This week, during my Internship at South Garage, we launched our TikTok! It was very exciting because we had been working on this project for a while. We launched two accounts, one for the bistro and one for South Garage’s other businesses, the custom motorcycle shop and boutique. The bistros videos featured the chef. The video is high quality because our coworker Matei brought his professional camera to Italy. It did not shock me when this video did well on Tik Tok because it looked exactly like the professional food videos I see all over the internet. The boutiques Tik Toks also did well. We posted one video that was an overview of the whole boutique and another video showing various pieces of clothing styled on Will as the model. The outfits we picked were very cool and high-end. We tagged multiple brands to increase our online interactions and used many hashtags. We also started working on the newsletter. We helped our boss translate his Italian version into an English version, as he wants the newsletter to be in both languages. It was overall a very successful week of work, and we are very happy with our success!

 

Our Corporate Social Responsibility class was canceled this week. Professor Gupta was generous enough to give us this week to used our free time to work on our final papers and presentations. My group was able to outline our paper and complete it using what would typically be our class time. We also had an assignment to watch the movie, Erin Brockovich. It was a really good movie, and I enjoyed watching it a lot as it related a lot to what we are talking about in class. Professor Gupta also gave us a series of questions to answer after the movie, which I found useful because I was able to look at them before to get an idea of what the movie would be about. This assignment was perfect because it was not super time-consuming so I worked a lot on my final project. Mason, Ava, Lili, and I have been very good about communicating about our project in a group chat, and we split up the paper in a very fair way. I was nervous about this paper at first because it seemed very daunting, but once I started working on it I realized that it is not as bad as it seems. As soon as I found my sources and started writing, my portions of the paper were completed before I knew it!

 

Last weekend we took a girls’ trip! Maddy, Lili, Sarah, Sylvia, Neave, Kat, and I traveled to Portofino. It was a very last-minute trip. Last weekend, we were initially going to go on a day trip to Lake Garda on Friday, stay put in Milan on Saturday, and go to the beach on Sunday. When we arrived at Centrale early Friday morning, we were all shocked to see that our train, along with multiple others. As it turns out, there was a strike going on, and as a result, many trains were canceled. At first, we were bummed, but we made the most of our day. We all went to brunch together, and then we booked our weekend trip. We went out to dinner and had amazing pasta. We ate at La Osteria Di Fortuna. It was so cool because we could see a woman inside through the window making homemade pasta. The next day, we took a train to Santa Margherita. We found a beach club and stayed there for the day. Later at night, we trained into Rapalo and checked into our AirBnB. We had an amazing dinner and roamed the streets of Rapolo until late at night. It did not feel touristy at all, which was also amazing. The next day, we traveled back to Santa Margherita and spent the day at the beach. The water was so blue! Overall, it was a very spontaneous and fun weekend!

This week at South Garage, Will and I continued filming and editing Tik Toks. These Tik Toks are getting more and more specific as the weeks go on. Will is very into fashion and knows a lot about selvage denim. He was able to write a fantastic script for our boss to read and to do a voice-over in Italian with. I wrote a script about the Red Wing shoe industry and the background on them. We want our customers to understand how special the pieces of clothing are at South Garage. Will and I started brainstorming ideas for Sotuh Garage to use for their new membership club. I think it was really interesting to see our perspective on how we can improve their membership club versus South Garages’ perspective. In America, we have many membership clubs, such as Soho House, so we were able to use that for reference, while South Garage does not have many membership clubs to base their ideas on as they are not as popular in Italy.

 

This week in Professor Gupta’s class, we had many interesting discussions. Last week we watched a movie called A Civil Action. This movie was very eye-opening for me as I never understood the specifics surrounding civil court cases. I had no idea how much private law firms invested in cases out of their own pockets. It was also interesting to see how these large corporate companies are so unsympathetic toward its customers. In Monday’s class, we went through a series of questions that Professor Gupta provided for us. These questions brought up the discussion of whistleblowing. Professor Gupta asked the class whether or not we would Whistleblow if we knew our company was doing something wrong. I shared my answer with the class, which was no, I would never whistle blow, no matter the circumstances. This is because whistleblowing will ruin a person’s chances of working with another company again. While it is not impossible to get another job, Professor Gupta backed up my argument by describing what happened to his own friend, who was a whistle-blower. She makes an income now, describing her experience with whistleblowing, but she has never been hired again.

 

Last week, I traveled to Barcelona, Spain. I had never been to Spain before, so I was so excited to experience a new country and culture. Since we were only there from Friday night to Sunday night, we had a packed schedule. I stayed in a hostel for the first time, which was much better than I expected. It was really nice and felt very clean. The first night, we went to an amazing Tapas restaurant for dinner. We randomly found this restaurant, and I think it was the best food I have had this whole trip. We shared Sangria,] and my favorite dish was a truffle Spanish omelet. The next day, we woke up early and explored the city. We had an amazing brunch at Brunch & Cake. I had the best matcha latte I have ever had. We roamed the city and then had an aperativo all together. Sam and I had Aperol spritzes. Later that night, I had seafood paella for dinner, along with another Aperol spritz. Later that night, we saw DJ John Summit perform at a club called Pacha. It was so cool to listen to such an amazing artist live. The next morning, we had brunch and then went on a boat for the day. Before our flight, we went to Honest Greens, which had such fresh food. Our flight got delayed, and we ended up getting back to Milan at 5 a.m. Although I was so tired on Monday morning, I have no regrets about packing so many activities into one weekend.

