This week during class we had no physical, in-person class. During one of the class periods we were expected to watch the movie Erin Brockovich and our second class was canceled because we had a Friday field trip earlier in the summer. The movie Erin Brockovich was very interesting and thought provoking. The film was about a model turned law professional who gets involved in a $30+ million water contamination case. Brockovich initially took the job to earn enough money to pay her bills, but she quickly became interested and emotionally attached to the water contamination case of PG&E. Brockovich traveled daily to look for records or to meet with victims who consumed the contaminated water. Brockovich ended up winning the case and PG&E was forced to pay the victims and clean up the contaminated water. After watching the film, I answered a number of questions regarding CSR and how it related to the documentary.

 

This week during my internship my boss traveled to the United States to meet with clients so we were virtual for the week. I was assigned a week-long market research project about a topic that we discussed in our internship seminar class. Unfortunately last week’s “cooking class” was the final one of my trip to Italy with my boss. I am disappointed because that was a great time to bond with my coworkers and learn more about Italian culture and cuisine. To make up for no more cooking classes or lunches together, my coworker took the six interns out to lunch at my favorite pizza place Pizza e Mozzarella. This was a great experience and provided me with time to talk to my fellow interns and coworker. Hopefully next week we can do something similar.

 

Over the weekend I decided to finally stay in Milan for the whole time. I visited the Milan Duomo with my friends Bryan and Sam and we went to a nice (but expensive) brunch with a view of the Duomo. The Duomo was stunning and provided great views of the City of Milan. Once inside, we walked around and took in the breathtaking architecture. My favorite aspect of the Duomo was the stained glass windows. Every window in the Duomo was stained glass and each one had a unique design. When we got back from visiting the Duomo we looked into planning our final weekend in Italy: a group trip to a Tuscan villa. Luckily we found an Airbnb that was able to fit all 22 students that were interested in the trip.

 

A Lego replica of the Milan Duomo

The stunning stained glass windows inside of the Milan Duomo

Me and my coworkers at my favorite pizza place: Pizza & Mozzarella

 

This week during Monday’s class we discussed the fall of SVB Securities. Sam went in depth on the WSJ story that he read and Professor Gupta broke down how the bank failed in simple terms. I have been keeping up with this story so it was interesting to me to hear about the bank in a classroom setting. After this, we broke up into our groups and we went over thought provoking questions on the film A Civil Action. We discussed who should be responsible for paying for the prosecuting team’s research against the defending company. Some students thought that the EPA or other government agencies should help subsidize the research, but I disagree. In the eyes of the law I feel as though this would give the prosecution an unfair advantage over the defendant. I believe that the prosecuting law firm should bear the initial costs of research.

During my internship this week I worked on a number of market research projects. I also worked with a team to analyze potential candidates for a job opening for a company that we consult for. This was a very interesting project as it allowed me to look through hundreds of people and choose the candidates that I thought would fit the job description best. Again this week all of the interns went to our bosses house and he cooked us lunch. This week we had three different types of ravioli. This was a very good meal and we talked about my boss’s upcoming trip to the United States. This led us to a conversation about the cultural differences between the US and Italy.

This past weekend I visited Florence with Bryan, Jon and Sylvia. This was an unbelievable trip and Florence was by far the best city that I have visited on this trip. We visited iconic locations such as the Uffizi Gallery, Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Baptistry of St. John, the Bell Tower, the Duomo Museum and the Boboli Gardens. These were all breathtaking experiences and provided unmatched views. We also went to dinner with Professor Gupta at a steakhouse. Dinner was great and we talked about the class, social topics and about our future careers. Florence was much different than Milan as it felt like a small town rather than a city. Milan on the other hand is a large city with very industrial and residential areas, as well as skyscrapers. The tallest buildings in Florence were churches. 

The Florence Duomo

The beautiful sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence

The view of Florence from the top of the Bell Tower after climbing 414 Steps. Lehigh prepared me well!

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

During class this week we watched the documentary The Corporation. This was a great insight into what drives corporations and what is wrong with corporations as we know them today. Although this documentary was made in 2003, it still holds true in many aspects of today’s world. During our second class of the week we looked deeper into two students’ weekly Wall Street Journal articles. The first article was about how Merck is challenging the government’s new powers to negotiate drug prices. The next article was about Companies being caught in the crosshairs of political and culture wars. We talked about whether or not companies should have an opinion on social topics and how real these opinions are that are made public. One question that was raised was: how is a company able to make one unified statement or opinion on a matter when they may have thousands of employees who each have different beliefs?  

This week at my internship my boss hosted my fellow interns and colleagues at his home for lunch. He called it a cooking class as he taught us how to make carbonara. He had us help him crack the eggs and make the sauce for the pasta. It was very interesting to see how much he embraced his Italian culture. One thing I found funny was when a fellow intern jokingly asked my boss why he didn’t break the spaghetti before boiling it. My boss had a face of disaster and was offended that someone would even consider asking that question. I found this exchange not only funny, but interesting as it showed me how passionate Italians are about their cuisine culture. 

