Mandii

On the 17^th of November 2023, I was in Switzerland, happy like a kid in the first snow of Grindelwald. 17^th of November this year, I am here in the heat of Singapore, counting down the last 11 days before I leave the country. 2024 has been a wild ride for me, and Singapore has been a very unexpected, but turned out to be a very amazing chapter!

I have been feeling grateful every day for all the experiences I have had thanks to INSEAD. And today, on the last Sunday I spend on INSEAD Singapore campus, sitting at a cubicle on the second floor, facing INSEAD’s koi pool, looking at the rain and listening to my favorite music, I am writing down here some thoughts about Singapore, before I move on to the next journey.  

Before coming to INSEAD, I never imagined that one day, I would be living in Singapore. The MIM of INSEAD requires us to study in both France and Singapore, and it was the initial reason why I came to the country. And 5 months ago, when the MIM ended, I was nervous and worried, did not know how I would live in Singapore until the end of the year, because I thought the city was pretty boring, and I did not really enjoy it during the 4 months I was at INSEAD (to be fair, I was always traveling during those 4 months and was never in Singapore to enjoy). And to make it worse, a lot of my close friends went back to Europe after graduation, making me miss Europe, even more.

But Singapore has been unexpectedly amazing. The small country where people have “principles” and “formulas” for almost everything: studying, working, doing business, and even having a relationship and getting married. The country is so small and safe that for the first time, I could enjoy going to the club past midnight and sitting on the street at 3AM, singing with my friends without caring about others. The country with a lot of free jazz and musical concerts, something I only knew when I started to actually “live” here. And most importantly, Singapore is where I’ve learned so much about myself, and I will be forever grateful that Singapore happened exactly this year, at exactly this stage of my life.

Only recently, on my last days in Singapore, that I realized how lucky I am to be living the dream of many Singaporeans: working in CBD (Central Business District). CBD is one of the nicest, most luxury and crowded areas in Singapore with globally prestigious companies. Everyday coming to office, my view would be Marina Bay Sands, the harbor, the sea, and the whole city. I have been taken care of so well since my first day joining L’Oréal. Besides INSEAD, for the first time, there was someone at work telling me it was not my mistake, even when I thought it was mine. For the first time, I observed people treating each other so nicely and softly in the working environment, even when they were under pressure and losing temper. I am surrounded by people who are so inspiring, who know what they are doing and do it with all their heart. There were also moments I cried and struggled because of culture differences, and because I put a lot of pressure on myself. But every time, my boss would be very understanding, and telling me “Don’t be too harsh on yourself, it is just your work, it is not your life. Taking care of yourself is more important”. To be honest, I feel so lucky that every day, I say to the universe that I am so thankful and grateful, and that I will try my best to become one of those inspiring people someday.

But as my boss said, work is just a part of life. Singapore is a very special and important chapter to me because I have seen my personal growth here, so so much. As we always said, INSEAD never truly ends. After INSEAD, I have been telling myself to grasp every opportunity I can to explore the world and learn from every person I meet. In fact, I have made amazing friends in Singapore! Most of them are French for some reason, haha. But maybe it is the sign from the universe that my next chapter will be back in Europe, and that we’ll be friends even after Singapore. Or maybe it is just because the French community in Singapore is so huge that you can literally find them in every corner of this small city :D. I don’t know. But I choose to believe that it is a sign, haha.

Singapore has been the chapter where I spent a lot of time with just myself, writing, reading, and finding who I really am when nobody is around. I let myself cry as much as I wanted, then laugh in the next second like nothing happened. With Anywheel, the public bicycle renting application, I have been riding more than 100kms over the past 1 month. I’ve been strolling around the city and stopped wherever I wanted. I had some random conversations with people on the street, then wished them a very good day. I went to the national library randomly in an afternoon, picked a book about astronomy that I always wanted to read, all to hear the announcement “Our library will be closed in 30 minutes for a private event”. In those moments, I literally just laughed alone, telling myself “Of course, sometimes my life is like a comedy, so I am not surprised”.

Singapore was also great because my MIMs were still around, so whenever I felt down and needed motivation, I just came back to my INSEAD community to recharge. I will miss a lot the night back in July, with Yaqi and Byron, we enjoyed so much the jazz concert at Esplanade outdoor theater. I will miss a lot the dinner we had at Boat Quay, where Anuj doubled his order by mistake, and ended up paying almost 100SGD. I will miss a lot the night we had drinks at Buona Vista before Sebastiao left Singy. I will miss the day we all celebrated Diwali on INSEAD campus, painting, singing and dancing together. And I will never forget the night of 23^rd November, we were all together at Oche Clarke Quay, celebrating Sam’s birthday and my farewell. It was so happy to see everyone there because we all know after December, we will not have all of us in Singapore anymore.

Reflecting on the past 5 months in Singapore, I am proud of myself for having enjoyed every single moment I had. It has not been the easiest 5 months. But it will definitely be the memorable 5 months that I will carry to the rest of my life. The 5 months I’ve been learning so much about myself, seeing different versions of myself, and loving every single version. Last night, after we bought some beers from Fairprice Clarke Quay and were standing in front of a random bar to listen to free music, Prakriti asked me “So, how do you feel on your last days in Singapore?”. I smiled and replied “You know what, these days, before I sleep, I always tell the universe: I am so so grateful for everything I have in my life. I haven’t known yet who will be my future partner (I know he will be great btw), but I know for sure that if I die tomorrow, I lived a very good life”.