This week at work, Le Yang and I completed the marketing and funding strategy proposal that we have been researching and drafting for the entire summer stay. We had plans to present the pitch to the president of the company, however she had to reschedule our meeting to this upcoming week as the kick off event for the Casa Albini project took up more time than she anticipated. Le and I got to attend this event where the winners of the contest were chosen. These winners were selected to live in Casa Albini to develop new sustainable houses. I look forward to presenting our work and hopefully implementing these strategies so that we can generate some tangible results. 

 

In class this week we had a very interesting debate on the Business Roundtable statements claiming that their goals were no longer to solely increase profits, but to generate value for their stakeholders. Our discussion centered around the question of whether or not this was simply empty rhetoric. It was a very interesting discussion and I enjoyed hearing about my classmates’ opinions. On Wednesday, we watched the film Civil Action which was about a personal injury lawyer who took on a case against two large firms for their environmental waste policies that ended up causing cancer in children. The film was both sad and eye opening. It really made me consider just how many similar cases there are in America today. 

 

This week I decided to spend my time exploring Milan completely. In the past weeks I have really only seen parts of the city near my apartment and where our classes are and I wanted to make sure that I explored the entire city. Two of my friends from Lehigh, who are not on the Lehigh in Milan program, decided to come visit me this weekend so I gave them a walking tour of the entire city. We explored the duomo, Sforzesco Castle, and the Arco della Pace. After 15 miles of walking, we decided to sit down to an absolutely amazing authentic Italian dinner. That night we went out to a couple restaurants and explored the city’s nightlife. While we were walking around, we came across a street performer singing with a large crowd circled around him all singing along. It was a really special moment that I will remember for the rest of my life.