This week in Professor Gupta’s class, we discussed loan forgiveness programs. This was extremely interesting as it is very relevant to people my age. We got into a conversation about scholarships and whether or not they should be entirely merit-based. We talked about this topic for a while, and many people in the class were able to share their opinions and debate this topic. After that, Professor Gupta gave us two signed documents by Business Roundtable. We broke up into our groups and discussed these two documents and whether these statements were just signed and released as rhetoric. The debate between the two groups got pretty heated. I can see both sides, and I do believe companies can do more, but I think that signing the Business Roundtable PR statement is pretty significant. In Wednesday’s class, we watched “A Civil Action,” which was a great movie. The movie was really eye-opening for me to see how a civil action case works and all the money that goes into it. I probably would never have come across this movie if it had not been for this class so I feel very appreciative that we got to watch it because I learned a lot.

This week during my internship at South Garage, Will and I filmed a lot of content! It honestly does not feel like work because we are having a lot of fun with it. On Tuesday, Will and I created outfits in the boutique and filmed a video matching those outfits with motorcycles. Will modeled the clothing, and I filmed. We also filmed many more informational TikToks about the clothing itself and information about the items. We had to do a lot of research for these videos because there are many unique types of leather and fabrics used at South Garage. I also continued my research about competitors of South Garage. It is obvious that South Garage has a goal right now to differentiate itself from its competitors. I already think we are on the right track. It seems that not other competitors have social media like Tik Tok. South Garage also offers a unique bistro and boutique. It is also fun to work and collaborate with our coworkers and other interns. I have really gotten to become close with the other interns, and I am learning a lot from them. One of the interns, Matei, helped me fix my camera settings. Now I know why my camera quality has been horrible! Tomorrow, Will and I will use our scripts and film voiceovers for our videos and edit them.

Last weekend I traveled to Genova, Lago D’Arpy, and Venice. My favorite is tied between Lago D’Arpy, and Venice. I am so thankful to have been able to go hiking in the Alps because, originally, I was not able to get a spot as it was full. Thankfully, Jimmy and Kat let me know that their coworkers were backing out, and they transferred their trip to me. As a hiker, it was amazing. It felt so surreal being able to hike in such a unique place. I kept reminding myself to take it all in. The views were like nothing I had ever seen before. The following day I traveled to Venice. My grandma always told me that she did not like Venice, but I actually loved it! It felt like a fake place as all the buildings were beautiful, and the canals were so blue. I bought a bracelet made out of glass from Venice, and I love it. It is such a special piece to remember the trip. This weekend I plan on traveling to Barcelona. I am excited because it is my first time flying somewhere during this trip. It will be my first time in Spain so I am looking forward to the new experience! 

 

This week in Professor Gupta’s class, we watched a movie called “The Corporation.” Before class, Professor Gupta gave us a set of questions to pay attention to during the movie. The movie showed the dark side of corporations and compared them to a psychopath. The topic of child labor and cancer-causing chemicals was brought up. These two topics in particular, scared me a lot because these corporations are causing harm to people but hiding it from the consumers. In the next class, all eight groups met together and discussed the assigned questions Professor Gupta gave. My group debated whether the issue in society is corporations, consumerism, or capitalism. My group decided that the issue is consumerism, as we buy way more than we need. However, I believe that corporations feed into this by advertising new items and changing trends that make us feel behind for not having those items. We also debated whether corporations are psychopaths and decided that corporations are not psycho but the individual. We all contribute to the issue caused by corporations, for example, buying from a company that uses child labor because it is cheaper.

 

This week at my Internship in South Garage, we started filming very cool styling Tik Toks. I have always been interested in fashion, so being able to do the advertising for the boutique is very fun and cool. Federico and I styled Will in multiple outfits, and I filmed a Tik Tok showing different outfits for each different day of the week. I have a lot of experience with lighting and filming from my internship last year, so I helped out a lot with staging. We met with the company’s CEO, and he gave us specific companies to research. These companies are similar to South Garage but different in several ways. Each of the six interns took on a different company. We are now all working on separate in-depth SWOT analyses. My company is Maria Motorcycles. I personally thought that South Garage has way more strengths compared to Maria Motorcycles as South Garage offers Diverse products and experiences. The restaurant at South Garage is one of its strongest features, and it makes South Garage stand out over all of its competitors.

