Scribbles

At school the other day, I was chatting with a recent INSEAD graduate who spent his whole time in Singapore.  He made the interesting comment that the students here typically fall under three categories when it comes to social activities: the travelers, the partiers, and the divers.  I thought about it and he makes a good argument.  Let me elaborate.

Singapore's location makes it perfect for traveling all over South East Asia, countries like Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam, and so on.  Many of the Fonty exchangers only come for one period, and as a result, get greedy with their travels.  They are gone every single weekend and I haven't seen them for most of the time.  It amazes me how they accomplish this given the incredibly heavy workload during P3.  I, for example, have not traveled to a single place since arriving.  Although I would attribute it partially to getting the flu twice.  Good thing I made that trip to Thailand and Cambodia before arriving.

For the folks who love going out to town, living a city helps a lot.  The partiers find it very easy to stay out and dance the night away at the numerous clubs and bars.  Everything is only a 5-10 minute cab ride away – convenient to say the least.  In contrast to Fonty, this ease of transporation alleviates the worries of drinking and driving.  And every so often, you see somebody stumble into an 8:30 lecture, straight from a wild night out.

Finally, there are the scuba lovers.  The geographic advantage comes into play again, as the fabulous dive sites around the region offer pleasant weather for most of the year round.  And since the certifications and trips cost so relatively cheap, it's simple for beginners to discover the attraction of diving.  A significant number of students who sign up for the first certification course find themselves pursuing the activity rather frequently.  What's not to love about traveling and making new friends while exploring the aquatic life in some of the clearest oceans in the world?

Obviously you will find the majority of INSEADers in two or more of the described buckets.  For example, groups of us would travel to private islands nearby and party there for a weekend.  And as mentioned, traveling and diving go together hand in hand.  However, I would discourage the combination of diving and partying, since alcohol is prone to cause decompression sickness (the bends.) 

I can't fathom why some people call Singapore boring.