1. Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
   1. This week in Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility, we have our final presentations. My group is going to present tomorrow, at Wednesday’s class. Our topic is The Gender Pay Gap in Corporate America. Although our final research paper that is supported by our presentation is not yet completed, most of our research on our research questions has been finished. My group and I were shocked when looking into statistics regarding the Gender Pay Gap. We came to a conclusion that for a majority of women, they must choose between their career or their family if they would like to maintain a somewhat equal playing field with men – which is a terrifying idea for us, as a group of women. 
2. Professors Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar
   1. During Professors Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar, we presented our final presentations for the class. My group presented our topic surrounding the cultural implications of the “Made in Italy” trademark. This topic was an interesting one to research, because we were able to understand two perspectives on the appeal to the trademark. I enjoyed interviewing with the Conad employee, Paolo. I also became very invested in the implications of the trademark when I came across a relevant Tik Tok relating to quality “Made in Italy” products. Overall, it was a really cool topic to learn about and fun to present! It was also enjoyable to work in a group with my friends as one of the last Internship Seminar assignments.
3. Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company
   1. During my internship this week, I notified my main supervisor, Viviana, that I was running low on tasks to do and asked if there was anything else I could work on. After a long discussion with two of my colleagues, she was able to find me two assignments to work on with my colleague Lorenzo, which I finished that day, and he said he appreciated my help on the task very much. Viviana also was able to assign me to a project with one of my other colleagues, Laura. This is what I worked on for the majority of Monday and all of today (Tuesday). I am hoping that there will be enough work left on this assignment so that I can have enough work to do over my remaining days at GoodPoint. I continue to wonder if they think I am not doing enough, or if I genuinely finished more work than they expected. Regardless, it was tough for me to address if the work I’ve done has been helpful or not, as the feedback I have been given has been brief.
4. Social and Cultural immersion through travels in Italy and Europe
   1. For my last full weekend on the Lehigh in Milan program, my friends and I decided to stay in Milan for the weekend. I was glad that we made this decision, as I wanted to have a better opportunity to explore the city. This is exactly what we did (even though we were simultaneously completing final assignments). On Friday, we walked around Duomo and got lunch at a delicious sandwich shop. We explored a few different vintage markets on Saturday before walking to a beautiful restaurant for lunch that we had been wanting to go to. On Saturday night, we had a picnic in the park near Aparto, although the mosquitos made it hard for me to stay there long. Regardless, it was a nice evening spent with my friends. We spent the day at a spa on Sunday, which was an amazing experience. There were many different facilities offered by the spa, including probably 10-15 different saunas, steam rooms, hold and cold water therapy, pools, nap rooms, etc. It was an amazing treat, and I am glad we had the opportunity to spend the day there. 

1. Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
   1. 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.
2. Professors Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar
   1. 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.
3. Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company
   1. 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!
4. Social and Cultural immersion through travels in Italy and Europe. 
   1. 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. 

 

1. Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
   1. This week in Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility, we debated whether the recently-released statement from the Business Roundtable about the purpose of a corporation was purely rhetoric, or if it will prompt real change. I find this debate extremely interesting because I genuinely am torn between both arguments of the debate; I always find myself doubting the true intentions of a corporation, and this statement brought about no different reaction in me. I felt that the statement from the Business Roundtable was just an attempt to follow the demands of society, wanting more accountability for corporations. I have trouble accepting that the motivations of this new statement were anything but rhetoric. However, I do find myself thinking that maybe some corporations truly will hold themselves more accountable now that more of society demands so.  
2. Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company
   1. At my internship this week I found myself nervous about making sure I am doing enough. I have not gotten many new tasks in the past week, and I get anxious that I am not doing enough. I want to make a good impression on my colleagues, so I have been asking for more to do and trying to ask for as much feedback as I can without overstepping. I also have been working to make stronger connections with my colleagues. Today, Thursday, I went with my two colleagues, Laura and Lorenzo, to the grocery store for lunch. I had already packed a lunch, but I thought it was a good idea to spend some time with them outside of the office. During lunch, we talked for an hour about random things and really enjoyed the break.  
3. Social and Cultural immersion through travels in Italy and Europe
   1. This past weekend, my friends and I flew to Barcelona on Thursday night. Our flight ended up getting delayed, so we didn’t end up arriving at our AirBnB until around 1am. However, I had a spectacular time in Barcelona. The first day we all just walked around the city and explored before getting incredible Tapas for dinner. The next day, we went on a small group boat tour that included someone driving the boat for us. It came with unlimited drinks and snacks, and we were even able to jump off of the boat and swim. Although I got seasick at some points on the boat, the captain let me drive to take my mind off of it. That night, we also got Tapas from a different restaurant, which was also delicious. 

