Today is Friday and we have just another week of lessons before exams begin! The library gets pretty packed during the day.
My group has been working very fast as usual and scored top marks for our first Finance assignment. We have been quite enthusiastic in volunteering to present our work, and today a few of us - including myself - received feedback from numerous people that we should take it easy and give others a chance. I’d be happy to :P
We were all playing the Prices and Markets online trading game (aka our first taste of Game Theory) for the past couple of weeks. The point is to make as much profit as possible. We do not know who the other teams are - they are from the Fontainebleau campus and Wharton - and cannot collude with them, just like in real life when duopolies are forbidden to price fix together. We did OK as our competitors understood we could both benefit by choosing a certain price. The last team tried to screw us but also screwed themselves in the process.
However, overall the atmosphere in class is still lighthearted and we are becoming more mischievous with our professors.
Today was our very last Statistics (aka Uncertainty, Data and Judgement) class and since we all like Professor Lobo - particularly the girls! - we decided to spring a little surprise for him during our multiple regression presentation.
As he could pick any of our groups to make the presentation, we all inserted a couple of slides at the end our Powerpoint files, thanking him but adding there was one question he has yet to answer: “So how can I be sure that I am satisfied with the sex….?” It was accompanied with a photo of the poor classmate who uttered that unfortunate phrase - he was quite a good sport about this! (Read my previous post if you don’t understand what’s going on)
Lobo said he would definitely remember our class and relate this story to future students. We gave him a standing ovation.
Later on, we had Financial Accounting with Prof Segal, who requests all latecomers to leave the classroom (unless they have a very good reason, like being caught in the rain). Anyway, this time HE arrived late, so we immediately waved our ‘Champagne Fines’ cards at him. It was quite funny. He asked if he had to pay just $10 (our standard fine) and we shouted no, he should pay $700! (the number of students in the class)
We asked him questions about the current crisis so the lesson was more interesting than usual. We actually applauded at the end of his class, too.
Finally, we had an interesting session with Prof Hawawini, who is a Finance legend, author of our Finance textbook and former Dean of INSEAD. As we waited for the projector to be fixed, we asked him about his thoughts on the crisis. Another of my groupmates wanted to know whether this was the worst crisis in Hawawini’s living memory, and began by saying, “You’ve been around a long time…”
The class immediately started waiving the Champagne Fine card at him because it sounded like B was implying that Hawawini was old! You can get fined for being late, having your phone ring in class, or by asking smart alec questions. Later on we learnt from our social reps that thanks to the amount of fines collected, we are going to have a great post-exam party!
But back to serious stuff … I don’t have anything much planned except to catch up as much as I can with my brilliant classmates and groupmates. Actually I think a lot has to do with time management. If I sleep earlier, and get more sleep, I will be more alert. Then I will wake up earlier. I could do my work in half the time, if I wasn’t easily distracted. There are however some concepts I need to grasp well. I know what I don’t know and will be going for some tutorials and review sessions.
Interestingly, I heard from groupmates that our seniors think we are working too hard and that the library has never been so crowded before. As much as I’d like to think we’re a bunch of nerds who could cut ourselves some slack, times are also difficult, and people are trying to get good grades so they can get good jobs. Dean’s Listers get picked by top companies. Also, our seniors are in P4 and are now doing subjects they’ve elected to do, winding down as they hand over the club responsibilities to us, and their main focus now is job interviews. So we think our seniors may have forgotten the madness that is P1.
A few people have asked what are my plans for the break. Well, it’s a short break and I don’t intend to spend money on an overseas trip. Firstly, I am definitely going for the post-exam party! I will also be going for French classes again to prepare for my DELF A2 test. I and an Italian classmate will also be playing tennis together. Maybe then I’ll also have time to repair my Mac and restore my home studio activities. I also intend to go for the INSEAD Ball, and I will be preparing for my new term as President of the High Tech Club.
But for now, it’s time to hit the books!! Tomorrow the family is throwing a party so I will not have much time left over the weekend after that. I have started to think that it is actually a disadvantage being Singaporean, living with family, and going to the Singapore campus. But that will be for another post.
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