Friday Afternoon @ Café de Grancy

At the end of a busy week, before going into weekend mode with the activities that come with the two days of ‘rest', everyone likes to enjoy a drink with friends. A time to put up your feet, sigh in relief that the week went well, and make plans for a fun weekend ahead. That is why we partners started the Friday afternoon drinks! OK, admittedly, some of us aren't working (full-time), so we don't need to celebrate the end of a working week. And OK, our partners don't have the following day off so it's not even really a weekend. But we like to keep the fixed appointment anyway. Every Friday at four o'clock, everyone is welcome to come share a drink at the Café de Grancy. No reservations needed, no obligations felt, kids are welcome, and so are friends of friends. Sometimes we're eight, sometimes we're 18; whoever feels like coming is welcome. There's coffee, tea, hot chocolate, but also wine, beer and coke. It's the perfect way to hear each other's stories, to share thoughts and feelings, and to make short- (the same evening), medium- (the weekend) and/or long-term plans. •Bryony Janson (Holland)

The Great Outdoors

With a spirit of adventure, Lisa, Perrine and I have been exploring the Swiss countryside by taking some of the many well-marked raquet walks in the mountains. After a hard days hiking we intrepid explorers usually relax with a glass of vin chaud in a local hostelry or take advantage of some of the outdoor thermal baths in the region. • Alison Caldwell (UK)

Education

Some people have taken the opportunity to share each others' languages. Jennifer and Pauline spend time together twice a week. Pauline teaches Jennifer French and in exchange, learns Mandarin. Jennifer is very impressed with Pauline's ability to understand Chinese, which she started learning while living in Shanghai . Until now, Jennifer couldn't speak a word of French. Less than a month later she can write a small paragraph about herself.
It's a big step for both of them and they are very happy about it. Jennifer hopes that after a year of learning French, she will know how to find her way home if she gets lost!! • Jennifer Hsu (Taiwan)

Goal Setting Workshop
For most of the Partners, this year was meant to be “Life on Hold”: putting aside our everyday lives and jobs to live with our significant others in Lausanne . That's the biggest mistake we all were making. The Goal Setting workshop made us think differently and gave us a sense of purpose and direction for 2007. We realized that this is also a special year for us. We then began thinking about our long term and short term goals! The workshop was very helpful and I know for sure that most of us are already working towards our objectives. • Ashima Enjeti (India)

Kids Rule!!

Regardless their age, our kids are already involved in plenty of activities: IMD Kindergarten, schools, Vallée de la Jeunesse , Maison du Quartier d'Ouchy … In addition, there is the lake as well as beautiful parks and outdoor playground areas all over Lausanne !
We have had two birthday parties: Max and Adriana celebrated with friends.
Some of us have gone sledging to Chalet a Gobet and had real fun with the snow and ice. During the Hot Air Balloon's Festival, a group of mums and kids also made a day trip to Chateau- D'Oex .• Virginia Alemandi (Argentina)

Living in Lausanne

Settling down in Lausanne.... The Partners Experience

For those of us who decided to move to Lausanne , January was busy settling down. With the help and support of Marcella, Regula, and the IMD MBA Office, we did it all, or almost (the internet connection still resists our efforts ;-) We settled our bank accounts and eBanking access; found out the most reasonable -or most enjoyable- places to go shopping; enrolled the children at the kindergarten or school; sorted out the details of the health / house / fire insurance and Swiss Radio and TV tax; bought our “Demi-Tarif” CFF card for the train or got our “Macaron” permit for the car; and of course, started our discovery of Lausanne and its surroundings, as well as met with our fellow MBA Partners! What a start!!!• Isabelle Sakai-Hefetz (Israel)

Culture and Culture Shock Workshop
On January 8 th , Debra Freathy conducted a Culture shock workshop for all the partners. When we were first told about it, our initial reaction was a feeling of denial…What is this? We have all traveled and stayed in different countries and haven't faced anything like that...
But as the workshop progressed we realized how we were all struggling to settle in. The workshop helped us understand how it is often difficult to cope with change and transitions. There are some external factors like language, knowledge of the place and many others that we need to work on so that the process of settling in is smoother and faster. There are some internal factors like our mindsets and how we hang on to the past, and this makes the settling-in process more difficult.

This workshop gave us insights into the different stages of Culture shock and the means to minimize it. At the end of the workshop all the partners could really relate to the topic and came out with a feeling that now they were confident of coping better with CHANGE! •Ashima Enjeti (India)