Jenny | Lehigh-in-Milan with Professor Gupta

June 26, 2022June 26, 2022

Jenny Svanson’s Blog Post # 5: Week Ending 06/26/2022

For our last weekend abroad we decided to spend it in Barcelona. Our first day there we spent exploring the area around our AirBnB. We were staying right near La Sagrada Familia and spent a lot of time wandering around the church area. After that we decided to head a bit far away and go see Camp Nou. We were able to enter the stadium and take pictures near the field, sit on the benches, and sit in the stands as well. We spent some time wandering around the museum and shop before it closed for the evening. We then headed to a late dinner on the beach and got some tapas and paella before going to Opium for the night. The next day we explored Parc Guell and spent some time enjoying the nature and artistic design of the park. Afterwards we headed to Las Ramblas to do some shopping and find a place to eat. Later in the afternoon we headed out to a beach and spent a couple hours lounging around and playing in the water. That night we got some Asian good for dinner and then went bar hopping. Our first bar was the Dow Jones bar and drink prices fluctuated as they were ordered, as well as a couple market crashes that dropped the price down. We then went to a shot bar where lots of things were being set on fire and they had well over 100 shots but they couldn’t tell us what was in any of them. On our flight back Sunday we needed up getting extremely delayed because air traffic controllers were on strike in Barcelona.

In class this week we went and visited circularity and got a presentation on the idea of the circular economy and how it works. We learned about reusing materials and how recycling isn’t actually that great for the environment. We also watched a movie this week about Erin Brockovich and how she created the case around PG&E contaminating a local towns water supply. It was interesting to see how that all went down and also to learn about how many other issues or cases that company has against them. It’s crazy to think that companies can do this and not properly inform us about things that they are doing wrong.

Things began to slow down in my internship this week and my time in Milan is coming to an end. I was mainly tasked with creating more budget analysis on products and doing more research into other sustainable hygiene products as well as cleaning products. I spent a bit more time looking into other competitors and some of the brands that they use, and then I presented my findings to my boss and gave my personal recommendation as to which would be the best product line to use from both a budget and environmental standpoint. I also spent time creating a presentation that will be sent to the property owners letting them know that Easylife is going green and asking them to do/add some items to their houses. My boss is gone for my last week in Milan so I had a meeting with her and wrapped up most of my remaining projects.

June 20, 2022June 20, 2022

Jenny Svanson’s Blog #4: Week Ending 6/19/2022

This weekend we visited Budapest for a few days. We started off our travels with lunch by St Stephens Basilica, and then wandered down to the parliament building along the river. We took a boat trip down the river and got the see the city as the sun was setting. After our boat trip we went an explored some of the cities most iconic ruin bars. These bars are built into old war torn buildings, and have a labyrinth of different rooms all with different themes and vibes. The next day we walked across the bridge to the Buda side of the city and took a hike up to the liberty statue. After that we went to the fisherman’s bastion and spent some time wandering around and getting a much needed coffee. We passed by a castle on our way to the Gellert thermal baths. The baths are a major part of visiting Budapest, and the natural and thermal water pools have many healing properties to them. We hung out there and relaxed for a bit before we headed back to our AirBnB. We stopped to get some chimney cakes before grabbing dinner at an outdoor restaurant that had pong pong and other games to play. After dinner we headed to an ice bar in which we were the only people there, then we headed back out to discover some more ruin bars. On our last day we finished off with heading to central market to do some souvenirs shopping and grab some food, then we hung out in a park until our flight home.

This week I spent a lot of time doing cost analysis and creating budget for my company. They are a hospitality type of company and I spent majority of the week doing research on eco friendly cleaning products, personal hygiene products, and other amenities. I had to search through a lot of different companies to find ones that were either based in italy or europe, as well as make determinations about which products were actually good for the environment. I spent a lot of time communicating on the phone or over emails with suppliers, and was trying my best to figure out pricing and quantities with people who spoke little English. It was nice to be able to get into some more logistics and the business side of the company as I have spent most of my time coming up with ideas to be more sustainable as well as dealing with B Corp certification requirements.

