With two weeks left in Gupta’s class, we have continued working on our debate skills regarding corporate social responsibilities. We focused on an Apple case study where Apple was criticized for poor working conditions at their supplier’s facilities in Taiwan. The question the class debated was whether it would be reasonable for Apple to implement U.S. ethical labor standards in a foreign country. For the side defending Apple’s responsibility to ensure facilities follow the same work protocols, they argued that Apple’s supply chain reflects Apple’s morals. If Apple chooses to ignore the unfair work environments, it will show that Apple does not care for their workers and chooses to engage in unethical partnerships. On the other hand, the opposing group argued that it was not in the hands of Apple to confront the government in Taiwan. They stated that Apple does not have the authority to force their suppliers to comply with foreign standards. In my reflection, I saw both sides of the argument, but I believe Apple has some responsibility in making sure the workers have safe working conditions. Additionally, Apple stated that they hold their suppliers to a certain standard for labor, yet they have not enforced it in this case. Overall, I have been enjoying the discussions taking place in and out of the classroom!

In my internship this week, my team was assigned a project that included a survey translated into over 20 languages. Our task was to take notes on any formatting issues or grammatical errors in the online survey. Our boss sent over a folder of all the translations needed for the survey and we then selected our countries. The countries I was assigned to were Argentina, Spain, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and several English-speaking countries. My group used a shared document to send our recommended changes for each survey to our boss. The task took us all the week, but I really enjoyed working cohesively with my team. If I needed any clarification questions on the format of the survey, my group was quick to respond and offer further instructions. I look forward to seeing how the project turns out and hearing the feedback my boss has for us.

For our travels this week, Caroline, Corinne, and I are staying a night in Rome! We felt that it was best to remain in Italy since we will be leaving in less than two weeks. Our trip began Saturday morning at 5:50am to make our train at Milano Centrale by 6:40 am. I feel like we have almost mastered the Milano Transportation system and are practically locals (ha). Once we arrived in Rome, we walked from the Roma Termini station all the way to our Airbnb. On the way, we caught a glimpse of a protest involving national health cuts that have been happening in Italy (according to my quick media search). For our first event of the day, we visited the Vatican and walked through the beautiful museum. All my friends and family from home have been insisting I visit and I do not regret it at all! For dinner, I plan on ordering the classic carbonara which is one of Rome’s traditional dishes. To wrap up the trip, we will be waking up early Tomorrow morning to visit the iconic Trevi Fountain and see the Colosseum!