Jennifer Beattie's Blog Post #4: June 9th, 2024 | 2024 Lehigh-in-Milan with Professor Gupta

I enjoyed talking about ethics in class and I enjoyed our class on Wednesday where we were given different prompts as groups. My group was given a prompt regarding the morals behind banks and institutions making profits off of charging interest when the person receiving the loan is only trying to provide a home for them and their family. I liked that we had to argue for and against because it allowed me to see both sides of the argument. The side that was harder for me to form an argument for was that it is not morally fair for a bank to charge interest because I could only come up with the singular argument that charging the extra interest could prevent families from being able to afford interest and people who are not educated may fall into unethical interest policies because they are not informed enough. I came up with the argument that it is morally fair because that is the society we live in today where the bank providing the loan is taking on the risk and providing a service to a customer. There is the risk involved of not being paid back, so charging interest creates a contract and reason to pay the deadlines so a customer is not charged more interest.

In our internship class, I was involved in the class debate revolving around ethics. While reading the story regarding the group hiking they ran into a Sadhu who was not in great condition. It was interesting to see the approach of the group how they decided to handle it, and how the main guy decided to continue his hike without the rest of the group while they were taking care of the Sadhu. I personally think that the one member who left the group to complete his own goals was not acting ethically and I think at the end when he was trying to justify it and make up for his actions truly showed that he felt guilty afterward.

The project we are working on in our internship involves a very famous dessert tradeshow that occurs every January in Italy called SIGEP. Currently, we are tasked with identifying potential buyers and companies who could be interested in the United States and reaching out to them. We are focused on identifying restaurants and food companies that have at least 10 or more restaurants. SIGEP is focused on gelato, bakery items, pizza, and a lot of other desserts so I am focusing on finding more dessert-based companies that could be interested in attending. We also started brainstorming how to handle phone calls and writing emails where we worked with our other interns. We all wrote a separate email and phone calls and then read them anonymously to each other and critiqued them in order to combine the best parts into one email or phone call. It was interesting to see the different styles we all had.

Last Sunday I stayed in Milan and went to the Dolce & Gabbana: From the Heart to the Hands Exhibition. I personally am interested in fashion and I get really interested in how designer companies have built their empires. Learning about the history of Dolce & Gabbana and seeing the stunning pieces they have designed for specific occasions. The two original designers, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana represent the expression of the divine that resides in each and every human being, and that stood out to me because they designed clothing to outline the natural beauty of human beings. They showed how they hand-made their items and sewed each and every fabric and gemstone together. I learned that traditionally, the color black was worn by working-class women in Italy, but for Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana black is above all the color of the essence, its purity allowing each woman to affirm her own personality. I loved reading the history and learning more about this brand and I want to look into other museums that are based in Milan.