2nd tuition payment

Done! I am officially EUR31,000 broker than I was yesterday. I guess I can officially call myself an INSEADer. To all my fellow Americans and friends to the north of the border, I've found that the best way to send the funds is via xe.com. I got a much better rate than from HSBC, Wells or Chase.

What to pack for France- part A clothing

-sweaters
-long sleeve shirts
-jeans
-warm socks
-pajamas
-underwear
-work out clothing
-suit
-over the knee boots
-ankle high boots
-stilettos
-jogging shoes
-COSTUMES!! for themed INSEAD parties (does anyone know what are some of the common themes of INSEAD parties? I've heard that there is stoplight party or an all-white party, but what else?)


What else am I forgetting?

Tuition

The 2nd installment of tuition, EUR31,000, is due on Nov. 26. That is a LOT of money. I'm literally cashing out all of my life savings. Like any rationale consumer, I've been calling local banks to find out their exchange rates so that I can decide which bank offers the most competitive rate. To be honest, most of their rates are fairly similar. But one of them, Chase, stands out to me because it offers the most flexibility. You can add a recipient of wire transfer on chase.com. This then allows you to request an online wire transfer from the comfort of your home. HSBC has offered probably the most competitive quote. However, their process is more archaic. If you have not banked with them for more than 3 months, then you must request the wire transfer via fax. And also, HSBC will not provide you with an e-mail confirmation. Instead, you can go to your local branch to get a confirmation in person. Seriously...who does that? HSBC has lost major points in my book.

Interesting...

Oh, I forgot to mention another interesting fact- per mbaconnect.com, INSEAD's internal web forum for current and future students (10D, 11J, 11D, 12J), there are 520 students that have been accepted. It seems like a really high number of accepted students. More over, there are about 295 of them who will begin at Fonty leaving the rest to begin at Spore. This is fascinating because traditionally, Fonty has about 300 students while Spore has about 200. I wonder how this will impact people who are on the waiting list....

One way ticket to CDG

I finally did it! I bought my one way ticket to CDG. I've been putting this task off because I had a hard time figuring out whether it was worth it to buy a round trip ticket to CDG. I know it is much cheaper to buy round trip international tickets than to buy a one way ticket. But in the end, I found a good deal - $650 flying on continental so I hit the purchase button and I will be in Paris on 1/03/11. :0)

ps If you were like me trying to use BA miles to get a one way ticket, forget it! I have no idea why it is so hard to redeem award travel on ba. In addition to the miles that you have to use, you always need to pay a huge out of pocket cost of tax and other fees...I wonder if it's b/c flights tend to get routed through London?