At war...and now heading for peace and tranquility

Well, well, well! Hasn't it been a while since I posted my milestone message! I may have stopped for a while but the world certainly hasn't; someone's come back from the dead, HEC Paris is yet again the top business school in Europe, and we have also "received the largest single donation to a French business school from an individual donor"! Only last week, we were discussing how the notion of giving back to one's alma mater does not exist in France in quite the same way as in the US. Hopefully, many will follow in Mr Destzet's footstep and fill HEC's coffer with so much dough that we can just buy our way to world domination! And, yet again, I had a guerre with the bureaucracy at the prefecture, albeit a different one, for my Titre de Sejour. If the bureaucrat sitting on the other side is not content, you are out! So, I queued and stood in the cold for three consecutive days. My wife and son also joined me on the second day...and still we were turned away for we did not have an optional tax document - of course, we don't because we have not lived here long enough but the bureaucrat was not interested in that! Success did come on the third day after repeated haggling and following a chat with a 'friendlier, more senior' bureaucrat. C'mon, Sarkozy, please do something!

That done, I am now at peace and can go on my annual pilgrimage with my son, starting next week! I am also hoping to visit one of the sites of my sponsoring company during this travel so that I can include the findings in my IPP report. We shall see...I am just looking forward to be on the move, on holiday, again! :-) And, as many are going away on exchange and internships during PP2, it is slowly beginning to sink in that we are now at the end of our time at HEC together as one big group of students. From now, we follow the paths defined by our individual goals and, except for graduation day, it is unlikely we will all be together ever again. That is a sad thought but, as always, life goes on and we move on knowing that we have had the experience of a lifetime. And, I wish my dear friends the very best.

What a break...what an experience I am having!

I did tell you spring break was coming soon but I just had not expected it to come and go (going!) so quickly! Last Friday, we had our last exam for the term, in Statistics, and when it finished at mid-day, one could see the relief on a lot of faces - we had just finished Core 1, the toughest phase as we are told! Hurray! The exam was definitely not set to be finished in two hours and, except for a few, nobody finished all the questions. Luckily, the last two questions, which most of us missed, were only worth 3 points. And so we promised not to talk about it again and hit the K-fet, the place where we get cheap beer and pizzas on campus. We spent the afternoon drinking and consuming tonnes of snacks and pizza slices though I restricted myself to just a pint or two as I was driving to see the property we were buying later on in the evening. I will come to this later but once I had dropped off my son and left the car with my wife, I took the metro to meet up with a classmate from New Zealand and hit the bars of Paris. A fellow classmate had organised an 'end-of-semester' dinner and so there we went. Fast forward four hours and I find myself drunkenly dancing on a bench of a stage in Cafe Oz, where fellow batchmates from the September intake had also arrived to celebrate somebody's B'Day. It was a great night out, a great way to say goodbye to Core 1, and welcome the break.

On Saturday, some old amis of my wife came over for lunch and, as always, I had time for a nap between formage and coffee! ;-) After a seemingly endless run of delightful courses, we decided to go for a walk and discover a new place in Jouy. Hidden away in the forest, not too far from our house, we found a lake and a children's play area and so the evening was spent loitering on the edges of the lake. About this time, for some unknown reason, I decided to give Ubuntu (Oo-bun-too), a free Linux based Operating System, a go and spent the Sunday installing it on my laptop. On Wikipedia, Ubuntu is defined as, "the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity" or "I am what I am because of what we all are". Such a great thought! But guess what, while I was busy learning the steps of making Ubuntu recognise the Wanadoo wireless network we have, our neighbour, an alumnus of the HEC MBA program, came over to say someone had entered their property and stolen his laptop! I mean, where did all these 'universal bond' and "I am what I am because of what we all are" go? Pretty ironical, I thought! Alongwith the laptop, he has lost hundreds of photos of his new born daughter, who is currently in Brazil with her mum - and I can really relate to him in terms of how I would feel if I lost all of my son's early-stage photos.

