Lehigh-in-Milan with Professor Gupta

This week in my internship, I worked to finish up some of the things I had been working on over the course of the summer. First, I had to make some corrections to my supplier database. While I had completed all of the information, I had to go into the individual form entries and approve the suppliers for use in our accounting system. Once I was able to clear all of the entries, I then had to input some invoices for the company. I have found my time at Clarkson Hyde this summer very rewarding. I was able to make real connections with my colleagues, and learn both hard and soft skills. While I gained proficiency in excel and some accounting software, I also learned how to problem solve and think on my feet.

In class this week, I was able to watch the final presentations of all of the different groups within my academic course on corporate social responsibility. Some of the topics covered were the impacts of big pharma, the gender pay gap in corporate america, and free speech and social media. One of the presentations that stuck out to me the most was regarding social media and its impact on teens. I always understood that the idea of comparisons to unreal standards  and cyberbullying on social media were negative effects, but the studies used by the group regarding lack of sleep and wasted time really opened my eyes to the other realities of the negative effects social media can have on teens. 

As it was my last week in Milan, I wanted to be able to visit some of my favorite places from my time spent here. I had my last dinner with friends, after taking a boat ride on the canals with the whole program. The networking event, held on wednesday, was a wonderful way to end the trip. I was able to meet all of my friends’ work sponsors, and spend some time with mine outside of the workplace environment. While I knew I would be seeing the people on this trip from Lehigh again, it was difficult to say goodbye to my workplace colleagues and the IES staff as I would likely never see them again. It is always a very bittersweet thing when people are a large part of your life for a short amount of time, making such an impact on you in the small period you spend together. However, I know the connections I have made over my time in Milan will be everlasting.

This week in class we presented our final projects! My group’s project discussed ESG investing and whether or not it has a bright future. We provided both sides of the argument but ultimately came to the conclusion that it does have a future. This is due to the substantial pressure from the public and the SEC towards corporations to operate more sustainably. I really enjoyed listening to each presentation and learned a lot about various CSR topics that are relevant in today’s business world. Overall, I can gladly say this was one of my favorite classes I have taken at Lehigh. Professor Gupta provided a rigorous course that truly made me look at corporations from a different perspective. I now have a better understanding of the importance of ethics when running a company. I hope to apply what I have learned throughout this course to my future career.

At HERE Fashion Hub we had our final presentation and meetings with the team. Alex, Gunnar, and I developed a business strategy presentation that went over each task we have performed and gave our personal advice for what next steps the company must take. We also attended a networking event organized by IES. At the event we talked to other employers and had food and drinks. After our final presentation, we attended apertivo with our company. It was a very fun experience and great way to say goodbye to everyone. I truly had a great work experience and recommend others to apply for this program.

I can’t believe this was our last week in Milan. Time truly does fly when you’re having a great time. We had an eventful week taking in our last moments in this beautiful city. On Monday, we celebrated Pat’s birthday by grabbing a beer at the canals. On Thursday, my friends and I went shopping for our families. We walked along our favorite street for shopping. My favorite store by far in Milan is ‘Special.’ On Friday, my friends and I got gelato at La Romano, the best in the world. We also attended a boat tour along the canals with our program. Saturday morning, my friend Jackson and I woke up at 5am to watch the sunrise at the Duomo one last time. We then left for the airport and said goodbye to the lovely city and friends we made along the way. This experience was truly life-changing, and I am leaving as a much better individual.

Academic Course on Corporate Social Responsibility

This week in class we watched another film pertaining the profit maximization and corporate greed of another American institution. Unlike the gas and electric company from last week, this weeks film called Civil Action surrounded two large corporations, specifically their leather factor subsidiary. Once again, children in the communities of these corporations were dying, however, the companies would rather pay the fine and sweep the problem under the rug rather than spend the money to correctly address the issue. On Thursday we presented our highly anticipated final presentations. My team presented on the Wells Fargo cross-selling standards and the implications of companies who are “too big too fail”. This was a great change in spend from your typical classroom environment. I learned so much from my peers were as they were presenting was able to ask questions that really got the whole class thinking towards solutions. Without a doubt, out of all of my schooling this class so far has been my favorite and most rewarding.

Practicum in Milan with an Italian Company

I was very sad and growing sentimental as it was my last week in the office. This 10 person office truly grew to grow as a little family. In the office during the last week there was a lot of talking and them planning trips to NYC and insisting we get dinner whenever they come to the states. As a thank you and goodbye gift I got the office a box of chocolates in which they were extremely happy to recieve. I am so grateful to have been given such a welcoming and unforgettable experience from my coworkers. On Wednesday, we attended an IES networking event which I was beyond excited for as my supervisor, Veronica Soriano, would get to meet all my friends and professors that I have been talking about for the past 6 weeks. It was truly a perfect goodbye as we told stories, had drinks and appetizers, and enjoyed each others company.