 

1. Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
   1. This week, we continued our discussion on the responsibilities of corporations in Professor Gupta’s Corporate Social Responsibility class. I find this topic very interesting, especially because it relates to the work of my internship, which is a consulting company for such matters. I never thought that the topic of corporations operating sustainably could be so controversial – it always seemed to me that the answer is easy: corporations have an obligation to use their influence and resources responsibly for the greater good of society. However, after hearing the debates in class on Wednesday, it is clear that the issue of CSR goes much deeper than what corporations should do, but rather what they are capable of.
2. Professors Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar 
   1. This week, we took self assessments in our internship seminar to classify our cultural immersion experiences so far in Italy. I thought this was a fun activity and that it was a cool way to relate our individual experiences and beliefs to adaptation styles. I found myself relating a lot to minimization tactics, which is most likely because I had a tough time adapting initially and found it helpful to relate this new city to ones that I am used to. It was interesting seeing this tactic characterized, but it made much more sense to me once Professor Swain explained the reasoning behind said adaptation tactic. We also discussed communication tactics and how because we come from a low-context culture, it can be easy to misinterpret our colleagues at work.
3. Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company
   1. I have been struggling internally about my experience so far at my internship. I am concerned that I am not meeting the standards of my company after this past week in the internship seminar. It was mentioned that although it may seem that our companies are not asking much of us, it could be because they are expecting more from us and that we are unable to interpret this. This concerned me because I have been fairly confident of my work so far at my internship, but now I fear that they could be expecting more from me and just not saying so. To combat this, I plan on asking for feedback for my work since I have asked for little so far. However, otherwise, I thoroughly enjoy my internship. I have created relationships with almost all of my colleagues, and I have never experienced such a warm professional environment before.
4. Social and Cultural immersion through travels in Italy and Europe
   1. My friends and I traveled to Nice, France this weekend. We went to a beach club on our first day and got to enjoy a beautiful, sunny day. It was interesting to experience a beach with rocks instead of sand. It was very difficult to get into the water, but worth it once we submerged ourselves. Additionally, we got to check out Old Nice and walk around there while exploring many small side streets with unique stores and restaurants. Additionally, the food in Nice was incredible. Both dinners I had there beat every meal I have had so far since being on this trip. Although the travel to get to Nice was very long, it was 100% worth it, in my opinion. 

1. Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 

During our Corporate Social Responsibility class with Professor Gupta on Wednesday, we had an interesting discussion surrounding a classmate’s Wall Street Journal article analysis. We questioned what constitutes a product as “ethical,” and where is the line drawn for consumers when it comes to purchasing “sustainable” or “ethical” products? I posed the idea that many consumers don’t really have strategies to prove that the “ethical” products they are buying are actually ethical. Instead, I theorized that even though there is no proof to our “sustainable” purchases, consumers will still willingly pay more, on occasion, so they can fall asleep at night knowing that they made the more “ethical” purchase. The lengthy discussion posed a lot of new questions in my mind that I didn’t have previously. Also, we had some students present their findings for our homework assignment due Monday. I found it interesting to hear which corporate governance structures my classmates believed were better than others when comparing their assigned company to its competitor. The findings gave me a better understanding of factors to consider when analyzing a company’s corporate governance.   