On Lundi, a former industry colleague of mine from the UK, came over for lunch (she came to run the Paris marathon!) and, as she has been adventurous enough to start a B&B chain beginning in Morocco in Africa, I also invited a Moroccan classmate of mine and a Canadian friend with heritage in Sierra Leone. So, over a bottle of champagne and plenty of pizza slices in the green and pleasant settings of our house (imagine birds chirping in the background), we talked about life, work, challenges, and generally just chilled out. Later on in the afternoon, after my friends had left, I headed for the estate agent where we finally signed the papers needed to buy an apartment! So, we are now the proud owners of a biggish apartment that needs new wiring, a new bathroom, a new kitchen, new wallpapers, and the good old wooden floor needs a good scrub! God bless us for being so confident that we can turn this property around! To keep things moving, I have drawn the first floorplan of the apartment and it looks great! On paper, at least! The strength is in being able to imagine that this will come true someday and keep going. A good friend recently asked me how I manage to cope with all of life's hurdles and still stay so cheerful. My answer was that, every morning, I promise myself I will be happy. As they say, "those who wish to sing always find a song". Metaphorically speaking, of course, as singing is not one of my skills! :-)

And today...well, what can I say. I finally found out what French bureaucracy means. Last week or about 10 days ago, we were told that I should either be able to renew my Titre de Sejour (TdS) application receipt or have my TdS today. And, I need this to be able to leave France (for London tomorrow) and come back. But, when I got to the Prefecture, I was told that they had run out of tickets for the day and I was there well before they opened! A colleague from HEC had also arrived for his work permit and went back home very disappointed and with some very flowery words describing the system. Anyway, returning to my situation, I explained in whatever French I know that I was told I could collect my TdS and I need it to go to London tomorrow but they refused to heed. I asked for an extension and that too they refused. I was just banging my head against a big wall of human flesh! I kept trying and eventually the guards came and the cops (actually they came for someone else but had me worried for a sec) and even sought the help of my wife via phone. Nothing worked and, frustrated, I came back home. You see, one cannot leave France with the receipt of the first Carte de Sejour application, and enter back (a lot of posts on the web say this is possible but I believe this is meant mostly for citizens from countries with which France has an agreement for short-term visa-free travel; an Indian friend is having to apply for another short-term visa to be able to return). After I got home, I continued pestering the prefecture and haggled, very gently and nicely (if there is such a thing), seeking an explanation for why I was told it could be done/collected and why I could not this morning. Finally, I spoke to a gentleman who understood my situation (I explained that I can't miss my company meeting), checked the system thoroughly and said the computer system said the TdS was ready but it was not physically available in the Prefecture - voila! Great, but that does not solve my problem...donc I requested him for a letter so that I could use it to re-enter France on Thursday. He agreed but still insisted it was up to the immigration officers to decide whether to let me in or not - I said fine and we agreed to rendezvous in the afternoon at the Prefecture for me to collect the letter. I get there and, guess what, the lady at the counter recognises my name in one shot and says my TdS is ready! I mean, WHAT! I am really happy that it is ready but WHAT! She said they could not find it this morning! Ahem...nevermind, I now have my TdS and I am happily going to London tomorrow and should hopefully be allowed back into the country. You will know in the next blog! What an experience!

Amongst all these, if you have been visiting my blog regularly, you ask what happened to the potty training part. Well, I am trying but the boy thinks the potty is some kind of toy that he can play with in the bath. He just doesn't realise that it is for kaka and not a toy. I guess he is still growing up and, someday, I will succeed...or so, I hope.

The Forest


The saddle shaped mini-lake


The floor plan

Half a century of messages...

With this post, I have reached half a century of posting messages on my blog and I hope I am continuing to give some insight into life at HEC Paris. If you are planning on attending HEC, pay us a visit. There are many positive things to talk about HEC Paris: good ranking, ever growing global positioning and branding, good team environment, very thorough in its approach to overall growth, and strong focus on keeping us busy and engaged. As with everything, there are also some downsides such as HEC Paris not being exactly in Paris so it is good to have a car if you live off-campus, and my colleagues often seem worried about job prospects. But, I think this is more an MBA thing than a school factor especially if you are trying to switch career streams - which many seem to want to do. And, remember that your job search can only be driven by you, not by the school. The career service department can only help you move in the right direction and provide you with the right training, guidance, and networking potentials but you are the driver. I took this approach and I think I have not done too bad. They also seem to send out a lot of emails with potential jobs and internships for MBAs. Also, remember that even studying at HEC, a top quality brand within France, cannot guarantee you a job in France or the EU if you do not have the right work permit and linguistic skills - but being at HEC will definitely increase your chances of getting a job.