Social and Cultural Immersion through travels in Italy and Europe

As this was the last week, we did not travel to any nearby European country this weekend. My friends and I spent the last week going to a favorite pizza spots, favorite dinners, and of course of favorite gelato spots. We spent that last few days spending time with the whole program and enjoying each others company. One of my favorite nights was going to drinks with Mr. and Ms. Gupta after dinner. We talked about our experiences in Milan and how grateful we were to be given this opportunity. My friends and I all closely tuned in as Professor shared his amazing stories, gave inspiration, and of course we chatted about CSR for a little bit. I am very lucky to have a professor who cares as much as Professor Gupta does.

This week was super hot out so I didn’t do as much sightseeing in Milan, but I kept myself occupied with the work I had and cooking. I made aglio e olio (garlic and oil) but I added too much garlic and my hands smelled of garlic for the next few days. This week I was also able to finally analyze all the data I collected from the IES classes. Throughout the past few weeks, my internship group members and I have been going to each section of the IES students and presenting Vado and what we do there. The main purpose of this, however, is to get them to fill out my survey where I am to gather market trends and preferences for Vado to use as it expands into the US market. This week we finished and I analyzed all the responses – we got about 66. I also finished the analysis of the Design Week survey where we got a lot more responses. We found that Americans have incredibly different travel habits than Italians. 

I also got to see Italian’s travel patterns again this weekend because I went to Amsterdam, Netherlands to visit one of my best friends from Lehigh and meet up with one of my best friends from high school. It was incredibly difficult to get to the airport because my flight was really early in the morning so there were no busses running, but there was also a taxi strike. Italy’s ubers and taxis/car services are also connected because of a law somehow so all ubers are professional drivers and were also not running. It was incredibly frustrating because I had no choice but to wait for the bus and risk being late for my flight. I ended up just making it by a few minutes, but that wasn’t the end of my travel difficulties as I would see a couple of days later. 

While in Amsterdam, we went to a couple of museums such as the Moco Museum and the Stedelijk while we were there. The Moco Museum has artists such as Banksy, Yayoi Kusama, and Jeff Koons who were all people I knew from past art classes so it was cool to see their work in person. We got coffee at a couple of places, but you have to be careful because Coffeeshop means a shop that lets you smoke weed and Koffieshop is an actual cafe with coffee. One of my friends who we also met up with us taught us about this sipping liqueur that they started making in the 15th century in the same building they were operating out of today. The next day we walked around the city and tried a bunch of vegan foods because they had a surprising amount of vegan restaurants. Later in the night, my flight for early the next morning was canceled so I had to find another flight for later which meant more time in Amsterdam, but it was very stressful trying to figure this out while not by my computer. After that stressful experience, we got a couple of drinks and decided to wander past the Red Light District. This was very troubling for me, not because of the sex workers doing their jobs, but because of the men milling around treating my friend and me with no respect. I wasn’t going to let this ruin the image of Amsterdam in my mind however so we went back to the hostel. This was my first time staying in a hostel, but it was a great experience because everyone was super friendly and we met a bunch of people. The next day we went on an audio tour by Rick Steves who has a bunch of free ones on an app he made. We tried stroopwafel, two crispy waffles with sweet syrup inside that are sometimes dipped in toppings, and walked around the city. 

We heard there was a strike at the airport so we got there extra early, however, the end of the line stretched about .3 miles from the airport. Once inside the airport, the line weaved back and forth so I was in line for about 1.5-2 hours. The people around me in line had traveled the world and said this was the longest line they had ever seen. Once finally through the line, it was incredibly packed in every square inch of the airport. Then coming home to Milan the taxis were still on strike so everyone was waiting for a bus, which was the most packed bus I had ever seen. I could not move an inch and neither could anyone around me. It made me appreciate having a car in the US and being able to get around a lot easier without having to rely on public transport or taxis. 

As my experience in Milan comes to an end, I find it hard to believe that I have been here for a little over a month.

In Professor Gupta’s class, our curriculum has had a great impact on my perspective in regards to socioeconomic and corporate governance. We spent this week watching, and discussing a movie which depicted the Hinkley groundwater scandal perpetrated by Pacific Gas and Electric. More specifically it looked into one woman, Erin Brockovich, and the steps she took to hold PG&E responsible for their actions. PG&E was responsible for not only polluting the water for miles in California for years, but taking active steps to cover it up and prevent litigation through threats and settlements. Watching how many hoops she had to jump through to simply take the company to court was upsetting, and made me seriously consider our legal system and its relation to business’s unethical actions. It seemed as if sometimes it is almost easier to let said companies continue with their unethical actions then to make the accountable. Thankfully they were found guilty and charged nearly half a billion dollars.