1. Professors Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar 

This week in Professors Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar, we dove deeper into the topic of differences in Italian and American culture. Some examples of this were like school pride and investment in politics. I found it interesting when we discussed the potential reasons why American universities may have more “school pride” than Italian ones. One of these reasons could be because of the competition that surrounds getting into an American university, while for Italian ones there is little to no stress involved in attending a university. Also, it is more common for Americans to pay much more to attend university, while Italians typically pay little to nothing for their education. I also found it very interesting that 90% of Italian companies are “micro” – consisting of 10 or less employees. However, being “micro” doesn’t signify any less success for these companies, which is surprising to me when I imagine a small American company. 

1. Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company

This week at my internship I received quite a few more tasks, although the easygoing environment of my workplace has prevented myself from feeling any excess stress. During the week, we celebrated my boss Viviana’s birthday, and my other boss Camilla brought in a homemade cake with chocolate ganache and homemade caramel sauce on it. We all sat around and ate the delicious cake while chatting for quite some time – it reminded me of my family gatherings back at home where I am at ease and enjoying myself. Furthermore, I realize I have gotten quite comfortable at work – I enjoy my time spent with all of my colleagues, and I am getting more of a sense of how close they are, as well as how involved they are to sustainability, which their jobs all revolve around.  

1. Social and Cultural immersion through travels in Italy and Europe.

Over the weekend, I was able to see my parents off before they left on Saturday morning. They had spent the week traveling around Italy, so I was very happy to see them and hear about their travels before leaving the next day. We met up at a delicious dinner on Friday night. The next day, I joined my friends and fellow IES students on the IES-sponsored trip to Lake Como. We trained to Varenna and Bellano and got to explore both towns. I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful views in both areas. Although I had to leave early, I am glad that I was able to go on the trip for the day. The short train ride made the experience very smooth for me. On Sunday, I wanted to walk around the city and explore some areas on my own. Doing so, I walked to La Scala, a world-famous opera house. I had heard about it from many people before going to Milan, and I am glad I was able to walk by it. I am hoping to get tickets for the opera at La Scala before leaving Milan.

1. Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

This week in Professor Gupta’s Corporate Social Responsibility course, we had multiple discussions and in class debates over various topics. Most were surrounding the general theme of free markets and government intervention. This came into play when we discussed my classmate’s Wall Street Journal article that she analyzed for homework a few weeks ago. The article discussed Planet Fitness and their policy to be inclusive regarding their changing rooms. A transgender woman was photographed in the women’s changing room and the person who took the photo criticized Planet Fitness’s inclusive policies and “judgment-free” culture that the gym is known for. Myself and many students had a lot to say about this topic, and it was a very interesting discussion to have for one of the first debates of the semester. 

 

1. Professors Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar

This week in our internship seminar, a debate was aroused surrounding a story we all analyzed. The story was of a professionally accomplished man who desperately wanted to achieve a goal of climbing a mountain. In the Himalayas – possibly one of his last chances. On his way up, the man and the rest of the hikers accompanying him encounter a dying Sadhu. The question remained after reading the story of whether or not it was ethical of the man and the group to leave the Sadhu for dead so that they could accomplish their goal. It was interesting seeing two teams debate over this because it was clear that the opposing team (the one defending the man leaving the Sadhu for dead) was having a difficult time coming up with a strong argument. However, it was very impressive that they were still able to come up with a position on why it was not unethical to leave the Sadhu without help. The question ended up being related to corporate ethics which was interesting as well. 