This past weekend a few friends and I visited the town of Como on Lake Como. The train tickets were super cheap and the ride was only about 40 minutes from Milan. Bryan, Sylvia and I decided to take the early train in so we got there a few hours before the rest of our friends. We took this time to ride the funicular cable car up the mountain to walk around a small town at the top. We then hiked to the very top of the town where there stood a lighthouse. We were able to climb to the top of the light house, which offered stunning views of Lake Como. After this we met up for lunch with the rest of the group. I noticed how welcoming the town of Como and the small town at the top of the mountain were. This was a great feeling because as American tourists towns are not always fully welcoming. 

Me and the rest of Gen-USA Milan at my boss’s house for lunch

The view from the lighthouse at the top of the mountain

The lighthouse on the top of the mountain

This week in professor Gupta’s class we talked about ethics and the structure of corporations. I really enjoyed the class about ethics because we debated real world scenarios in front of the class. There were two articles and two teams debated topics on each article. I debated with another team over an article about whether it is ethical for banks to collect interest on home mortgages. We were debating an article that we had never read before so we were basically debating a headline and what we knew about the topic previously. This made the Debate very interesting and engaging because we needed to think of arguments before we actually read the arguments that were being proposed in the article. I also enjoyed our class on the structure of corporations. We learned about corporate governance and how it helps both the shareholders and stakeholders of a company. Professor Gupta related this topic to real-world situations, which made the class much more engaging. 

My internship at Gen-USA has started to ramp up and it has been very interesting so far. Before Sam, Kat and I embark on our 15 minute walk to our office we stop for breakfast each morning. We constantly try to order fully in Italian and it occasionally works. When we get to our office building we sit with three other IES interns from different schools. So far I have worked on some Excel projects and a market research project. My favorite part about my internship thus far is our lunch breaks. My boss takes all 6 IES interns out to lunch most days and we spend an hour to an hour and a half eating lunch and talking about our cultural differences. We all have questions to ask him about Milan and he asks each of us questions about the United States as well. Lunch breaks are very important in Milan and I am glad I am able to spend them with my fellow interns and my boss.

This past Sunday I and some other Lehigh students took a 6:10 AM train to Monterosso in the Cinque Terre string of villages. This was an early morning for all of us as we left our rooms at about 5AM. The time difference was in full display when we were walking to the train station as I was able to catch the end of the Celtics and Heat game 6 matchup. Many of my home friends were still awake watching this game and I already got a full night’s sleep and was starting my day. This trip was unbelievable and provided me with breathtaking views of the Mediterranean Sea and coast. This past Friday Lehigh in Milan took a day trip to Verona, which was also stunning. The ancient architecture and details in the city were truly amazing. We had a guided tour of the city center and of the Verona Arena. After walking to the top section in the arena I led the group in singing “Love Story” by Taylor Swift as Verona is the setting of Romeo and Juliet.    

 

My view from the street in Monterosso

Me, Kat (middle) and Sam (left) during our first day at Gen-USA

The balcony from Romeo and Juliet in Verona

Jimmy Littley Blog Post #1: Week Ending May 27, 2023 

This week we had our first course in Milan and we had a number of orientations that introduced us to our academic practices for the next five weeks. During orientation for IES, we learned about Italian culture, history and other random facts about Milan and Italy as a whole. We also had a seminar that taught us about safety in the workplace and what will be required of us when we start our internship. In our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) course we continued our last discussion from Lehigh on Adam Smith. We discussed and debated what Adam Smith would think about the United States economy today and we also reviewed our pre-departure survey about Corporations. The survey results were interesting to see because there were a great number of contradicting answers in the class. For example, over 70% of the class believed that a free market system is a good system, yet over 70% of the class also did not fully trust corporations to act in the best interest of shareholders.  

 

On Thursday, I and two other Lehigh students began our internship at Gen-USA. Gen-USA is an Italian based consulting firm that helps European companies transition to the United States and United States markets. During my first day I spoke with the two leaders of the Milan office and we clarified expectations and goals for the upcoming five weeks. The leaders said that we would be conducting market research on a daily basis and helping to integrate corporations with this research. I am looking forward to starting working more on Monday and helping contribute to the Gen-USA team. This is a great opportunity for me to gain valuable consulting experience during college and will allow me to get a better understanding of the consulting industry as a whole.      

 

Since I arrived in Milan on Monday I have been soaking in the new atmosphere and culture. The first thing that I noticed was the drive and professionalism in the city. Everywhere I looked I saw the Milanese people dressed up in suits or dresses traveling to work by foot or vespa. There is a sense of urgency and drive in each of these people and that same feeling can be felt at my internship at Gen-USA. Another part of Milan that I am acclimating to is the food. There are restaurants everywhere I walk. During the second night of the program the majority of our program joined together for dinner. This was a great opportunity to meet everyone that was on the trip and brought our group together, similar to a family. Eating meals together are very important in Italian culture, so having a large, group dinner was a great way to bond in a new country.  

 

Group Dinner on the first night                             First day at Gen-USA