In regards to my internship Sean, Alex and I have been finishing up our final business plan for Vado. This consists of creating a presentation which includes Financial analysis of similar companies based on financial indicators which we found most pertinent to success, marketing strategy, and cash flow management. Our goal as a group was to discover how the company can make themselves as attractive as possible for investment. Our boss is located in Hong Kong currently, so our work and subsequent feedback has been done over Zoom. Overall, my experience with Vado has been incredibly fulfilling and educational. I have learned a lot about startup culture and how to keep a small business afloat.

This past weekend three friends of mine and I traveled to Rome. The city had the most interesting infrastructure by far. Prague was a close second; however, Rome was not only older, but seemingly had something on every street corner. It was almost as you couldn’t go ten feet without seeing something over 600 years old. The architecture and statues were incredibly impressive, the feats of engineering almost seemed impossible for the time. The Coliseum, albeit extremely deteriorated from time and weather, was by far the greatest building I have ever seen. We got to experience a public mass at the Vatican, and even got to see the Pope! My favorite part; however, was the Trevi Fountain, which looked as if it had been built yesterday. The intricate statues and artwork could be stared at for hours. It seemed almost impossible not to jump in! Rome was also, by far, the most tourist laden city I have been to, with almost everyone we ran into being a non-Italian. It was nice to see a lot of American faces, and did not take anything away form the experience.

Photos from our trip

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Our second to last week here in Milan encompassed a lot of wrapping things up, especially in Professor Gupta’s class. Our first class of the week was especially unorthodox, taking a trip to Circularity instead of a traditional lecture. Circularity is a very interesting company that aims to change the way individuals and companies behave within the economy. Their goal is to promote a circular economy, where companies reuse materials to their longest extent before using new ones. They gave us a presentation detailing to us what they do, how they do it, and the outcomes of their work. In our second class of the week, we went back to the corporation as we watched “Corporations and the Environment”. The movie detailed a legal struggle of a hopeless, single mother who went up to combat large-scale corporate fraud.

Moving into Tempocasa this week, it was really nothing out of the ordinary. After finishing our first presentation last week, we spent this week researching the topics for our second presentation which we will be presenting next Thursday. While our last presentation highlighted what made US real estate companies so successful and how Italian companies could copy that strategy, our next presentation focuses solely on the agents. We are looking at how real estate agents gain the trust of the people they work for and how they are able to be so much more effective in their job than Italian real estate agents. Specific highlights of our presentation include a deep analysis of Tempocasa agents and how it compares to agents of Douglas Elliman, a US firm.

This past week in Italy encompasses so much that I was not able to cover in my last blog, including the past two weekends away and a half week within Milan. The previous weekend I was able to go to Budapest which, even more so than Italy, blew my mind as to what I was able to do as a 20-year-old. I visited monuments, the Parliament building, climbed a mountain, and ruin bars at night. I was even able to take a boat that sailed across the Danube, the massive river that separated Buda from Pest.  This past weekend I went on a trip to Barcelona. I know a survivable amount of Spanish so it felt nice to not be completely lost in a city for once. I think Barcelona was the coolest city I have visited on this trip, it is such a massive city that combines so much old with new. The beaches were unique, the paella was excellent, and the clubs were massive.

As our time in Milan approaches the end, I feel as though our classes have also come to a full circle. I enjoyed the movie we watched in class this week, Erin Brockovich, as it showed a case where ethics and morals were questioned, which is a big part of CSR. Throughout our time in this class we’ve had discussions about controversial topics, cases and corporations that were faced with issues that all come down corporate social responsibility. Listening to these topics and my peers opinions on them, have certainly kept me informed and gotten me to relate to past things that I have read or seen in the news. In Professor Swains class, we watched a video about why Americans think they are the greatest country in the world. This video was interesting and funny to say the least, as it showed the flaws of many different individuals and how this contributes to how Americans think as a whole.

As for our internship, Jackson and I have concluded our first project and were introduced to a new, smaller one. Our second project is about breaking up and analyzing data from different industries and business sectors. More specifically, we are analyzing importing and exporting trends to and from European countries. I think I will enjoy this because it splits up 13 different industries so it is interesting to see what countries have what relationship in a certain industry. After visiting the University of Bergamo I feel like I have developed an actual relationship with my work and not as though I’m just doing homework. Overall, I’m very excited to conclude my internship and share my thoughts and experiences with my friends and family back home.

This week and weekend, for the first time, I didn’t leave Milan. Instead I spent the week with my friends hanging out in the apartment, going to the gym and playing basketball. On Wednesday I enjoyed an amazing dinner at Professor Guptas with several of my friends. We drank, got to know one another better and ate a lot of good food provided by Mrs. Gupta. I was glad I went and had the opportunity to get to know my peers and professor better in a way that most likely wouldn’t be possible back home. On the weekend, I went for run by Bocconi University, cooked food and relaxed. It was nice to have a weekend of recovering after a couple weeks of being sick and constantly on the go. I can’t wait for the last weekend in Milan and the memories and adventures it will bring.