As I enter my third week in Milan, I am beginning to adapt to the culture of the area. At my internship this week, Jon and I presented an analysis of USA vs Italian real estate. In the presentation we included topics on the buying and selling processes, a look at USA real estate firms, a comparison of review management websites, and finally the differences in Customer Care divisions. Overall, I think we did very well on our analysis and it seems that our supervisor was satisfied. The most difficult part of our presentation was the language barrier. It was very difficult to try and interpret US real estate terms to Italian terms. For example, due diligence is a process when buying a house but because they were unfamiliar with the term, we needed to articulate it in a way for them to understand. In the end, we were able to communicate what we wanted to.

 

In our class this week we explored a lot more on businesses and taking moral actions. One example was the mini debates that were held for real life situations. One of the debates I was apart of was if banks should be held liable for transactions involving scams. I found this a very interesting dilemma to debate. For the given article, the older widow sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to an oversea account because she was told she won money. After the wire transfer, she found out she was scammed and sued the banks for putting the transaction through. On one hand, we have a older woman who may have not been the most mentally or emotionally strong who was being taken advantage of. On a moral side, it seems like banks should be doing all they can protect her. But on the other side, there’s only a certain amount a bank can do before they start treading on privacy concerns for these types of transfers. This moral dilemma is just one of many that happens in business and it is up to us to determine was is right and wrong.

 

This week I went to many different places. To start, I went inside the Milan Doumo, one of the most famous landmarks in Milan. We went up 220+ steps to the roof where we got a beautiful view of Doumo plaza and the surrounding area. I thought the most impressive aspect of it was inside the cathedral. The beauty of the artwork and stain glass was so breath taking we spent a while just sitting and admiring everything. Later in the day, we went to AC Milan’s final game of the season. The rumors that European football being very crazy was confirmed at the game. AC Milan ended up winning and we even had the honor of witnesses in the retirement of one of the greatest football players in the world, Zlatan Ibrahimović. To finish up my week, I took a train to Genoa to see the coastline of Italy for the first time. Genoa is a very nice port town where we spent time at the pebble beach we found. This culture immersion has been so exciting and I can’t wait each week to find

something new to do.

 

Our second week in Milan began with a great dinner with Professor Gupta, and all of the 25 Lehigh students. We all managed to squeeze into a small room, and enjoyed an all you can eat sushi meal. This week, we also had our first IES cultural immersion class where we learned about some of the cultural differences between Milan and the United States. Something interesting we learned was that, in Italy, it is important to ask questions in the workplace to show that you care about learning and show your interest. On Tuesday, we enjoyed a visit to The Last Supper painting. The week ended with a class trip to Verona! It was a national holiday in Italy so we didn’t have work. We enjoyed a wine tasting, and a great tour of the arena. I loved our tour guide who inspired us to sing a song together at the top of the stairs. Finally, on Saturday, we took a day trip to Lugano, Switzerland. As I write this on the train ride back from the trip, I reflect on the great lunch we had, a nice boat trip led by our captains Jon and Sara, and finally a lovely dinner where I ate Gnocchi. 

 

In our two classes with Professor Gupta, we shifted the conversation away from shareholders vs stakeholders towards corporate governance. We talked about widely held corporations, and how that gives managers much more power. The large number of shareholders and liquid market are both factors in why the managers essentially can run the company at their own will. I really enjoyed the debates we had in class, and I liked how it helped me think about how I would formulate arguments and think on my feet quickly. I also enjoyed the discussion about the red dye present in US skittles, and hearing others thoughts about who should restrict these harmful chemicals. Is it the job of the state governments, or the FDA? 

 

Lastly, to discuss my internship, I have been working on researching the green hydrogen market. Simplifhy has other companies who are asking for their help to enter this market, so it is my job to research and find an industry that could be a great segway to allow these companies to start creating new products, and marketing them to the public. I have enjoyed learning about the science behind electrolysis, and the different types of methods that water can be separated into hydrogen and oxygen. On Thursday, my coworkers and I enjoyed a picnic outside in Villasanta. Here we ate pizza and walked around the park. We even saw a villa where a popular Italian baking show is filmed.

Cultural Immersion:

For this week we visited Verona, the City of Love. We had a walking tour through the city where our class was able to see Juliet’s balcony. We also visited the Arena, which translates to “sand” and learned more about the history and origins of the Arena. This weekend was Republic Day, so the city was extra busy and filled with tourists. The next day was Venice, the City of Water. Everywhere I went, I was able to see an amazing view of the canals that runs through the City. We stopped by the Rialto Bridge, the oldest bridge in Venice. We had a chance to try out a store known for its tiramisu, a popular Italian coffee-flavored dessert. Venice has been so far my favorite spot that I’ve traveled to.

