Unfortunately, we did not have class in person last week, we watched the movie “Erin Brockovich” instead. Great movie! We answered a few questions about the movie and compared it to “Civil Action”. We spent a majority of our time working on our final paper and presentation. My group and I will be presenting about Cancel Culture and how it affects us as a society today. We’ve already had a few groups present and they all did a wonderful job. Our presentation topics are so relevant and I’m glad we have the opportunity to learn more about them and discuss the problems they have created.

This week at my internship was a little slow. I revisited a previous task that I had been assigned and we did additional market research for the company. I found more potential competitors for our company in the Electric Vehicle market. I’ve noticed that business has been a little bit slow at the company and they aren’t taking on many new projects. I learned that this happens every year around this time because of the shut down in August. Essentially, many companies close down for a few weeks during the month of August to allow everybody to escape the heat. This is something very different than in the US, but I love the idea of it. After working in Italy for a few weeks, I’ve realized how different Italian and American cultures are. I’m so thankful I had this experience, and I will always remember it.

I cannot believe this was our last full week in Milan! It’s crazy to think back to six weeks ago when we were religiously using google maps to get around and aimlessly walking around to find shops and restaurants. Now, I feel like a local. The woman at Erbert knows my coffee order and was sad to hear we were all leaving this week. We will all miss her! Thankfully, we had a great last two weekends to end the trip. Last weekend a group of us took a train down to Santa Margherita and spent a relaxing weekend on the water, literally. We spent hours laying out on a dock in the middle of the ocean which was wonderful. The water was so blue, and the views were incredible. Then, we spent this past weekend in the Tuscan countryside. Twenty-two college students in one villa was quite the experience. I’m so grateful my peers know how to cook because I would not have survived on my own. It was great to spend our last weekend with everyone and the perfect end to our trip. We planned to have a reunion in 10 years, so I can’t wait to see everyone here again in 2030. You too Professor Gupta!

Bryan and me sharing a Florentine Steak

Lounging in the water in Rapollo

Kat and I made a cheese and meat board, so yummy!

 

 

This week was a big week at Krein. Ian and I finished the project that we have been working on for weeks now. If you remember from last week, we were finishing up the research phase of our project and reaching out to potential clients and stakeholders. Well, this week we finished that list! With over 100 companies on the list, we emailed and surveyed each and every one of them. We are still waiting to hear back from some companies, but this closes the research part of our project. The next phase will be to continue interviewing, and solidify a few new clients. I’m not exactly sure what we will be doing next week, but I’m excited to find out. 

This week in Professor Gupta’s class, we once again had passionate debates. My favorite conversation was about AI and its impact on our generation. As students, we love the idea of having a machine to help us with homework and papers, but we have to ask ourselves how that affects our learning and understanding of material. I’m of the personal opinion that AI and tools such as ChatGPT are detrimental to our learning, but we should still learn how to use them. AI has already seeped into so many industries and soon enough we’re probably going to be told to use it. I loved hearing everyone’s opinion on the matter and I can’t wait to discuss the movie Erin Brockovich next week in class! 

Last weekend we visited my favorite city, Florence. Florence is just as vibrant and bustling as Milan, but it feels more like a classic Italian city to me. We spent the weekend visiting the Uffizi gallery, the Boboli Gardens, and climbing up the bell tower of the Florence Duomo. That was hard! My favorite part however, was watching the sunset in the Piazzale Michelangelo. The Piazzale overlooked the whole city, the sun set right over the water and behind Ponte Vecchio. There were thousands of people watching this sunset and everyone cheered when the sun went below the horizon. Florence has definitely been my favorite place so far and it is a must see for everyone traveling to Italy. 

 

View from Piazzale Michelangelo.

All the people watching the sunset!

View of Florence from the top of the tower.

Jimmy, Bryan, and I met up with a friend from Lehigh.

This week in class we watched A Civil Action. I thought it was great! The movie is about a confident personal-injury attorney, Jan, that makes a living off the misfortunes of others. Until one day, he comes across a case that could potentially cause him to lose everything. In a small town in Woburn, Massachusetts, there was a string of unusual deaths with an unknown cause. The parents of those kids begged Jan to take the case, and eventually he did. Jan quickly learned that two big companies were polluting the town’s water supply which was what caused all those deaths. He spent months and millions of dollars fighting against those corporations but ultimately didn’t have the resources to combat the company’s army of lawyers. I thought the movie fit perfectly into our class’s overall theme of corporations’ influence on society. As seen in the movie, big companies have the money and the power to cause major damage in our communities and it’s important we keep these companies accountable for their actions.

 

I’ve begun to get into a nice routine with my internship at Krein. Ian and I work remotely most days, so we’ve found nice little cafes to get our work done. This week we focused on finding more stakeholders for the company to reach out to. Additionally, we crafted an array of emails and crafted a survey that we will soon be sending out to the stakeholders we found. We spend most of our days in meetings with potential clients. This is my favorite part of the job,except for when the meetings are in Italian (lol). It’s great to see our work come to fruition, and I’m excited to meet with more stakeholders next week.

 

This past week and weekend were full of adventures. We spent last Saturday climbing through the mountains of the Italian Alps, literally. We were zip lining through the trees and crawling through tubes in the air. It was so much fun, and the views were amazing! We then hiked along a beautiful trail and made it to Lac D’arpy. You could still see the snow at the tip of the mountains which was incredible. Some kids were brave enough to jump into the freezing cold water, but I wasn’t. Overall great experience. The next day we woke up early and took the train into Venice. We spent the day exploring the town and walking around in circles around the canals. It was such a relaxing day filled with amazing food. Can’t wait for next weekend!

