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. 

This week I went to Cinque Terre which means five lands. They used to be 5 fishing villages scattered along the coast and built on the sides of mountains and valleys. They are known for their pesto and focaccia so we got paninis (sandwiches) that had both and I think it was the best sandwich I have ever had. We had a lovely time sipping wine on the rocks next to the beach and relaxing. Because it was going to only be a day trip we decided to get an Airbnb so we could stay a little longer. The next day we explored more of the terres and went to the beach again. When we got back to work I was instructed to gather data from all the surveys I collected, analyze them, and put it into a slideshow to present to the whole company. It was interesting to see how differently Italians travel versus how Americans do. For instance, most of their trips are shorter in duration probably because everything in Europe is so close. As for classes I’m definitely seeing the impacts of what we talk about daily. I have gotten used to thinking about how corporations affect our daily lives and discussing it with friends.

I also traveled to Pforzheim and Baden-Baden Germany to visit some of my friends who are studying and living there. We talked about the differences in German, Italian, and American cultures and it was interesting to see how similar but different Germans were to Italians. I also had missed seeing my friends and it was a whole new experience getting to adventure abroad together. Germans are a lot more accommodating when it comes to food because I had no trouble eating there at all and they had many options of things I could eat that were vegetarian/vegan. Usually, when I get food in Italy it is the same iteration of tomato, cheese, basil, and either bread or pasta so I was really happy to try different things. They even had vegan schnitzel and I have never had real schnitzel so I didn’t know what to expect. It was not what I expected because I thought it was going to be a wiener but it was more like a flat pancake. I also went to a Biergarten and tried a German Radler which was beer mixed with a citric soda (probably sprite). I also got to meet their German friends who were not like the stereotypical germans at all. They were all funny, nice, and welcoming and they spoke English extremely well. I was shocked that they cared about the environment even more than Italians. They don’t have AC in most of their buildings which got to be quite a struggle as temperatures rose to 95 degrees. I care deeply about the environment so I was happy to not cause any issues for the environment, but I don’t think I have ever been that hot for so long. The people all around were kind and helpful for instance at the airport I was running late because of train delays and a family let me skip in front of them. Then in security, I was bringing my dad home a present for fathers day and the TSA agent inspected it and let me through with it because he could tell that I was really bummed he had to confiscate it. I want to go back to Germany and visit some of the bigger cities but for now Auf Wiedersehen!

 

This week was design week in Milan! Design week is where smaller designers and artists really get to showcase what they can do by having exhibitions, events, and many other methods of promotion. One of the biggest parts of the city that had things going on was Brera which is a little north of the duomo but there is another neighborhood west of Navigli where there are things going on too. My company had a small campaign in this area where they rented a Tuktuk, decorated it, and invited people on the street to experience “a moment of calm” where we would put an Oculus VR (virtual reality) headset on them and have them virtually go on an adventure. The “moment of calm” during the travel was supposed to emulate how the product would make you feel when you traveled because it is all about trying to make traveling less stressful, especially the packing portion. Our boss was gracious enough to let me and the other intern who came from IES abroad walk around and explore design week after we handed out merch and asked people to take our survey which we were trying to get roughly 300 responses for. In this area and in the days that followed we saw many cool designers both large and small (Hermes and one I don’t remember but they had a very large bunny in the middle of all their furniture) showing off their work. During this week especially I got the sense that Italians really value their art and design because it was all anyone would talk about and the city was bustling with different events to go to. 

My coworker, after exploring and finishing our work at the Tuktuk, decided to get an apertivo while it was pouring outside. It usually never rains for long here but this case was different. An apertivo is a premeal drink that is supposed to “wet your appetite” and they are traditionally served with some sort of small bites when eaten in a restaurant. Since turning 21 I have tried to like Aperol spritzes for a long time and I think this week I am pleased to report that I finally enjoy them. This drink is very common everywhere and you won’t see a single restaurant that doesn’t have one on the menu. I have also tried their more bitter counterpart called a “Campari Spritz” but I would not order another one of those unless my life depended on it. I am trying to still learn Italian and have been learning new words every day but I am still far from being a local. I have tried to do as the Italians though and go on long strolls to people watch and not had any specific goal in mind and it has been very peaceful. I have also gotten into reading at cafes to take a break from internship and school work. Tomorrow we are all going to Cinque Terre or “5 cities” where they were all once fishing villages nestled into the side of a coastal mountain, so I am very excited to get to see more of this beautiful country.

