The quest for wisdom, from France to China, of an HEC MBA & Tsinghua MBA dual degree student (class of 2011)
Author ArchiveMy apologies on the previous post were clealy short lived and I left my blog unattended for a while (again). As planned, I graduated from the Tsinghua MBA in late June and from the HEC MBA in October. The latter is due to the fact that Dual-Degree candidates are awarded through the September jury at HEC, once all credits are verified. Just a formality really. I still managed to attend to both my graduation ceremonies: at HEC on June 17th and at Tsinghua on June 28th. Square hats, photos (many of them) and commencement speech, at HEC with François-Henri Pinault CEO of PPR, and at Tsinghua with Annie Wu who founded the first Joint-Venture in China. I’m still fascinated by China and have decided to stay for a bit to improve on my Mandarin. I’ve registered to the HSK Level 5 in December, yay! (Not bad for someone who could barely talk to taxi drivers 15 months ago.) Tags: HEC events First I would like to apologize for leaving my blog for such long period (over 3 months!) without any updates. Of course I could say I was busy and then recovering but it doesn’t justify much… During my second semester at Tsinghua, on top of classes, I have been busying myself with the MIT China Lab program and my Tsinghua graduation thesis. Tags: Academics, Travels Chinese new year is the most important public celebration in the Chinese calendar. It is also a holiday opportunity which allows everyone to return to their families in the respective regions. And class started again yesterday with, in particular, one class which may well be one of the most interesting of my MBA experience and which tells me that coming to Tsinghua for double degree was really the right choice. Tags: Academics This year has been a very dry winter in Beijing with what could well be the worst drought in a century. It’s particularly worrying for farmers in surrounding regions as no water means no crop, and no crop means lesser / more expensive food, and that means, well you know, very big troubles… So it is with relief that we saw snow fall twice this week. Apparently it was helped by could seeding canons used by the government to provoke snow fall. (See more here) I, like other people, felt a great sense of joy when I saw my neighbourhood blanketed in white. It’s great to hear the children play snowballs. PS: You may have noticed but I changed camera… My pictures will now be in a 2/3 format. Posted in: Just me | No Comments » Welcome to my new blog! I’ve decided to change the name of my blog to better reflect the reality of my activities since I’m now following the second phase of my cursus in China. As you may have noticed, the website has undergone a major layout update. And update your bookmarks :) Posted in: Just me | No Comments » As you noticed, I have sort of let down my blog since I arrived in China. The reason is that I had dificulties, intellectually, to write a feedback about China and Tsinghua in a blog titled HEC MBA. So here’s the start of a new blog which will take into account both sides of my story. I hope you’ll keep reading me here :) And what a better day to start this new blog than the Chinese New Year ? Hail to the rabbit! Posted in: Just me | No Comments » This week was the last week of class at HEC for the students of my intake. On one hand there are those who have found a job and who are ready to enjoy the holidays before starting their new post-MBA life, on the other hand there are those who are still looking for a job end getting a bit anxious. These days there are many farewell celebrations at HEC to wave goodbye to studies and Paris. 16 months have gone past at such an incredible speed. My situation is different because, as a double degree student, my curriculum spans accros 2 full years and will end in June 2011. As a consequence, there’s a gap between my current mindset and the one of my classmates following the normal cursus. Indeed, even though I’m conscious that my studies are coming to an end, I’m not yet fully ready to face the professional world… Tags: Life on campus, Students I arrived in China last Saturday and I’m in Japan since today, on holiday, until the Tsinghua registration on August 25th. In the length of 5 days, I managed to open a bank account, visit 14 flats in the Wudaokou area and finally sign a lease for me to move in when I get back on August 24th. I also met about 15 of my new Tsinghua classmates, and then I couldn’t help but think of when we did the same thing with HEC admits, a year ago. What can I say about these 5 days… It felt like being ran over by a truck! But the internet connectivity in China is so damn slow! Tags: Travels I can’t believe it’s already been a month since my previous post. Before I go and start the second chapter of my MBA experience, I wanted to reflect back on what I have learned and what I’ll take away from it. 3 classes I enjoyed:
Tags: Academics, HEC events, Life on campus, Logistics, Students, TEC Tonight is my last night at Expansiel. So I’m packing all my belongings and getting ready to move back to Paris where I’ll stay for a month before going to China. I spent my last evening at the Piano Bar watching the football game between Uruguay and the Netherlands (Netherlands won 3 vs. 2). It was a great match but now I’m back in my room, packing my remaining belongings. My window is open and I can hear the youngsters from the Grande Ecole partying and laughing out loud, as usual. It feels a bit strange to say goodbye to a year I spent here, with all the good memories I accumulated. Bye bye HEC ~ Tags: Life on campus, Logistics |