Last night I went out to Ty-Koz, the famous creperie with a bunch of friends (American/Indian and his wife, a Stanford GSB Statistics Professor and a Dutch guy) for probably one of the last dinners at Ty-Koz. How do you know that some people could really be your friends? They read your mind and pick up the restaurant that you would have picked up. They then choose the one crepe that you would have chosen too.

We joked on the menu as there was space for the “suggestion du jour”. We suggested that the owners franchised the concept to Insead students all over the world and I left my phone number. We imagined the franchise book containing rules that would look like the following:

- Premises must offer a very awkward layout forcing people to cram around small tables in a hugely uncomfortable dining room, to walk through the kitchen to reach the second dining room.
- There shall be no bathroom facilities
- The cook and the waiter must both be old and dusty to convey this impression of traditional longevity. They must call each other by their first name which will be chosen in the following list
o Yvette, Gertrude, Cunegonde, Margot
o Ambroise, Boubou, Casimir, Erwan

Some people are going to stay for the next few days which should help me line up some more dinners between now and my departure date.

Our conversation went on to talking about other things – the American/German speaking couple made a comment about the French community. This community did not correspond to the closed elite that seems to govern the affairs of the country, drying out of fresh ideas, killing the entrepreneurship spirit and causing a brain drain as it limits the potential upsides and opportunities for anyone who does not belong to the 400+ per year fortunate and at times pompous crowd. It is also notable that during Cabaret, the main cynical act about the French was set up by the French themselves. However, Insead participants who choose Insead thinking that they will make a lot of French friends must think twice. Most French participants – even if they have spent all of their working life and perhaps more abroad – still have a network in France, or a family and are torn between building their Insead circle or fulfilling their perceived obligations toward the rest of this family. This would translate into their absence from many social activities leaving the other nationalities to find consolation among themselves. You will make French friends, perhaps just not as many as you would have originally thought.

We also talked about the log off culture which appalls the Wharton community. Log offs can exist because of the existence of Mass emails. Log offs can be ridiculous or very funny and they are an example of the high levels of creativity which exist at Insead and the increased freedom that a non-US status and the non-belonging to any other institution confers to the establishment. Our Yearbook (excellent piece of work) contains some of the best:

Fact:
The Negotiation Analysis professor made a point early in the term that what he disliked most were McKinsey consultants and EuroDisney – McKinsey did offer new hires from Europe a day at Eurodisney. He also indicated that he would never allow students to switch classs/sections.

Results into following Log Off:
To: Negotiation Analysis Professor
Bcc: the whole of Insead

Dear Professor,

I wonder if you would mind me switching sections on Thursday for negotiation? It’s just that I have a McKinsey day at EuroDisney that I really want to go on.

Thanks in advance

Poor Logged Off Student

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Subject: TSF

Tosser Sans Frontieres (TSF) is an international humanitarian aid organization that I have set up during Insead. It provides emergency assistance in more than 2 countries to population in danger. In areas where social structures are insufficient or non-existent. […] The objective is to rebuild mental health in business school to acceptable levels

FACT:
Marketing elective use the following simulation software: Markstrat.

Subject Line: New Elective My-NameStrat

I will be running an elective during P4 in FBL called My-NameStrat. The objective of the game will be to market me. By adjusting levels of production of m, channel saturation and nuanced marketing strategies, you will be able to use all the skills that you should have learned in the core courses but didn’t.

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FACT: New Zealander is student whose account was chosen to send the following log off

Subject Line: Missing Sheep

Late last night I returned home to find that my favorite sheep has gone missing. As Valentines Day is this weekend, you can imagine that I am a little bit concerned about her whereabouts and would really like to have her back.

Her name is Sally, she’s a New Zealander highstock variety

Desperately Seeking Sally

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Even MBA Interviews automated email account gets logged off

“You have been selected on the final interview schedule to be Mister MBA X’s personal assistant.
Please check the details in your FUTURE account. The deadline for you to respond is…

NB: you will have two interviews of one hour each. Interviews are case-based and will be based around typical situation that Mister MBA X might need help on.

Please make sure to sign up for consecutive interview times on the two schedules where your name is mentioned.

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MASS: They got him

Singapore (AFP): Unconfirmed reports are emerging from the 3rd floor that Pakistanese MBA participant has been captured in the break out room 318 studying for Finance. Media reports suggest that he was caught trying to dig humself out of a hole and that he is in possession of cheatsheets of mass preparation. Officials are still undecided whether or not to put him out of his misery.

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Dear all

I have discovered a great activity at the weekend: counting clouds. This is a great way to improve quantitative skills for non-numerically minded people. I had a 40 percentile on the quant section of the GMAt and ended up topping all the numerical courses in P1 and P2!

Join me by the pool this weekend for an intellectually challenging session

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Mass emails are annoying but necessary to keep this tradition alive! Perhaps a mix between what can be dealt with outside of Mass emails (for instance run this Ride List on the Intranet) could help.