Corporate Social Responsibility:

I really enjoyed this week’s class as we had debates about if it’s moral for banks to charge interest payments and a dilemma on vulnerable individuals getting scammed. The debates sparked engagements between the groups involved and each group challenged the other. I really love the free-flowing system of class and wish that I take more classes like this in the future. I continue to learn more as I read Wall Street Journal articles and listen to my classmate’s reports on their findings. I’m looking forward to future classes as we tackle the topics of corporations.

Internship:

For this week’s internship, a small group of people from a start-up architecture company visited our office. Mason and I, along with the group, were given a tour of the studio and learned more about the history of Franco Albini and his work. We learned about the various projects and ambitions he had. There were countless experiments and reeditions throughout his lifetime. His most famous work, the Luisa chair, took 15 years to become what it is now today. Albini was a man of constant innovation and functionality. He liked to keep his design simple, yet efficient. We continued to search for sponsors and composed a well-rounded list.

 

In my first full week of internships and classes, I learned a lot more here in Milan. To start, in my Corporate Social Responsibility class this week, we began discussing our Wall Street Journal posts and how the content from the material speaks about the responsibility corporations have. One that stood to me was California is trying to ban certain chemicals in food, most notably a chemical that makes skittles red. In summary, Mars corporation does not want to ban the chemical because they believe it should be left up to the FDA to make these decisions and California wants to ban it because of potential health consequences from consumption of the chemical. The dilemma here is that the chemical they want to ban has already been approved by the FDA in 1970. At what point now does Mars corporation has to take another look at their ingredients list and redo a safety check for a chemical approved 50 years ago? so much has changed, both technologically and biologically, that maybe 50 year old processes aren’t actually accurate. This discussion really made me think about other corporate safety procedures that probably has not been reviewed in decades and how it is an ethical concern these aren’t being looked at.

 

At my internship of Tempocasa, me and Jon continued our work on the analysis of Real Estate in the US vs Italy. After finalizing our research on Tuesday, we began and finished the PowerPoint we will present this upcoming week. Our final results showed that while many of the processes are similar, there are some aspects in buying and selling of property that differs. I am very nervous for this presentation as it will be our first big project we need to turn in for internship. Also, the language barrier may make it a harder to communicate with our audience, especially our supervisor who will be evaluating our work. In the end, I do believe we will succeed in this presentation from all the hard work we put in.

 

In my adventures within Italy, I have done a lot more exploring this week. On Sunday, I visited the Ferrari museum they have here and learned all about the rich history of one of the most renowned car brands in the world. What I learned from this experience is that through each iteration of racing cars and engines made by Ferrari, they always improved on previous models and innovated new ways do it. Also, on Friday, we visited Verona. My first impression of Verona when walking thorough was how different it was compared to Milan. While much of the architecture remained the same, the people and atmosphere just felt very different. While in Verona, we visited the Montresor Winery and visited the famous landmarks such as the Juliet Balcony and Verona Arena. All throughout this trip, I learned much more about Italian culture such as more on the wine making process. I am really thankful for such an amazing experience and I hope I can do back to Verona some time again.

Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company

This week for my internship, I had my first day at the office with my partner Mason. We met with Arianna, who will oversee us during our internship. We had an in-person interview on Tuesday with Vice President Paola Albini. I was quite nervous during the interview but we established a good understanding of what we wanted to accomplish. Our first day of work was Friday. We learned about Casa Albini, an architecture and design project where participants are asked to come up with a modular and minimalistic style house while also keeping the surrounding of nature in mind. We were asked to research similar projects and see how these projects are funded and who funded them. Our goal is to connect with interested potential sponsors and ask them to provide resources and funding for this project. We were also asked to come up with ways to increase the company’s social media and marketing presence.

 

Academic course on corporate social responsibility

In class this week we watched the second part of the Adam Smith videos and continued to learn about corporations. We were also tasked to read Wall Street Journal articles and write down a summary and our reactions. This is a part of the class that I’m looking forward to because it gives me a chance to consistently read the WSJ. It’s something that I’ve been trying to do to improve my knowledge and understanding of the business world.  At the end of our first class, Professor Gupta went over the questionnaire that the class had answered previously. when Professor Gupta went through our answer results, it really showed the inconsistency of our opinions not only as a class but perhaps society as a whole. We also visited Circularity, a sustainability firm that focuses on creating a circular economy by recycling and reusing wasted materials.

Cultural immersion

My immediate reaction from my first few days in Milan was how different the transportation system was. Everyone gets to their work by public transportation and it felt so much more efficient and widespread than how it is in the United States. The weather here is also lovely and I enjoy the various sights here in Milan. I also got to see the Duomo for the first time and was amazed by the detail and intricacy. One of the reasons I love traveling is to try out foods from different cultures. Since Italy is known for its spaghetti, I went to Miscusi, a pasta chain, and ordered spaghetti carbonara. Although ordering at restaurants has been a challenge for me, I will continue to work on my Italian and hope to fully order a meal for myself.