Jimmy and me in the trees!

Girls in Venice!

Delicious Branzino!

 

This week in class, we watched the Corporation. The film discussed the roles of corporations within society and its negative impacts. Although it was made a few years ago, most of the topics hold true today. We were able to use those topics and spark interesting conversations about corporations today. One topic that we discussed was how corporations should respond to social issues. I think most of us agree that corporations nowadays tend to take a stance on big social issues because they feel pressure from consumers and employees. We debated whether or not a corporation’s public statements could be authentic. Corporations have such a loud voice within society and should use their power for good social change. I think this is such an important topic that we don’t talk about enough so I’m glad we spent class time discussing it.

This week at Krein, Ian and I continued our project from last time. With each week, we progress significantly and it’s amazing to see our work come to fruition. After finding companies and contacts to reach out to last week, we had our first few meetings with stakeholders. The conversations are going well and in the upcoming weeks we should have more and more meetings. In these meetings we discuss client wants and needs and we reflect as a team on how we can accomplish those goals. This project is constantly evolving, and we are learning on the go. I can’t wait to see what next will entail. Also, Ian and I got posted on the company LinkedIn, go check it out!

The weeks just keep getting better and better. My family from Romania flew in this past week to visit me. We explored Northern Milan, which is much less touristy and more locals in my opinion. We went to an authentic Italian restaurant where I had my first risotto Milanese. It was delicious! We explored the Sforzesco castle, which we walked through on our first day in Milan. There I did a tour and learned so much about the history of the city. Fun fact, Milan was once a floating city. Also, it was my first weekend in Milan, so I was able to walk along the canals and check out all the cool markets. They have such impressive stuff and great leather jackets. I learned that the last Sunday of every month there is a huge vintage designer flea market so I can’t wait to check that out soon!

Picnic at Como!

My first cappuccino!

Exploring Milan!

This week during my internship at Krein, my partner Ian and I had our first assignment. As I mentioned last week, Krein is in the process of starting a new project with an EV charging station company. Previously, we focused on researching the new company and the industry but this week we really focused on conducting our own research. Our assignment was to craft a list of forty potential stakeholders that our company will eventually reach out to. The assignment proved to be far more challenging than I imagined because of how different cities are built in Europe vs the US. The cultural differences of the two truly affects how businesses operate which is not something I anticipated. 

 

This past week was filled with adventures. Last weekend we visited Lake Maggiore and Monterroso. Lake Maggiore was absolutely magical, and the views of the water were impeccable. It’s unbelievable to think that we walked through the homes of families from centuries ago. There is so much history and memories built into these homes and I’m so glad we were able to see them. Monterroso was also incredible. The water was so blue, and it was so nice to just float on the water. Just yesterday we visited Verona, and I think that has been my favorite place so far. Everything about the city captured my attention and I loved seeing the streets filled with people. We all sang Love Story in the Arena which will be something I will forever remember from this trip. Overall, this week was amazing, and I can’t wait to go on more adventures with everybody in the next few weeks. 

 

I really enjoyed class this week. We had two lively debates about interest payments on mortgages and the moral dilemma of scammers. We were split into groups and told to pick a side and defend it. As young adults we aren’t yet affected by interest payments, so it was so interesting to see how people felt about the topics. The debate sparked rambunctious conversations and led to meaningful discussions during and after class. We all love to take the subjects we discussed in class and go deeper into our discussion over an aperitivo. These debates have been my favorite part of the class thus far and are what inspired me to pick my Wall Street Journal entry this week. The article discussed how young adults are the new target demographic for online scammers. The internet has become a dangerous place and I can’t wait to continue talking about the duties of large corporations in these matters. 

First Risotto Milanese!

Juliet’s balcony!

We have just arrived in Milan and the city is absolutely amazing! The streets are full of people living life and I’m mesmerized by the beauty all around. After just a few days, I’ve been able to get an understanding of the city and I’m learning to rely less and less on my google maps. My favorite part of exploring this week was the day we decided to walk to class instead of taking the tram. We pretty much stopped using any type of directions because we continued getting distracted by the beautiful monuments and narrow streets. Even though it took us an extra 30 minutes to get to class it was the best decision we could have made because we stumbled across a bakery that had the best focaccia bread. My friend Jimmy and I have become avid focaccia enthusiasts and we are planning on spending the rest of our trip finding the best focaccia in Italy.

This summer I’ll be working at Krein, a company that does digital advisory and CX for B2B industries. This was my first week at my internship and we jumped right into things. My partner, Ian, and I have been put on a project that Krein is just beginning. They are working with a new company that is developing and producing fast charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Krein has been hired by this company to build a website and create a marketing launch plan for this new product/service. My role this week is to get a good understanding of the clients wants and needs and gain some knowledge of the industry as a whole. Krein has already conducted some preliminary research about current competitors and begun creating mission and vision statements for this company. I will continue to conduct my own research and offer my insights on the current plan.  

This week in class, we had our first HW assignment which was to find a WSJ article and summarize and analyze it for the class. The article I chose discussed how JPMorgan is currently being targeted by Republican states over accusations of religious bias. Republicans fear that big corporations such as JPMorgan are growing too large and will soon control important environmental and social issues. At the end of the assignment we were asked to pose questions to the class and create a conversation about the topic. I asked the class “If you had your money held by JPMorgan and these allegations were proven to be true, would you move your money to a new bank”? I think this was a good question and article to get us thinking about our feelings towards corporations and their responsibility towards society which is the premise of our class. 

My first meal in Milan!

Day trip to Monterroso!