Scribbles

What a week!  Beginning this past Sunday, the campaigns for the national weeks election ran up till now.  I briefly mentioned the INSEAD tradition of national weeks before, but just a quick recap: students organize a series of events presenting their culture on campus for a whole week, ending with a 400+ person party.  The events usually include dinners, on campus meals, movies, and other cultural activities, all depending on how creative and able the organizers are feeling.

So this week, 10 groups competed for 9 slots to conduct their national week in Fontainebleau for P3 through P5.  The cultures that already shared with us in P1 and P2 will compete in the next round, for the fall.  This time around, we showcased Greece, Italy, Russia, Latin America, Africa, Israel, Arab Nations (22 of them), Iberia (Spain and Portugal), Britain and Ireland, and Dragon.

My team and I decided to name our campaign Dragon Week, to signify the unity of all of us from different places in the world – China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, USA, Thailand, Canada – that come from a Chinese heritage.  We aptly designated ourselves descendants of the Dragon to present to INSEAD the Chinese culture.

All week long, we worked on posters and emails, and then on Wednesday night, the student council held the mother of all amphi stormings.  Each group received 5 minutes of the spotlight to persuade people to vote for them.  With the flashy slideshows, music, outfits, and other gimmicks, the 2 hour event turned out quite the festive.  There was clapping, singing, laughing, and dancing.  The sense of unity it fostered dissolved the competitive pressure I felt all week.

Today, in the aftermath of the stormings, we held the International Bar Assembly in our favorite bar lounge, just to give a taste of what’s to come during the actual week.  Students loaded up on all the food and drinks as they hopped from one table to the other.  I’m certain a good portion of the them who dropped by between classes carried a good buzz back to the classroom.  In some ways, I enjoyed this event more than the usual national week setup, because all the different nationalities were present together.

Serving up the Chinese liquor

Yalla Balagan!  Early stage of setting up before the crowds

Some very serious visitors

The tradition of national weeks is definitely one of the best and unique traits of INSEAD, where celebrating diversity involves having fun in the process.  Should you ever visit, try to coincide your trip with one.  And now, I need to get some serious rest.