Academic Course in Corporate Social Responsibility

This week’s course content I found very interesting because I thought it was very applicable to my past experiences and hopefully future ones. I found the video that we watched in class to be extremely disturbing and it gave me a lot of food for thought. The most concerning thing for me was the environment because that is a source of stress for me every day and I feel like it is only getting worse because of these corporations. I think by being conscious of it always everyone together can mitigate the massive impact we are having on our planet.

We went shopping along a street full of stories that I didn’t recognize and they were all small brands and upcycle thrift stores. I thought this is very interesting because I thought as one of the fashion capitals of the world that there would not be these small boutiques. Also, thrift stores I didn’t think would be a very big thing. I did find a lot of unique items and I was happy that they weren’t generic and most likely done in a sweatshop. Also, the part in the video where it was talking about the children working in sweatshops made me think a lot about where my clothes come from and has definitely played a part in my shopping decisions since we’ve been here.

Internship

This week the work for my internship started picking up a lot more and I was able to create a survey to give to the IES students and I corrected the survey that one of my supervisors wrote in English that we will be using to survey at least 300 people on the street during design week. I have been utilizing the IES center a lot and have been able to complete a lot of my work outside of the office. I would say not a lot of my work is done in the office and I mostly receive tasks that I am to work on remotely and the time in the office is mostly to check in and discuss plans and objectives. Most of the time we sit and chat with the people working there and talk about either the things going on in Milan or the cultural differences we have found in our time here.

Social and Cultural Immersion

I tried risotto here for the first time which is a nice switch up from the typical margarita pizza or Caprese. I am also learning a lot more Italian and I’m really proud of myself when I can communicate with someone and I can understand what they mean fully in Italian. I also went out to the Italian clubs and it’s very interesting to see how the people interacted because it was very different than in America but there were some similarities. I noticed there were a lot of songs that were popular in America a year ago or more which I thought was funny because I wouldn’t say they were popular in America anymore at all. I also found it easier to tell who is American and who is not either by brands, jewelry, the way they move about, or the mannerisms they have. One big thing is that we wear brighter colors and less clothing than the average Italian and our shoes are a big give away. I have not seen any Italians in converse or any brand like that which I found funny because I thought they were pretty popular all around the world. We have gotten the opportunity to travel a lot here which is a lot easier in the US because you can take a train anywhere and there is not so much planning involved. The train rides and waiting for food and drinks tends to take up a lot of time so I bought deck of cards (or so I thought) but it turned out to be an Italian game called Scopa which Jenny knew how to play and taught a bunch of us. It was really fun and I’m glad I accidentally bought it!

My journey to Milan started at 11:00 am when my friend drove me to the Allentown airport where I caught a bus to the Newark airport where I would spend several hours practicing Italian and catching up on assigned readings. After arriving in Milan, we ventured to a pasteria where I had my espresso of many and tried a new kind of pasta called Trofie.

We then got settled into our Apartos and did a housing tour then went to meet up with the rest of the IES program. I actually reconnected with a friend I made my junior year of high school during a summer program at a different university, so it was great to see a friendly face I hadn’t seen in a long time. Small world! I learned to ask the bartender for their favorite drink because they probably like making it. He recommended a St. Lucia and it was a hit that almost everyone behind me ordered.

After meeting a lot of new people from different schools, we decided to go to the Duomo because AC Milan won their championship and the team was going to parade in the square. Everyone was decked out in red and black and there were chants, flares lit, and horns blasting all around. On our way back we had to walk all the way back to Aparto, but it wasn’t bad because we were able to go through places like the mall. It was even better when we found P1, Pizzeria 1, next to Aparto where we were able to get dinner for a very reasonable price and have since been back a couple times.

Tuesday we had orientation meetings and tours of facilities all day then Wednesday we were finally able to start our internships. Mine is at HERE Fashion Hub where I am working with the marketing team to launch their new brand Vado into the US. Vado’s prototype is a luggage organizer that you can customize to fit your needs and each piece is functional on its own. We ran through the plan of what the three of us would be doing in our 6-week experience and the team was wonderfully welcoming and helpful. After a long day we went to dinner then went to the canals and had a very fun time exploring around and talking to locals.

The next day was class again then we went to a farmers market on the street on our way home. Here, I bought some second hand clothes and considered buying some vegetables and fruits but decided against it. Definitely next time. We then realized after class the next day that we had a lot of work to do so a few of us went to the IES center to do internship work and classwork.

Our first stop where they hand made all these different shapes of pasta using a special combination of 7 types of grain #GlutenFreeIsNotForMe

Italian P1