In the CSR class we looked at stakeholder capitalism, and whether or not it was possible. This was an interesting topic because we talk a lot about ethics and what corporations should be doing to achieve corporate social responsibility; however, we also have to consider if the solutions are feasible. The Business Roundtable is one way that companies can commit to implementing CSR in their business strategy. One side of the debate argued that it allows companies to do better and really works while the other side argued that companies are not held to any standards or regulations once they sign it, ultimately just doing it for show. This enriched my knowledge in the course because it displayed that CSR is not a surface level promise, rather it is a major shift in corporations management and business strategies. 

This week I had the opportunity to meet with the Metabolism of Cities team in San Diego. San Diego is the headquarters of the company because a lot of the research is based at SDSU, and the director of Metabolism of Cities is a professor there. Since the time difference is 9 hours, it has been difficult to coordinate a time for me to meet with them; however, since we did not have the internship seminar I was able to meet with them at 7pm on Tuesday. I had a great time getting to know the members of the San Diego team and they shared some really insightful information. They are frontiering the CHIARA project because the city is close to the US-Mexico border. I asked them questions about what they want from me, and we decided that I would do more literature review on previous health studies on various borders and to distinguish the criteria of an outlier in a data set. Additionally, I made remarks on things I noticed such as gaps in the data and issues with data transfer, so they know what to fix before sending the survey to a larger group. This meeting was a big boost in morale for the remainder of my internship. 

A group of 8 of us went to Nice, France and it was probably my favorite city I have visited thus far. I am really struggling with where to go abroad in the spring (harder decision than where to go to college), so I am happy to say that I have narrowed my choices to London and Paris. This weekend helped with that because I loved French culture and could see myself being immersed in it. Specifically, I found the French to be really funny and loved their deadpan humor. Also, they were very friendly, invalidating the stigma that they are rude to tourists. I also loved how lively the city was. On Friday, there were 3 major events going on. First, it was the summer solstice which the French celebrate by partying on the streets with a bunch of live music. It was also the Pride Parade and France had a football match, so it was a great weekend to go! Leaving Italy for the weekend made me a little nervous about the reverse culture shock that I will experience when I go home. For example, in France we had to wait for the check at the table. While I have been doing that my entire life it really shocked me, and I can’t begin to imagine how I will feel when I am back in the states. However, this was definitely a chaotic week in terms of cultural immersion. On the first day, I had to retrace a 30 minute walk back to the Airbnb from the beach based on memory alone because our phones died. That night we had to call French Emergency Services after men were trying to get into our Airbnb. Long story short we stayed at a hotel the next night, and I still had a great time this weekend!