Sylvia Barbu’s Blog Post #1: Week Ending May 27th, 2023

We have just arrived in Milan and the city is absolutely amazing! The streets are full of people living life and I’m mesmerized by the beauty all around. After just a few days, I’ve been able to get an understanding of the city and I’m learning to rely less and less on my google maps. My favorite part of exploring this week was the day we decided to walk to class instead of taking the tram. We pretty much stopped using any type of directions because we continued getting distracted by the beautiful monuments and narrow streets. Even though it took us an extra 30 minutes to get to class it was the best decision we could have made because we stumbled across a bakery that had the best focaccia bread. My friend Jimmy and I have become avid focaccia enthusiasts and we are planning on spending the rest of our trip finding the best focaccia in Italy.

This summer I’ll be working at Krein, a company that does digital advisory and CX for B2B industries. This was my first week at my internship and we jumped right into things. My partner, Ian, and I have been put on a project that Krein is just beginning. They are working with a new company that is developing and producing fast charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Krein has been hired by this company to build a website and create a marketing launch plan for this new product/service. My role this week is to get a good understanding of the clients wants and needs and gain some knowledge of the industry as a whole. Krein has already conducted some preliminary research about current competitors and begun creating mission and vision statements for this company. I will continue to conduct my own research and offer my insights on the current plan.  

This week in class, we had our first HW assignment which was to find a WSJ article and summarize and analyze it for the class. The article I chose discussed how JPMorgan is currently being targeted by Republican states over accusations of religious bias. Republicans fear that big corporations such as JPMorgan are growing too large and will soon control important environmental and social issues. At the end of the assignment we were asked to pose questions to the class and create a conversation about the topic. I asked the class “If you had your money held by JPMorgan and these allegations were proven to be true, would you move your money to a new bank”? I think this was a good question and article to get us thinking about our feelings towards corporations and their responsibility towards society which is the premise of our class. 

My first meal in Milan!

Day trip to Monterroso!

First night out with Neave, Sachi, and Lili!

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