 

1. Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company

This week, I got to know many of my coworkers better. On Tuesday, the only people in the office were myself, Lorenzo, and Laura. For a while, we got to talking about their time in high school and university, discussing the similarities and differences of American vs. Italian schooling systems. Today, my first full day at the internship, was interesting to say the least. I honestly didn’t know what to expect for today. I was scared that I would not have enough to do to fill the time, and of course I ended up being wrong. Throughout the day, however, I enjoyed time with my colleagues; we had many coffee breaks, my coworker Camilla and I went to a local grocery store for lunch, and the whole office ate together. After we ate, myself and a few other coworkers went to a local café for yet another coffee break. Although I had drunk enough coffee at that point to last me a week, I still accompanied them but just didn’t get anything. I am content to have experienced a real full day of work here. 

 

1. Social and Cultural immersion through travels in Italy and Europe

Although I did not expect it to be, this week was very eventful. On Sunday, I went to Santa Margherita with a group of friends and had an incredible day. We spent the day on the beach and shopping. Also, because we were in the Genoa region, we all got pesto, which Genoa is known for producing. Later, what we thought was going to be a smooth way home, we ended up being stuck on public transportation for hours and got back very late. We ended up taking a four hour train (instead of two), a metro, a bus, and then when the bus wouldn’t come, we began to walk back from the Duomo. However, after twenty minutes we realized that our guide (Abi) was leading us in the wrong direction, so we ended up ubering back to Aparto. Despite these unfortunate events, they didn’t matter because the day was so fun.

My friends and I had known for a few days that one of our favorite artists, Lana Del Ray, would be playing in Milan on Tuesday. This was very exciting because there aren’t many opportunities to go to her concerts in the United States. We all really wanted to go, but we knew that we had our Internship Seminar that day. Right before the class, we decided to take a risk and get tickets anyway. The concert was supposed to start at 5pm, and we got there at around 7:45pm. She didn’t even begin playing until 9pm, so we were very glad that we decided to go. It was an incredible experience!

 

1. Professor Gupta’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
   1. Although we have still yet to have our first Corporate Social Responsibility class here in Milan yet, my classmates and I still completed another Wall Street Journal assignment this week. These assignments have become very interesting for myself, and I am excited to continue them, as they help me remain updated in current events in the business world. This week, I read and analyzed what I found to be an extremely interesting article surrounding the potential merge of two major energy companies, Hess and Chevron. Additionally, the article gives details on the arbitration that subsequently arose, brought about by another major energy company, ExxonMobil. I found this article to be very interesting because of the contingencies that this deal between Hess and Chevron relies on. There are many different factors that could lead to this deal falling through, a major one being the arbitration brought about by ExxonMobil. I felt that this article relates to our Corporate Social Responsibility course because of the pressure put on Hess’ shareholders to vote in favor of the merger, despite the risk they would be taking on by doing so. If the deal between Hess and Chevron falls through, there would be an expensive fee paid to Chevron, a “breakup” fee, that would negatively impact Hess and its shareholders.

 

1. Professors Swain and Gupta’s Internship Seminar 
   1. I just completed my first few assignments for Professor Swain’s and Professor Gupta’s Internship Seminar. Before doing so, I read the story “The Head or the Heart” as a part of the assignments. This story discusses the differences in work cultures between America and other countries. For example, in the article, it states how Americans view trust in a cognitive sense, where it is based on accomplishments. On the other hand, countries such as Brazil and Italy view the merit of trust to be built off of relationships – affective trust. I found this to be extremely interesting because I was able to relate this to my experiences so far at my internship – relationships play a crucial role in the workplace, especially when it comes to trust and comfortability. I am looking forward to this coming week so I can relate more of my personal experiences to this article that I read.

 

1. Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company
   1. This week, although it has only been a few days, I have very much enjoyed my internship so far. My colleagues are all extremely friendly and welcoming, and I look forward to becoming more comfortable with them and getting to know each other more. However, I have realized that although accomplishments are not as important when building trust vs relationships, I still have received tasks that are not as I expected. In America, when I imagine internship tasks, I envision busywork that doesn’t hold much weight or contribute much to the overall health of the company. However, so far I feel that my tasks in my Italian internship hold more weight and carry much more significance to the company and its work. This is most likely attributed to the fact that my company, along with the companies of many of my other classmates, is much smaller than a typical American company. This means that our work at these companies is more helpful than the busywork we most likely would have been given at an American internship. Although I felt slightly more stress and pressure because of this aspect, I also feel more important and more like a true part of the team at my company.

