My last moments in Singapore

I am currently in Tokyo, nostalgically writing about my last few days in Singapore.

On Sunday the 19th of February, I finally picked up my two custom made suits. One is black, and the other is grey with stripes. They fit very well… In the afternoon, I worked on different projects, as the end of P3 was truly madness.

What a better way to relax than by playing golf on a world-class course? On Monday morning, Didier and I took the ferry over to Bintan, Indonesia, to visit the Ria Bintan Golf and Country Club. The 27-hole course offers great deals on weekdays! For less than CAN$100, you get the ferry both ways, pick-up at the terminal, cart and all-you-can-golf on a course nominated as top-100 in the world! www.riabintan.com/

After hitting a bucket of balls at the driving range and visiting a grandiose changing room, we set off for the first 9 on the Ocean Course, it was an absolute disaster. Perhaps the sheer beauty of the course distracted me from my game, but I shot the worst 9 in the last 2 years. A shameful 58!!!! In my defence, the course was extremely challenging. There are three ocean holes, including the 8th hole, voted best par-5 in Asia! The 9th is the signature hole, a long par-3 where you have to hit the ball over the ocean to reach a small green.

After a quick snack, the second nine went my better, where I shot a 48. After another short pause, we headed for the 3rd nine, dubbed the Forest Course. I did a decent job here also and got 47. We had a few more minutes of sunlight, so we decided to replay the ocean holes. We therefore played 30 holes in total. After a quick beer, we headed for the ferry terminal and went home. What a great day!

The rest of the week was spent at school until midnight or later almost every night, finishing up the thousand papers due by the end of the period. On Thursday night, I had a recruiting dinner for a leading consultancy, and a few of us (including a recruiter) went out to Ministry of Sound until 5am! Ministry of Sound just opened in Singapore. It is a super club with 6 rooms, water curtains, beds, strange projections and everything in between. It’s definitely a new INSEAD favourite. I’m not sure how much MoS helped my candidacy for a job, however… On Friday night, we had the second edition of Sing&Pour at Chijmes. Three INSEAD amateur bands put together a great show, and everyone had lots of fun. I was reasonable so I could hit the books hard on Saturday and Sunday, as well as putting the finishing touches on my projects. On Monday, I only had one class, and spent the better part of the day studying for my only exam in P3: International Political Analysis. I spent way too much time on the long, extremely complicated and (some of them) boring readings, and too little on the Prof’s slides. Leo came over in the evening so we could review together, and totally redirected my focus towards the slides. I went to bed around 2am and got back up at 6:30am for final revision. The exam went extremely well, and I believe that the mix of lecture/slides will pay off. 98% of other students had a macroeconomics exam in the afternoon, but as I had exempted it earlier this year, I was hoping to start my vacation. What was originally supposed to be a rapid revision of our Mergers & Acquisitions paper with Ben (who is also exempted) turned out to be a 3-hour shake-down which I hope considerably improved the paper. I then hurried to Takashimaya Center to score a Japan Train pass, which gives me access to all trains in Japan for the modest sum of CAN$300 for a week… It set the tone to what will likely be a very costly trip in Japan. I came back to school just in time for the Champagne party and everyone released the stress built up by P3, which is the period I consider was most stressful and demanding. After a quick change of clothes because of an accidental Cliquot shower, I headed to Lao Passat food court for a last intimate dinner amongst friends. There were at least 50 INSEAD students, and we enjoyed satays, stingray, pepper crab and other local specialties, as well as innumerable jogs of Tiger. While most people continued on to Indochine and Party World Karaoke, I had to go back home to pack. I arrived around 11:30pm, and did not finish packing before 3am. Because of the new suits and other stuff I accumulated over the past 6 months, I had to leave many things behind, including my rollerblades, 98% of my documents, most Africa-related survival gear, a bottle of rum etc etc etc. I got up at 5am to go to Changi airport. The flight was scheduled for 8:45 but I wanted plenty of time to argue with the check-in counter regarding massive overweight luggage, and reorganize and discard stuff if need be. The lady at the counter was very kind, and did not even mention my 80kgs (180lbs) of luggage! After a nutritious breakfast at McDonalds, I kiss Singapore goodbye with much regret. Fortunately, I still have many exciting adventures ahead of me, which made leaving a little easier. Merci Singapore! I am currently in Tokyo, and had quite an adventure finding the meeting place for the person I am living with. Many interesting details to come soon!