 

Last weekend we traveled to Switzerland, Verona, and Lake Como. Lugano, Switzerland, was so beautiful. It was my favorite over all of the other places I have been so far (maybe tied with Lake Maggiore). The city and the lake were beautiful. Jon took us out on a boat, and we just took in the views for a few hours. I did, however, notice that Switzerland is significantly more expensive than Italy. We had an amazing brunch, and I had the best french fries I have ever had. My favorite food is french fries, so I have high standards. We all split a bottle of wine. I had Apperitivo with Sam, Jon, and Neave. I had my favorite drink, an Aperol spritz. The next day we traveled to Lake Como. It was very beautiful. We had an amazing lunch. I had a spritz and a fish dish. We then had a picnic, and we made limoncello spritz. We then rented a boat and swam in the middle of a lake. It was one of those pinch-me moments where I had to ask myself if it was real life. It was so beautiful and surreal. Before the train ride home, I had the best meal I have had in Italy yet. Lili and I split truffle pasta and an amazing pesto pizza. It was a beautiful and amazing weekend that I will remember forever.

 

 

This week in Professor Gupta’s course on Corporate Social Responsibility, we had our first two debates as well as our first four presentations on the Wall Street Journal. In Monday’s class, we debated two separate ethical issues that have actually occurred. The first debate asked the question of whether it is ethical for banks to take an interest in mortgages. The second debate was based on a story of a widow who got scammed for over three-quarters of a million dollars and whether that was the bank’s fault or not. My group participated in the second debate, and it was very refreshing to finally debate again as most classes in college have not allowed for students to share their opinions as freely as we can in debates. In Wednesday’s class, I presented my Wall Street Journal article to the class. My article was about the bill that got signed in Montana to ban Tik Tok in the state. Professor Gupta allowed for a discussion to happen about my article, and it was very interesting to hear multiple people’s take on the topic.

This week at South Garage, Will and I presented our marketing mix on South Garage. We presented on Tuesday to our boss and described our new target market for South Garage and ways South Garage can improve their company. After this, Will and I got our assignment for the next few weeks. We got assigned to do media and advertising for the South Garage boutique, as we are both very interested in fashion. On Thursday, Will and I presented a slideshow on the media we can create for the boutique and how we will make it desirable to a younger group of consumers. We covered Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, events, newsletters, and mailing lists. I did some copywriting work last summer so I am looking forward to doing some of that this summer. We also filmed and created our first social media post and created the South Garage TikTok. I am looking forward to creating more content and styling the pieces in the boutique. Next week I will be looking at some financial statements for a few projects which I am also looking forward to.

Last Sunday, I traveled to Cinque Terre, Monterossa, with a majority of the Lehigh group. We all woke up at four in the morning and took a four-hour train. We arrived at around nine in the morning, got breakfast altogether, and then swam all day. Traveling to Cinque Terre has always been a dream of mine, and doing it with a group of new friends was amazing. I feel like the trip bonded all of us, and we all got a lot closer. We all shared snorkels, tanned, ate meals together, and napped on the train together. This was a trip I will definitely be telling my kids about. This upcoming Friday, we are going to Verona and going on a wine tour. The whole group is going this time which is really exciting. I have never been on a wine tour before and I definitely have not had high-quality Italian wine yet. I also love Romeo and Juliet, so I am excited to see the place where it is based off of. I love how every city in Italy has been so different and beautiful in its own unique way. I cannot wait to continue traveling.

Social and Cultural immersion through travels in Italy and Europe

Today marks my fifth day in Milan, and time is flying by. I have never been to Italy ever, and the last time I was in Europe, I was only six months old so this is my first time here. Initially, I was extremely nervous about moving to a new country for seven weeks. I was nervous about fitting in with the Italian culture, knowing that I had to leave a few of my “America” habits behind. Leading up to the trip, my parents would send over articles like “Italian Edicate” and “What Not To Do At The Italian Dinner Table.” Now that I am here, I realize that I should not have stressed over this cultural transition. Everything has come naturally to me just through observation and reading body language. Everyone I have met in Italy has been so kind, accepting and patient (even with my awful pronunciation).

An academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility

Yesterday was my first class with Professor Gupta in Milan. We had met twice previously for two classes in America but taking the course here feels totally different. If you had spoken to me during the first semester of my sophomore year, I never would’ve thought I would be taking a class with my accounting professor in Milan of all places. It was a full-circle moment. In this class we watched a second video that related to a video we watched in America about Adam Smith. This video focused on the globalization of the economy and the importance of trade. The video also touched on the importance of companies valuing its stakeholders but doing things like treating employees with a lot of respect, as well as making brands accessible to people with any income. After this video, we talked about it and then we discussed the huge debt debate in America. It scared me when Professor Gupta told us that very few Americans are able to retire. He told us that if you have college debt, it will be harder to retire. Time to prioritize budgeting!  While this class was only a dip into the intense topics we will discuss, I can already feel myself absorbing valuable information.

Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company

Tomorrow will be the first day of my Internship at South Garage. On Tuesday, we had the challenge of going out and using public transportation to get to the location of our internships by ourselves. My colleague, Will Ironside, and I made it there easily, which was awesome. I was really nervous about public transportation because I am the worst with directions, but it is simpler than I thought. I will put a photo that Will and I took below! The location where we are working looks so cool. I have been emailing back and forth with my employer, Federico, so things are becoming very real. I am so excited to meet him and the other students from other programs that I am working with. I am very excited to see the business culture in Italy and compare it to how it is in America. Last summer I interned in New York City and I predict that this internship will be very different.