Summer Ball

About a month left to go before Insead will be over and I kind of like it here in Fontainebleau. We're about 4 hours away from family and friends and we plan on going back about every two weeks, so that we don't have to miss any 'big events' in Belgium. I'm working for Insead Career Services on a temporary project so that keeps me busy during the week, Wim has less classes and since the offers are rolling in it won't be long before we decide what we're going to do after Insead ... so things are looking good :-)

This weekend we had the Summer Ball at the Château of Fontainebleau, one of our friends came all the way from Belgium for this not-to-miss party.

There was this big see-through tent and there were a few rooms inside the Château. There was Champagne as much as you wanted, apetizers, a room with a live band, a lounge/jazz area and shortly after midnight there were fireworks and music above the lake.

Et l'histoire continue...

We've been back in Europe since one week now. After a few days in Belgium where we spent our time with friends, family and Wim's potential future employers, we drove back to Fontainebleau. Jet Lag is starting to get less but this is being fully replaced by another feeling that can be associated with a country where the wine doesn't cost 10€ per bottle: the mild hangover :-)

Our cute little studio in the centre is about the same size as our bedroom in Singapore but the fact that we don't have to share with other students totally makes up for that :-)

Waking up and opening the window, seeing a blue sky and the white houses across the street, hearing people speak French and seeing old ladies carrying baguettes (ok this last one is maybe a bit exaggerated ;-) ) ... this feels more like a holiday than Singapore ever did ... it's weird to explain. Maybe it's because this is a new experience again, or maybe it's because I'm seeing friends again, maybe it's because I'm close to home and get to go back every two weeks, maybe it's because it's the last period and knowing that this is going to be over soon ... but I feel more relaxed about the situation now. Let's hope this feeling is not just a side effect from the wine last night and that I'll still feel like this in a few days time ;-)


Wim's schedule is great too ... he almost has no classes so at least we'll have the work-free-weekends again ;-)

On Sunday we just hopped in the car and drove to this medieval town in Provins and just enjoyed how beautiful it is here. After a while of travelling in Asia you get used to nice beaches and temples and palm trees I guess and you get exited again if here you see an abandoned church and graveyard or even just a field with yellow flowers :-)

Off course I'm totally making this sound like a holiday but I am actually still hoping to get a job here because I had more free time during the last 4 months than anyone can handle. Hopefully this week I'll know more, fingers crossed.

Krabi & Friends

Our trip to Krabi was exactly as expected: a relaxing vacation with beautiful beaches and sunsets, delicious food and a fancy hotel ... just what we needed at the end of these 4 months.

The only ones trying to sabotage this tranquil holiday were the mosquito's that must have attacked me unnoticed from behind because the second day when I woke up I noticed that my back was covered in about 37 mosquito bites one even bigger then the other ... but even this awful itching couldn't ruin my mood :-)


After these 4 days of basically doing nothing but read, swim and sunbathe we returned to Singapore where again we had something to look forward to: the arrival of our Belgian friends.


We showed them around Singapore and completed the few things we also still had to visit before returning to Belgium (Wim finally managed to make it to Chinatown ;-) ).


After two days that went by too fast, they left to complete the rest of their trip.


We on the other hand spent that day scanning all Wim's courses on campus (about 1m of papers) ... which took us about 3 hours, and then we started packing all our things. It's going to be a close call to see if we're going to be able to take everything back home. Our housing agent gave us a hard time about staying 1 extra night, so we have to move everything from our place to another apartment in this condo and then tomorrow May 3rd at 22h55 we're coming back. We'll spend a few days at home with friends an family and possible future employers in Wim's case ... and then we're off to Fontainebleau again. I'll keep you updated.

Pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/wimdebruyne/KrabiThailandApril2008?authkey=uG4PGggO44A