We had our corporate social responsibility course once this week (Wednesday). During class, we watched the second video about Adam Smith entitled “Ideas That Changed the World”. The video discussed Smith’s impact on China, how ethical businesses showcase the morality Smith said was critical, and it used eBay to demonstrate that markets can thrive through the use of the participants themselves. We then talked about the video and what people found interesting in it. What I particularly found interesting and could relate to was when they were talking about the company eBay because I have an eBay store and the platform is a great example of a free market where individual buyers and sellers can make transactions from anywhere in the world. We were not able to get through all of the material planned for the class, but we will be finishing it next week. Overall, I enjoyed the first class and I am looking forward to next week’s classes.
This week I did not start my internship at South Garage until Friday, however, I was still able to learn a lot about the company on the first day. Upon arrival, Sachi and I introduced ourselves to Federico and 2 other IES interns. We then took a tour of South Garage and I thought it was a beautiful space. Federico showed us to our office upstairs and we sat and talked about the goals and expectations that South Garage has for us. We have a collaborative presentation due on Tuesday in which we will analyze their overall market, identify relevant trends, analyze their competition, and identify their customer segments. It was a great first day overall, I am very excited to be working with them this summer and I am looking forward to the following weeks!
This first week in Milan has also been full of social and cultural immersion. The first night at the welcome event there was the Branca Tower that we were able to go up in groups and see the whole city from a birds-eye view. The view was amazing, especially right at sunset! We also got to see the Duomo from the outside and it is beautiful, the detail on it is amazing. I would love to get tickets for a tour of it some point while I am here. The second night we were able to eat dinner in the canal district and hang out around there. There are lots of people that come out at night there and the energy was great. For most of the week, I stayed in Milan and although it feels like I did lots here, I realize that I’m just scratching the surface of what there is to do. Throughout the week, I ate at many different restaurants like Wang Jiao, Alice, Miscusi, Ramen Station, Caputo, Ai Balestari sul Naviglio Pavese, and more! I have enjoyed all of the food that I have been able to eat so far. On the last day of the week (Saturday), we took a day trip to Lake Maggiore which was certainly the highlight of my week! We got to go to 3 of the islands in the lake and see the gardens, the structures, and get a taste of the food. The views at the lake were amazing and got me to think about how blessed I am to be here in Italy.
