Graduation day

Last Thursday, I officially graduated from INSEAD. It was a good, emotional day, despite the heat. It was happy and sad, tiring and energising, short and long - all at the same time.

It was good to see everyone on campus, even people who had spent the whole year in Singy. And it was even better to meet everyone's families. How cool is it that meeting someone's families can explain so much about that person's personality, traits, and even body language?

Mom, Dad, Gorda and Mico arrived later than most families, so the Viana Baptistas adopted me for one night. They took me out for dinner in a very good and quite charming Parisian restaurant called Basilic. Thanks VBs (and especially António VB) for that. Do you know the feeling of meeting with Portuguese friends or acquaintances from home when you live abroad? Some kind of connection/ relation/ family feeling? It's unexplainable and it feels great.

My family arrived around 1 am on the graduation day. We all met in our trendy hotel in Champs Elisées. Mico, Gorda and I shared a room. We woke up early on the following day, and had breakfast at the hotel. We had a busy day ahead.

It took us over one hour to arrive in Fontainebleau. I wanted to show my family around campus, pick my cap and gown from my locker, explore the INSEAD store, and take a few pictures at the INSEAD sign. We did it all.

Around 12 pm, we were at a restaurant in front of the Chateau de Fontainebleau, the venue for the graduation. As per Miguel Moura's idea, we gathered all the Portuguese Mafia and their respective families for lunch. There were 21 of us at the table. It was SO nice!

Around 2 pm, we were at the Chateau, together with almost 500 colleagues of us, taking the official graduation group picture. And around 3 pm, the ceremony started.

The ceremony was long but meaningful. The Dean of the MBA program even mentioned our wedding in his speech. He said that we were about to close a chapter, and to open a new one, as we will meet for reunions, birthdays and weddings. And he knew that our wedding is coming up VERY SOON. Our graduation speakers included the Dean of the MBA (Urs Peyer), the Dean of INSEAD (Illian Mihov), one of the founders of INSEAD (Claude Janssen), an alumnus that is now a successful business man (Michael A. Butt), the president of the Student Council (Martin Vera), one representative of the students (Murali Akella), and that's it. There were awards for best teachers, and my favorite professor of all times - Sujin Jang - was awarded, of course. There were almost 500 of us graduating at the chateau so the full ceremony took long. Each of us went to stage to collect our diplomas. The temperature was well above expected. However, regardless of all that, each of us enjoyed the ceremony in different ways. We left it with the feeling that we were about to finish the best year for our lives, regardless of it being (or not) the best year of our lives. So far, it has been the best year of and for my life.

Following a ceremony, there was a nice cocktail in the chateau. Then, most of our best friends and their families headed to the Portuguese Mafia Headquarters (aka our house) for a barbecue. It was a very nice way of saying goodbye to Fontainebleau,

Real life, I am very ready for you.