- Marcella Rispo
IMD MBA Partner Coordinator
So we all get to know each other – I them, they me and each, the other. Yet it was soon evident that the partners 2009 were full of initiative, ideas, projects, and enthusiasm for the great unknown lurking before them. From early on they got busy organising partner evenings, playgroups, outings, cooking swaps, this blog, and surprisingly helped each other when in need, AND managed to keep it up throughout the year! That is truly impressive. I have seen 4 years of partners go through my hands and this year is definitely an A++ group!
Let’s not forget how difficult the first few months really were – settling-in in a new, (for some too cold) country, no family to count on, with often limited budgets, cramped in small at times uncomfortable flats, in a country that is not their own, nor is theirs to make, as after 11 months they will most likely be off to some new foreign destination. Some had left behind high powered jobs, lots of family support, huge networks of friends and colleagues, big houses, big budgets (!) for a year of (mostly) huge expense!
Yet despite that, they managed to raise kids, give birth to quite a few of them (!!), come out of bad spells, work and/or study, care for children while setting up their own business/finish their degrees, get involved in local projects, travel, learn French, get to know different cultures, deal with the stuff of routine, and..and..and..
Finally after 6 of the worst months at IMD, the students emerged from their dungeons to rejoin their partners for a well deserved break, as the blog entry below testifies and even though it seemed that December would never arrive it only arrived too quickly – suddenly it was the last partner evening, the last playgroup, the last birthday party, the last baby shower, the last time I would address them. And of course Graduation – the Ceremony in the morning, the Ball at night. Yet it was lovely – it was lovely to see them all together, formal in the morning, beautiful and elegant in the evening.
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