In class this week we discussed the ethics of companies partaking in corporate social responsibility. This has been a widely debated topic because in the past Corporations have only focused on their stockholders and maximizing profits. However, due to the ever changing global economy it has been discovered that businesses’ long term success is stronger when it comes to corporate social responsibility because it makes their employees, consumers, and the overall society happy. This is significant because it is increasing their sales and loyalty. Furthermore in the past few years the government and global organizations have put corporate social responsibility regulations into place to ensure companies prioritize both the stockholders and stakeholders. 

 

During the Internship seminar this week we did a self assessment to see how we have been adjusting to our internship as well as the challenge of being in a new culture. I thought this was a very nice opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and what we learned since the beginning of the trip. However, in regards to the new culture it seems that I have not fully adjusted because I am still in the defense and denial phase of transitioning. Additionally, during class we heard about final papers and projects and were put in groups to come up with a topic for our presentation. We decided on looking into the difference between the US and Italy’s sustainability efforts and how Italy disposes of trash. 

 

For my internship this week, I attended a Milan fashion show after party to wrap up the end of Men’s fashion week. I thought that this was a very interesting opportunity because there were so many different people there from different cultures and backgrounds. I attended this event with my friend visiting from out of town and It was very fun to show her Milan and one of the things the company I am interning for does! Additionally, I went to a sustainability conference on Wednesday where important figures came together to discuss sustainability in fashion and how this will look in the future. Although I didn’t understand a lot of the technical terminology and topics, it was very cool to see the people who make these decisions and what the innovation for the fashion industry will look like in the future. 

 

This weekend I went to Cinque Terre, where we went to several towns including La Spezia where we stayed, Riomaggiore which was a cute town with gorgeous views and restaurants, and Monterosso which was a stunning beach town. I really enjoyed going to a bunch of different towns because they were all so different and I felt like I got to see multiple different places and cultures even though they were all within 20 minutes of each other. This was one of my favorite places I have visited so far because everything was so pretty and I felt like there was a lot to do and so many different types of experiences so everyone can do what they enjoy. However, although this was a great weekend we had some trouble traveling on the way home because of the train strikes. Most of the trains back were getting canceled, delayed or just not showing up. We ended up having to get 3 different tickets home to finally find a train which was very stressful.