The first two days of the internship consisted of mostly introduction and explanation of the business. They described the nature of their business and how each cycle of their program works. The year begins in February/ March with cycles one to three where they research and pick start-up companies to join their program. The program then begins around October and ends around February where the start-up companies are able to receive consulting and funding from investors to help progress their business. I was able to listen to practice calls and I have already been able to apply what I have learned in my major classes at school to my internship: topics such as convertible equity and investing. On the second day of the internship, I was tasked to research United States investors on LinkedIn that could be potential investors in their start-up company program and write a template message that I will send to them next week.

 

Toward the end of class when we went over the survey results from our raw thoughts of free markets and government regulation, I found the results very interesting. Building on the second question to answer why as consumers we do not necessarily fully trust corporations, I think this is primarily due to the self-interest of individuals. The only way companies can live and flourish is through the operation of people and employees. Therefore, due to the selfishness of everyone’s own success, this is why consumers need to be careful in the companies that they trust or do not trust. For example, when I come across a new business that I want to purchase from, I am usually skeptical at first, and unless I find any information or reviews convincing me otherwise, I trust the companies until they give me a reason not to. Furthermore, another reason that I do not blindly fully trust every company is due to the constant teachings of proper business ethics in a company. In almost every business class at Lehigh so far, the topic of ethics has been discussed. Even more so, in an entire course I took about fraud and errors that are inevitable in every business. It is important to understand that consumers do not get a full picture of all operations in a company and there is a lot happening behind the scenes that we must be tentative of. Finally, another reason that I think many consumers do not put full trust in companies is due to differences in morals. Depending on the importance of different issues to each consumer, that may not align with every company, and it is important for consumers to do their research of companies that they plan to buy from prior to purchasing.

 

While having been in Milan for less than a week, I feel like I have learned and seen a lot already. Before coming to Milan, I had expectations that it was going to be more of a built-up city and not have as much of a historic feel like other smaller European/Italian cities. The only photos I had ever seen of Milan prior to coming here were of the duomo, and I had expectations that that was the only major historic part of the city. Fortunately, I was pleasantly mistaken. Having chances to walk or use public transportation around the city and see all of the old architecture on the buildings is beautiful. Especially all of the small balconies and greenery all over the apartment buildings that have so much character. I also have already eaten pizza and gelato about two to four times so far and all have been amazing. Finally, one of the highlights so far was when we all went to a restaurant by the canals for Caroline’s birthday.