we are here for, isn’t it? I do not have enough fingers and toes to count what I have learned so far through the storytelling of weekend escapades, lectures highlighting a region’s current and future socioeconomic conditions, and our National Weeks which serve as a platform to shine the highlights of where we came from. Even more after two months here, there no longer lies a barrier that prevents us from learning, reinforcing what we know, and most importantly making light of all the stereotypes and preconceived notions we may have had of each others’ origins prior to our arrival here.
To give some more perspective on the beautiful madness that these two and a half months have been, I would like to note two things:
1. I am currently on my way to the Philippines writing this entry. This is my third attempt to sit down on a flight and, via words on a piece of paper, ‘remember to stop and smell the flowers’ as one of my closest friends smartly advised me to do before I left.
2. I am writing this post after INSEAD’s Dash has taken place on the Singapore campus; Dash is our traditional run between the residences of Dover/Heritage and school. It so happened to take place on a Monday this year after a hectic weekend of traveling and exploring. Regardless of this fact, and now obviously so, we stormed and we sustained ourselves late through the night.
