It was weird going to this familiar campus and seeing all these people and their partners and parents. Even though you saw all these frowned faces of students feeling melancholic that the year had come to an end you could also see the faces of the proud parents, the sad faces of the partners who would miss the nanny's, lunches and kids picnics and then there were the faces like mine ... relieved that the moment to leave the bubble and return to 'real life' had arrived :-) (and also proud of my partner of course ;-) !!!)
But of course the happy moment of returning to reality was delayed slightly by a three-hour ceremony where we had to listen to speeches that claimed all MBA's were special, they would make it in life, they were the future ... probably pretty painful to listen to for the 1/4th of the students that didn't find a job yet ... then a speaker came to explain us about ... well euhm I remember it was something about Finance ... the rest of the speech I was in a near comatose condition caused by his boring voice and overly articulate English accent. All this was wrapped up with the calling of about 400 names ... of each student who graduated and they also needed to be photographed with the Dean. But thèn ... after thinking you would either get a lumbago from sitting on the chair too long or melting away on it ... it was all over and done with and time for cocktails :-)
Good to see everyone again ... the smalltalk truly didn't take any effort at all :-)
Afterwards we went to diner with Wim's parents to Barbizon ... nice restaurant ... all full of students and parents who also did not want to eat in a restaurant without a Michelin star ;-)
The food was nice but not as nice as the bill afterwards would make you think.After this there was the ultimate, final, last ever party ... we enjoyed the free flow of Champagne and drinks and had a great time.
We woke up as you should after having a great time at a party like this ... still tired from the few hours of sleep and with a mild hangover.
It was only in the afternoon that it hit me ... in the past 6 months that I have been on this stretched holiday I have met some great people. Ellie left us too soon ... we still miss her every time we're out ... and now the other people will also soon return to their parts of the world. Time will tell but I hope to see each of these wonderful people again many times in the future ... I hope we'll always keep contact and I hope the Insead-partner-experience-bond will always be there. All the times I've cursed about not having a job, not feeling of importance and many other things I nagged about all seem worth it if I think of all the wonderful ladies I have met during this year :-) sounds corny but I mean it 100%
