Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
During Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility this week, the discussion over Apple’s supply chain case study stuck out to me. My classmates and I read a case study for homework about the poor treatment and unfair labor rights of the workers in Apple’s offshore supply chain locations. During class, Professor Gupta showed us the undercover BBC documentary which showcased the terrible treatment of Apple’s workers at one of their Chinese manufacturers, Pegatron. Although this was 10 or so years ago, I was in shock of the terrible labor practices in place, even at such an established and “high-end” company. I think that is what shocked me the most – I would not expect such treatment of workers to come from a company that is seen at luxury and high quality.
Professors Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar
This week at our internship seminar, we spent time discussing how to improve and adjust our resumes. Additionally, Professor Gupta showed us another video that talks about proper communication and presentation tactics. It was pretty funny watching the video as it compiled people talking, but only when they said words such as “like” or “um”. I was baffled at how often people used these filler words in sentences, and then I started to wonder how often I use these words when I speak. The rest of yesterday was spent being very aware of the vocabulary choices I picked, and it was surprising to me how hard it was to omit the filler-word language that I am used to.
Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company
At my company this week, I have been working on similar tasks. It can be difficult sometimes if I feel at a loss for what to do, but I’ve been trying to edit my previous work and perfect my research if I can. This past Thursday, my supervisors Viviana and Camila joined me at our IES networking event, which was a lot of fun for us. We spent the entire time chatting and drinking wine, and it was great to spend individual time with both of them. I enjoy them both so much not only as my bosses but also as people, and I am definitely going to miss them a lot when I leave in such a short amount of time!
Social and Cultural immersion through travels in Italy and Europe.
This past weekend was my last weekend trip on this program. My friends and I traveled to Florence, Italy which was incredible. Although the weather was quite hot, I still thoroughly enjoyed my time in the city. It also randomly worked out that we were visiting on the same weekend that the Tour De France starts – in Florence! We had no idea that this was occurring when we were there, but we were all very excited. We went to Piazza de Michelangelo (a 10 minute walk from our AirBnB) where the start of the Tour began. Although the race itself begins outside of Florence, this was meant to signify the beginning of the Tour, and it was an incredible thing to experience.
Photos of me and Cara from a vintage Photo Booth we found in Florence 🙂This is a small window that one can order wine from in Florence as well!The most delicious affogato.Waiting for the bikers to come at Piazza de Michelangelo as the Tour de France starts!