So, what have I been doing recently? We have been busy with a lot of assignments (including the 'famous' Boeing 777 Case Study), and mid-term exams start next week so it is time to start burying one's head in the course materials. I have also taken up golf with a bit more seriousness than before and try my best to play every Thursday afternoon, when we have time off to practice for MBAT, the MBA Tournament. Talking about MBAT, we had an election recently to elect the MBAT coordinator from my batch and you can watch the campaign video of the winning candidate below.

I have also been busy scouring for a marketing project for next semester and I think we have found one. It will involve working with one of the largest, if not the largest, social networking sites in the world that wants to establish itself as a top player in France. My team - yes another team besides the two others I already have (HEC Paris truly believes in creating a 'coopetitive' environment) - is just as diverse and multi-national as the other two so it should be really good fun to work on the project. I have only been here for six weeks and I have already worked in a group with a French (used to this), American (this one too), Canadian, Chinese, Chilean, English (used to this one as well) , Israeli, and a Nepali French!

And, today, I went for a full day of 'intégration civique' during which I had to learn about French society, history, the legal system, democracy, et autre chose. I believe this is compulsory for all immigrants who want to work/live in France on a longer term basis. So, if you are a student Carte de Sejour holder and want to work in France after your MBA, you may have to change your status and go through this day-long session in French (though I was assured the teacher would speak English!). I also got some info on how foreign degress can be recognised in France but I don't think I need this - click here for more info on la reconnaissance des diplômes. The thing that touched me most during the session today was a conversation I had with a gentleman who fled Iraq about a year ago. I was not happy that we had such a long break for lunch and that the whole thing could easily be squeezed into a few hours so that I could go back to my classes when he told me his story. In fluent English, he explained he had a construction business in Iraq and had built over a thousand buildings - including homes and galleries - and, now, he didn't even have a room to settle in! He smiled and advised me to relax and not be too concerned and to take things as they come along...which I felt was very poignant coming from someone with his experience. I will remember it!

Right, I better go study for my mid-term exams now. Bonne Nuit

The video below is the MBAT campaign video I mentioned earlier on:

Integration weekend, Carte de Sejour, and a weekend trip to England!

It is amazing how much of a weight has been lifted off my shoulders since I found out that I do not have to look around for an internship/IPP position anymore. I am very lucky to be where I am today and I hope good luck sieves through the class. And, thank you to those who have congratulated and wished me well. I really appreciate it!

Last weekend was the HEC Paris Integration Weekend when most of my batchmates went to ski in the Alps. I believe they had good fun and I still need to catch up on the gossips. Unfortunately, I didn't go skiing. We hired a van and drove to our house in England to bring back the rest of our things (the van we had hired the first time around turned out to be quite small) and drove for over 1500km between Friday and Sunday. A lot of driving but we at least have all our things - mostly our son's toys - in the basement here in Jouy en Josas now. BTW, we have also found a nanny for him so he will be coming to live with us soon which is GREAT!!! :-)

On Monday, a friend and I went to the Prefecture at Versailles to apply for our Carte de Sejours since we had no classes - remember most of the class were still skiing! :-) We also bumped into a few Chinese friends from our class - a good way to share the experience. But, the day didn't go very well and was not as productive as one would have liked it to be. My case is slightly different as I have a French wife but, for the others, the absence of a notarised/verified French translation of their birth certificates caused havoc and they were asked to return later, i.e. take another day out of your busy MBA schedule! And then, there's the medical examination to go through once they have accepted your application. I have mine next week...would it help if I went out running a few times this week? :-) So, if you are coming to study in France, take no chances and come prepared. Get your documents translated to French. And, another piece of advice, apply for your Carte de Sejour before the three-month student visa issued to you expires. At the end of the day - a long one with no lunch - we decided to go to a brasserie and eat something before driving back to Jouy. It did lighten the mood!