This week in our Corporate Social Responsibility class we had a bit of a change from our normal schedule. On Tuesday, we visited Circularity to hear about their sustainable start-up company. My favorite part of this trip was when we watched a ted-talk about how the minerals that go into our smartphones come from conflict mines in the Congo. I never stopped to think before about how I can’t open my phone up to fix it which naturally leads to a lot more waste. I later learned that this was an intentional move of cell phone organizations to gain more profit. I was very intrigued when Professor Gupta explained that there was a time when the government-mandated corporations disclosed where their minerals were sourced from in an effort to reduce the resources bought from conflict areas. However, the class as a whole agreed that we would previously never look at where the materials from our phones were sourced which makes the disclosure legislation less effective. I began to think a lot about how much waste I produce on a daily basis and how so many of the items I use on a daily basis are far from sustainable. I would like to take some tips from Circularity going forward and attempt to work on limiting the amount of waste I create. I also have begun thinking about how I can integrate sustainability into my life at school or within my sorority house.

This week I have been working on my final presentation for TempoCasa. Jon and I were assigned the responsibility of analyzing why real estate agents have such different connotations in America and Italy. We have also begun creating marketing strategies that TempoCasa can use in order to brand its real estate agents better. I have noticed that across all of the real estate companies I have researched in Italy, they rarely market photos of their properties on their social media platforms. This was strange to me as American real estate companies prioritize photographs of their new listings in order to attract new customers. When I asked my supervisor about this difference, she stated that Italians are much more relationship-oriented. Therefore, they appeal to a consumer’s emotions and try to exemplify the relationships which can be nurtured in a new home. I then had to change my marketing suggestions in order to make real estate agents appear much more emotional. Previously in Italian history, real estate agents have been seen as greedy and selfish. Therefore, I am still working on creating ways that this image can be shifted. 

Last weekend I traveled to Prague. This was such an interesting experience because Prague was very different from any city I have seen before. The architecture there is so unique with distinguishing colors and dates back to the 800s. My favorite places that I visited (as suggested by Professor Gupta) were the Prague Castle conglomerate and also the old Prague Clocktower. I was amazed by the view of the city from the castle which allowed me to see the U.S. embassy as well as the beautiful river. Although the food in Italy is amazing, I think that Prague still has my favorite food. I had two meals that featured duck and potato dumplings. Czech is known for making beef with a carrot sauce that was outstanding. Some cultural factor I noticed was that Czech people were very nationalistic. The people we spoke to were very proud of their customs and history. Almost all of the kids our age there knew the history of the buildings we were passing by which is different than what I have experienced in America. Also, the Czech people were extremely friendly and not as rude to tourists as they were in France.