I finally decided to change the look of my blog. It’s still work in progress, so please bear with me as I experiment with different themes and pictures. Oh, and please do let me know what you think about it – click on the “No comments” link to leave your comment. Equally, if you know of other INSEAD blogs I haven’t yet included in my blogroll (on the right), let me know as well.
Thank you!
In-croy-a-ble! So I board my plane to Germany, and the pilot announces that there is wireless internet on board. Even better, the service, called Connexion by Boeing, is free on Lufthansa until Dec 31!
So yes, I am currently on board LH779 while writing this entry. This is cool stuff. Geeky, but cool. Remember, geeks are the new cool (can’t argue with that, especially after the most recent acquisition frenzy in Silicon Valley).
The best part of inflight internet is chatting with friends on Skype – free inflight calls! (I know, I’m way too excited about this …)
On somewhat unrelated news, P4 came and left (the most abrupt ending of any period so far, mostly due to a lack of exams), and so I only have one more period to go. Kind of sad to know that we will all go our separate ways in a little more than two months.
BTW, a big thank you to Henry, a P1 who told me he appreciated this blog very much, especially while getting ready to start at INSEAD, and thus encouraged me to take the time to revive it.
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Posted in blog, English, Inflight Internet, INSEAD
So you thought this blog is dead right? Yes, I have been a bit quiet around over the past two months, but nothing to worry about. I’m currently enjoying Singapore, and now I’m back to blogging.
Spent the summer in Munich, working on two different projects. First, I interned with Yahoo! Germany, working on forecast models for their page view inventory and advertising revenue. Online advertising is an interesting business, and the market is growing like crazy right now. But despite having the highest number of unique users among all internet sites, Yahoo! is not able to monetize them – in case you missed the past few months of coverage on the subject, see articles on Yahoo’s own Finance site from July 19 and September 19.
In August, I helped a friend of mine to get a startup off the ground – novoCampus, a social network for university students in Germany. The site isn’t up yet, but the guys are working hard to get the first version out in the next few days (in German only). Exciting stuff.
While in Munich, I stayed with my cousin Stefan and his wife Iris in Solln, a beautiful suburb of Munich. They did ask me to put some photos of them online, but unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get them on camera over the summer – so I thought I’d include some pictures from the past. Iris and Stefan, do you remember when they were taken?
In the end of August I flew to Singapore, where I am spending the remaining two periods of my MBA studies. Life here is very different than at home, but I am slowly getting used to it. Outside it is constantly warm and humid, and inside they love their air conditioning systems like there is no tomorrow. But the food is great – most exotic items I’ve tried so far include original Bejing Duck (you eat the skin, not the meat) and life shrimp (that’s right, it’s still moving while you crack its head!). Very good, I must admit!
Below a few pictures from my flat at Heritage View, an apartment complex close to campus – never lived in an apartment with a swimming pool before, so I am enjoying myself :-)
Wow! Sending out just one email to my classmates yesterday generated a total of 425 page views in 24 hours, when on average I have about 80 page views per day, and so far my record had been 135.
Keep it coming, guys!
P3 is the busiest period here at INSEAD, and it promises to end with a big bang! This week, I have four papers due: IT on Monday, Macroeconomics on Wednesday, Investments on Thursday and Politics on Friday. And at the same time, the social calendar is completely full too: Tuesday is Cabaret, Wednesday is Section Dinner and Thursday is Montmelian Party.
Why I am still blogging then when I should be working, you ask? I guess I am addicted …
Wow! My last post to this blog was on April 15, almost a month ago. During that time, my blog received an avergae of 65 page views per day, and last Wednesday it peaked at 113, the highest number of views I can remember! To me, this indicates that I have a loyal group of readers out there who follow this blog regularly, and who I have let down during the past few weeks. Don’t worry, I haven’t given up on my blog (yet ;-). I will try to post more regularly in the weeks to come.
The past few weeks have been intense: April 17 to 21 was Greek/Roman Week here on campus, which was a big success. I helped out a bit as well (remember, I have Greek roots), and was very happy to see how much the organizing team put in, even though our exams were less than a week away.
The following week saw three exams, and another three the week after. As always, it is difficult to predict how well I did (more so since we get relative, not absolute grades here at INSEAD), but I will find out on Friday when we get our grades for P2 (sorry, I will not be allowed to talk about them on my blog due to INSEAD’s non-disclosure policy on grades). On the weekend in between, I had a nice break as a few of my friends from university visited Paris for Labor Day weekend, and I joined them for an excellent dinner at one of my friend’s home on Saturday night. Christian and Carine, if you ever open your own restaurant (and I do encourage you to!), I would love to be both an investor and your best customer :-)
Immediately after the last exam, I took off to Greece with a few fellow classmates for the break, visiting Athens and Spetses, a tiny island in the Saronic gulf. We also met up with some more Greek classmates, and even joined the participants of a sailing trip from the July promotion for cocktails with local Alumni in Athens. It was nice to see so many familiar faces on this trip.
Back in Fontainebleau, I have just completed my first week of classes of P3, the third of my five two-month periods here at INSEAD. Classes are already in full swing again, half of which are electives, so it promises to be an interesting period.
I will try to post pictures of all these events in the next few days. Stay tuned, and thank you for your continued readership!
PS: Congratulations to my fellow INSEAD blogger Olivier, whose blog made it to the Top Ten of ClearAdmit’s Best of Blogging Awards.
Comments Off on Loyal readership despite blog inactivity
Posted in blog, English, exams, Greece, INSEAD blogs, MBA, National Week, trip
BTW, the guys over at ClearAdmit nominated me for their Best of Blogging Award (thanks, guys :-) Congratulations to Death Spiral and Olivier, my two fellow INSEAD bloggers who got nominated as well!
If I understand the process correctly, all nominated bloggers are now asked to hand in their vote by April 21 to elect the winner. So, if you are one of them, dear reader, I would really appreciate your vote :-)
May the best blogger win!
Posted in blog, English, INSEAD blogs, MBA
Just found out that (among many others) my blog is featured in today’s post Fridays from the Frontline on Clear Admit’s blog. As far as I know, this is the first outside reference to my blog. Thanks guys, I appreciate the traffic, and yes, I know you are reading it (hope you like it, too :-)
PS: If you are looking for advice on the application process for MBA programs, check out their site. I was a regular visitor of their site during my application cycle, and the advice on their blog was quite helpful – especially on the essay questions of the different schools. And no, I am not getting paid for this endorsement (they don’t even know about it).
According to my blog statistics, I had 50 page views on this blog yesterday! :-)
This is the second-highest amount since I started in December – the highest was 73 on January 18 after I sent out an announcement to some of you. So thank you all for tuning in!
I order to further increase this number, please keep reading and spread the word about this blog. Moreover, if you have your own blog or another website up and running, please consider placing a link from your site to mine. The more links I get, the better. If your site is somehow connected to what I write, I will definitely return the favour – I have already placed some of the INSEAD blogs I frequently read myself on my blogroll list.
In return, I update the blog as often as I can – promise!
Auris@INSEAD 