This week was our first full week in Milan, and it was full of good food and travel. In class we discussed recent corporate political issues, including the “Skittles ban” dubbed for the United States government threatening to ban an ingredient found in skittles that can possibly cause cancer. We also discussed the threats of a TikTok ban in Montana, and how that would look logistically and practically if it was actually implemented—questions such as, ‘what would happen to your phone if you have TikTok downloaded and you enter Montana?’ This also sparked discussions surrounding free speech and protection of privacy, all of which are hot button issues currently in the United States.

 

I had quite a busy week for my internship this week. Monday was my first day in the office, and during the afternoon we had a meeting with our project team regarding what Sylvia and I needed to accomplish. We were tasked with doing market research to find 40 potential stakeholders across Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy for the company that my internship company, Krein, is doing consulting for. It was very challenging and very time consuming, but it was a great experience to do market research for different companies across different countries, since countries even in Europe vary in their economies and market sizes. We finished up this first project midday Thursday, and I’m excited for what we will have to do next!

 

Lots of traveling has been done so far this week. Friday was a national holiday for Italy, so we didn’t have to work and therefore went on a day trip to Verona. Verona was one of, if not the, best places I’ve visited so far during my trip. After arriving super early to the train station, I had a super relaxing day of travel. Upon my timely arrival, we toured a winery and got to taste their different types of wine. Unfortunately, I know nothing about wine but at least I pretended like I did when I was there. After that, we toured the city of Verona, and it was super crowded because of the national holiday, but nevertheless it was a super charming city and was very walkable. I definitely want to go back to Verona to explore it sometime in the future! Today, some of us traveled to Lugano, Switzerland, and hung out by the water and went shopping. It was a great day, but a long one, as we just got back before midnight! It was my first time in Switzerland and I can’t wait to explore more countries.