 

1. Social and Cultural immersion through travels in Italy and Europe. 
   1. Since Tuesday, my last blog post, I have not done much traveling. However, my parents just visited me, which was an incredible treat. They had made plans to visit Italy, starting with a day spent in Milan so they could see me. We got dinner on Thursday night, and on Friday I showed them around the Duomo area. Today I was supposed to join the other IES students on a hiking trip to the alps, but I felt unwell last night and thought it wise to stay back and rest today. I plan on completing my coursework due tomorrow and resting up so I am well enough to travel tomorrow. Tomorrow, my friends and I planned a trip to a beach in Genoa. We booked relatively cheap train tickets and plan on leaving early to spend the day in a small beach town in Genoa. Some of our other classmates went last Sunday, and they gave us some recommendations for which towns we should stop in. I think we plan on going to Camogli. I am excited to have a relaxing day before another busy week with my internship and the coursework that is to be completed. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My first time trying adffogato! It was delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My parents at the Duomo when we got lunch together!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Insanely delicious Cacio e Pepe!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My dad getting his first vegan gelato! He was so excited.

This week, our class will not meet for Professor Gupta’’s academic course on Corporate Social Responsibility. However, myself and the rest of my classmates had to complete a weekly assignment for this course. I felt that by completing our Wall Street Journal Entry assignment, my classmates and I got a taste of what Professor Gupta’s course will look like over the coming weeks. Each student had to select a unique article off of the Wall Street Journal – one that resonated with Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, or Corporate Ethics. After analyzing the article that we chose and posting our analysis/summary onto Course Site, we all replied to at least one other student’s post with some form of reaction. The article that I chose was called “Prices at the Pump Are Dropping Just in Time for Memorial Day Weekend.” My main analysis point consisted of the idea that lowered gasoline prices encourages higher consumption of gas and therefore greater emissions of fossil fuels, even though in this day and age it is crucial to be mindful of the negative impacts that our decisions will have on the environment. A classmate of mine, Abi, responded to my post on Course Site. She agreed with the points that I proposed, and she added that a large cause of the higher consumption of gasoline by Americans is poor urban development and planning choices. I felt that this assignment has prepared me for what to expect in Professor Gupta’s CSR class, and I am excited to hear further opinions from my classmates and have civil debates with them as the weeks go on. 

Today was our first Internship Seminar with Professors Swain and Gupta. Professor Swain had us all share our first impressions in the workplace, and it was comforting to know that a lot of my classmates and I had similar experiences. For example, at my internship as well as at some of my classmates’, our colleagues spend around the first half hour or so of work drinking coffee and chatting. Professor Swain also shared with us some tips from the students in the same program in previous years. Some of these tips included staying flexible, being proactive, asking a lot of questions and for feedback, as well as to try and always accept invitations for coffee or lunch breaks. Before class, we read about different cultural construct extremes that one falls in between when it comes to the workplace. We then discussed these cultural orientations in class and where we might fall on these spectrums. For example, one of these spectrums was organization: “schedule” vs. “flow”. I consider myself to lean more left on this scale, as I prefer to map out my days in advance and remain prepared. However, some friends of mine lean more towards the “flow” side of the spectrum, where they can push things back, be late, or reschedule without a problem. It was interesting to hear how these cultural orientations apply to a typical work environment. I am interested to learn more about these different cultural constructs in the workplace. 

