Rest of Orientation Week/ SPLASH

Quick update on the rest of orientation week. The week continued with a lot of team building/ reflection type activities. Everyone had to decide whether they were a hunter (knows exactly what job they want), or an explorer (career switchers). On day 3, I was finally introduced to my study group with whom I will be doing all group projects for the next 4 months. So it will probably be a love-hate relationship if my past study groups are any indication. Anyway, I was excited to meet them and I think it's a good group. Here they are below:

Our first task was to create an anti-drug or anti-drunk driving poster in 2 hours to be used at INSEAD. It was a great first task as we essentially had 6 strangers in a room trying to decide on a poster design. I ended up being the most creative/artistic one in the group and was brainstorming and drawing pictures on the board. At one point Sajeed said, "Taylor, do you mind if I ask what your background is?" When I said I was an accountant, everyone laughed. Here's our final poster. As background, you have 200 points to bid across which INSEAD campuses you will spend your time- Paris, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi.

Anyway, we didn't win but it was a fun exercise. I am the youngest on the team with the age range being 27-33. Also, interestingly 3 others in the group have experience in energy. 

During orientation we also divided into our 4 section groups. So the 332 students are divided into 4 groups of about 83, and it is with those students that you will have all classes during the first 4 months. Each student has a laminated card with their name and nationality that is required to be displayed during class, which is quite interesting as you can look around the classroom and see students from many different nationalities. Our first case was on a Belgian airline and sure enough we had a Belgian student who talked about the problems the airline had and the context within Belgium. 

The second week of orientation the INSEAD sections took turns volunteering at a school on 4 consecutive days to construct an improved playground. Given that we had 332 students volunteering each for 8 hours we had about 2,400 hours of manpower, which is the same as one person working full-time for a year. Unfortunately, the vast majority of students were not very productive on a construction site and I was surprised by how many had NEVER used a drill before! I was considered an expert and I am by no means an expert in construction. We ended up building an ok looking structure, although in my eyes it wasn't really age appropriate as the kids at the school were between 9 and 13 and the structure we built was more like for kids from 3 to 9. Anyway, here's a pretty good (but long) video of the process each day. My team was the last day in orange, although I'm not in any shots. 

We are still all getting to know each other so conversations are still at the "Hey what's your name? Where are you from?" stage, but slowly I am getting to know my section of 83 a little better. I'm also hopeful to meet more students as the soccer club starts up. First week of classes coming soon.