This week we arrived in Milan and immediately jumped into meetings and classes, helping us better understand the city we will spend the next six weeks. In our first class on Corporate Social Responsibility, we finished up learning about Adam Smith and his revolutionary impact on Free Markets as well as his impact on the economies of governments around the world. As I am not a business student, I had little knowledge of Adam Smith, only an introductory basis from an econ class, and thoroughly enjoyed learning more about his theories. I was able to relate these topics to current news as we briefly discussed the debt crises occurring and how Adam Smith would have reacted based on his ideologies.
My internship in Milan is with a company named Metabolism of Cities which works closely with a lab at San Diego State University. My project includes looking over data from Italy during the Covid-19 pandemic and helping brainstorm ways to align the resources provided during this time with the Sustainability Development Goals of the United Nations. They also want me to look into the impacts of microplastics in the ocean and determine if there is a correlation between polluted water and the presence of these microplastics in local children. Since my company works with individuals in San Diego, they do not have an office in Milan. Due to this, I will be working remotely and meeting with them in the IES abroad office once a week. My internship will officially start on Monday.
After arriving in Milan only a few days ago, I have not had much time to explore the city, but as a whole group, we have gone out to dinner in the Canal district, which is very close to where we are staying. I have also opted to walk to our classes this week to see the city we are living in. I also have had the opportunity to see the Duomo, which is absolutely beautiful. We are traveling to Lake Maggiore tomorrow with IES, and then some of us are traveling to Cinque Terre on Sunday for a nice day trip to the beach. I look forward to seeing different regions of Italy and cannot wait to continue journeying around Milan.
