Fontainebleau, 17 January 2004
Dear All,
Hope you have all arrived well in 2004.
I arrived in Fontainebleau on the 3rd after a 13 hour drive from Copenhagen. No bumps so far. School started on the 5th. The first two days of registration were fairly (almost too) relaxed, but then things really started picking up with a few introduction courses in general management and business ethics, a one day team building event in the forests of Fontainebleau, exemption exams, language exams, various welcome dinners and a great party Saturday night in one of the chateaus.
The real courses started Monday. The first period consists of five core course in
I have been exempted from Microeconomics, which makes it a little easier to overcome. But it must be pretty tough for the “poets” as they are called, the people without a quantitative background. So much work. It is not that the level is particularly advance, but the required learning curve is fairly steep.
Professors are great. They all belong to a completely different league than those which I have been used to in the past. But I guess that is also what you should expect when you pay so much Money in tuition. Campus facilities are also quit nice, again as should expect. And the restaurant is incredible with 5-6 different types of warm dishes, prepared by cooks in front of you, and very inexpensive for the MBA students. I guess it is because all the executives also eat there.
Talking about executives, this is just the most incredible place to network. Professors may be great, but it really matters so little compared to all the participants. It is just fantastic to meet and experience all the other students. Such a diverse group of people (300 students starting together with me in Fontainebleau in January) from all over the word with the most remarkable backgrounds. And in addition to that, we are also encouraged to contact the executives, which come to campus for an executive MBA or other executive education. I hadn’t thought about this opportunity before coming, but it is really quit extraordinary. They post a list each week with the names off all the people who are currently on campus so that you can see if there should be anybody from one of the companies in which you are interested.
Enough about school, I live in a house 10 km from campus just next to the Seine in a village called Samois sur Seine, together with Jerry, a 27 year old guy from France who has worked with HP in San Francisco, and Joe, a 30 year old guy from Boston, who is coming from a position with Accenture in Boston. Really great guys, and we are all getting along very well. I’ll send you pictures along with the next update.
Tonight there is an Austin power party, were people are supposed to dress up in psychedelic close form the 70’s. Should be fun. I think it also takes place in one of the chateaus. So many of these chateaus around here. Really fantastic surroundings in general. You completely forget you are so close to Paris. A little more sun would be nice though, it has been raining cats and dogs almost every since I arrived. On the other hand it is fairly warm around 7-9 degrees.
A very nice weekend to you all, I’ll write you more later.
Best greetings from Fontainebleau.
Jonas
PS: As some of you may know I was so fortunate to be awarded with a scholarship from Børsen. They ran an article on it last Friday. For those of you who are interested, a copy of the article is attached.
PPS: I'm not able to send or receive SMS/MMS on my mobile yet, should be working in a weeks or so.