On Monday during class we debated whether or not the 2019 BRT Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation, which has over 100 signatures, is empty rhetoric or not. This was a polarizing debate and I took the stance that it is not just empty rhetoric. One of my class members argued that it is empty rhetoric because the goals are so broad and are not quantifiable. I opposed this viewpoint because I feel as though it is a good thing for the statement to be vague. This allows more companies to join and work towards a better corporation. If the statement stated that each corporation that signs is required to be carbon neutral by the year 2030, I doubt very many companies would sign. During Wednesday’s class we watched the film A Civil Action with John Travolta. This was a very interesting film that depicted the struggle of a lawyer: take on a case that may lose money or pass over a case where innocent children died. Ultimately the lawyer let his emotions get the best of him and he took on the case and eventually lost everything he owned.

 

This week at my internship was relatively slow but it was interesting nonetheless. I worked on a number of market research projects for the company while also helping to recruit for one of our clients.  On Wednesday my boss generously invited me and my colleagues to his house again for lunch. This week he made lasagna and it was very good. He taught us how to make lasagna and told us about how his mother used to make the dish when he was younger. Lunches like this are very important in the Italian work culture. These lunches allow us to learn more about each other and our cultures. The focus of these lunches is non work related conversations, but at times work does come up in conversation.  

 

This past weekend I visited two tourist staples of Italy: The Alps and Venice. My trip to The Alps was stunning and lots of fun. When we got there we immediately went to an adventure park course where we ziplined and tightrope walked across wires (all while properly secured of course.)  This course offered breathtaking views of the mountains and of the beautiful landscape. After this we hiked about 40 minutes to Lake Arpy which was magnificent. Some of my friends decided to test the water, but I was nice and warm sitting on a rock so I decided not to join. The next day I went to Venice with a few friends and it was great. The canals were beautiful and so was St. Mark’s Basilica. I enjoyed wandering the city and definitely got my steps in for the day. One thing that I thought was super interesting was the number of Lion statues around Venice. This related to my previous trip to Verona where my tour guide told me that the Lion was a symbol of the Republic of Venice. Venice conquered Verona and therefore put hundreds of Lion statues throughout the streets on Verona. 

One of Venice’s many beautiful canals

The breathtaking Lake Arpy

Me with my ziplining buddy Mason