I have completed two half days at my internship so far. Although today is only Tuesday and I have had little experience working so far, I feel that I will enjoy my summer working at Goodpoint. Goodpoint is a consulting firm that is also a certified B Corporation that provides aid to not-for-profit companies. Yesterday, my first day at Goodpoint, I helped a colleague, Camilla, research articles that Goodpoint will publish on their website this month. This “newsletter” has many different informative news articles surrounding Corporate Social Responsibility, Environmental Social Governance (ESG), as well as other business-sustainability news. I felt that this task helped me highlight researching skills that I may have learned so far at Lehigh, and I also enjoyed the articles that I was reading – I found them to be very interesting being a business student. Today, I joined in on a meeting where I was briefed on the tasks that I should attempt to complete over the next week or so. My colleagues Marco, Laura, and Francesca explained to me that they would like me to check over a list of 50 US foundations and ensure that the information about each foundation is still true, as this list was last checked sometime last year. For example, I had to double check that The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation still does not provide unsolicited grants, as well as that they still aid foreign (specifically Italian) companies. Our next meeting to discuss my progress will be on Thursday.  

Although this was only my first week here in Milan, it is safe to say that I have already experienced quite a bit of Social and Cultural immersion in this short period of time. The trip through IES to Lake Maggiore was incredible. We went this past Saturday and had an incredible time. The group was taken to three islands by boat, all of which were incredibly beautiful. The next day, myself and a few others went to a vintage flea market in Milano. We found unique vintage pieces and had an amazing day just walking around – the beautiful weather definitely helped with that. Additionally, throughout this past week, my friends and I have walked around the Duomo area, and we have already found spots that we thoroughly enjoyed. For example, a gelato place right in the center of the Duomo area had incredible Nutella gelato where we got to see the staff mixing it themselves. Another interesting experience I had in the Duomo area was when random men grabbed my hand and put bird seed in it so that many pigeons flew onto me. After being attacked by pigeons and having more bird seed continuously and forcefully put into my hand, I was asked to pay these men for the experience… I would recommend staying away from this area. However, I made light of the situation and now find it funny (although I am never going near a pigeon again).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second day of work outfit – when I realized I could dress more casual.

 

 

 

 

 

Trip to Lago Maggiore!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage flea market in Milano.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome white peacock at Lago Maggiore!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful alleyway in another of the Lago Maggiore islands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pigeon incident at Duomo…

 

 

 

 

In the first class we had on Thursday, March 28, 2024, regarding the upcoming Lehigh-in-Milan program, professor Gupta gave us an introduction to his self as a professor, as well as to the program that will be starting in less than two months. When Professor Gupta discussed the Corporate Social Responsibility course that we will be taking with him in Milan, my interest was immediately peaked. I find the topics that we will be discussing in class very interesting, and I am excited that we can all share our opinions about each topic respectfully with one another. I expect to gain a professional edge from this course regarding how public corporations have a responsibility to society, and I hope that what I gain from this class will stick with me once I enter the professional world.

Although there is still much to find out about the internship seminar that we will be attending in Milan, I expect to learn important information regarding the internships that we will have in Milan, as well as other tips for internships in the following summer. Regarding the internship in Milan, I anticipate that the seminar will teach me the professional behavior and culture that I must know going into the internship in a different country. I hope that the transition is easy and that the seminar helps me get there. I also hope that the seminar retunes my experience and how I can appeal said experience to attract future internships.

I am still unsure of what my actual internship will be in Milan. However, I have an interview with a company called “Good Point” next week. It is a consulting company that also works with companies to achieve corporate social responsibility. I still hope to learn more about the company by doing the interview, and I am excited to meet Vivian, who I have been in contact with so far. Additionally, the idea of gaining my first real professional internship experience makes me very hopeful and excited for my future, and I look forward to see what comes from it.

The Italian language course that myself and other students will be taking should hopefully be extremely helpful, especially when we first arrive in Milan. I am slightly nervous about how I will adjust once I arrive, but I know that the anxiety will soon be overcome with excitement. I know that the difference in culture will make me more observant, as I want to ensure that I am respectful and abide by the culture of the country that I will be staying in. The trips that I have planned so far along with other students in the program are already making me expect a super fun 7 weeks. I also can’t wait to try the food!

Allison Dubler