In class this week we spent a lot of time focusing on the ethicality of certain business situations as well as digging deeper into the concept of why we continue to buy from companies with questionable practices. We mainly focused on Apple and read a case study that talked about the making of iphones and the extremely poor working conditions the Chinese companies that supply the phones have for their employees. It was interesting to discuss whether this is something that Apple needs to be responsible for as they aren’t technically the company that is making the phones. Hearing peoples opinions on the matter was interesting and we also somewhat put it into perspective that Apple could be a special case. I know I personally don’t buy from Nike anymore because of their use of child labor, as well as the horrible treatment their female sponsored athletes get from them. They are an easier company for me to avoid, but with apple it gets to be more difficult as they essentially run the technology world.

June 12, 2022June 14, 2022

Jenny Svanson’s Blog Post #3: Week Ending 6/12/2022

This week, I went to the Brera district to see some design week events. We went to an Hermes show that was focused around colors and structures, and also spent a lot of time sitting at a restaurant right outside where the show took place people watching and eating bruschetta. We went to another random design week event that had a bunch of bunnies made out of different materials, as well as a massive stuffed bunny that was close to 20 ft tall. I spent the weekend in Cinque Terre just relaxing and enjoying the beach. We spent the night in Vernazza, had some great pasta, and drank a lot of wine on our AirBnBs terrace. We ate a ton of focaccia and pesto as that was what the region is know for, as well as trying some locally made cinque terre wine.

In class this week we spent time focusing on our final project, which my groups revolves around big pharma related topics. It was interesting to get to learn more about this as it’s not something I have a lot of knowledge on. We also worked in groups to answer some questions on a range of topics from big pharma, to marketing, to the role of the corporation. There was some pretty in depth discussion about some of the answers and it was interesting to get to learn more about some of my classmates thoughts. In our internship class we spent a lot of time actually talking about our internships, what we’ve learned so far, and what has been the most surprising thing from our internship. It was cool to hear about what some other people are doing at their internships and what types of projects their company is having them do.

For my internship I spent the week doing a lot of research on sustainable products that could be used in their properties. I was tasked with doing budget analysis and comparing the options to figure out which we should buy and what was the best bang for your buck. This is one of the biggest things that we needed to get done to get a B Corp certification so it was important to do a lot of research to make the best decision. I was mainly focused on budgeting for cleaning and hygiene items and trying to find budget friendly options that were environmentally friendly and utilized minimal single use plastic packaging. I also got to do a lot of research into companies that plant trees to help reduce carbon in the atmosphere. My company is looking to partner with a tree planting service in Africa, so it was really interesting to get to learn more about that and see all the different trees they could pick from.

June 5, 2022June 6, 2022

Jenny Svanson’s Blog Post #2: Week Ending 06/05/2022

Our second week in Milan was even busier than the first, and with a national holiday on Thursday, we were able to get plenty of travel in over the weekend. I started the week off with a wine tasting class on Monday. I’ve never done a wine tasting before, so it was really nice to get an in depth explanation of the steps to tasting and understanding wine, as well as simple tips and tricks to make you look like an expert. We sampled a sparkling, white, and red wine and learned the different process of tasting each. They generally all followed the same format (sniff the cork, check the color, swirl, smell, taste) but we learned what the different shades meant for the wines age, as well as being able to pick up on certain smells or sensations when we tasted it. The wines were paired with some light bites as well and we topped our night off with some gelato and a late night walk around the city.

Thursday is when we began our travels for the weekend. We started off with a last second trip to Lake Como on Thursday. Just a short train ride away, the views were gorgeous and there was plenty of activities to do. We went on a day where there was a good festival going on and got tons of snacks from different vendors. We also took a tram all the way up to the top of the mountain and got some great panoramic views of the town below. While on the mountain, our hunt for an aperol spritz began. I may have accidentally led us down the intense path, and we did find ourselves climbing up steep rocky hills, but alas, the spritz at the end was worth it. After coming home from Como, our IES student companion made us homemade carbonara as well as some bruschetta and potatoes. The meal was delicious and it felt so nice to have a home cooked meal again.

Friday we had our group trip to Bologna. The day started a bit to early, and we were definitely tired from our travels the day before. We had a nice walking tour of the city and got to learn how to make pasta. We ended the day at a cute cafe and had some spritz’s with Professor Gupta while we waited for our train. We ended our night at a local taco place and we’re very excited to switch up some of the food in our diet.

Saturday we decided to hop on a train and take a day trip to Venice. The ride is a bit long for a day trip, but as long as you spend more time in the city then you do traveling, it’s worth it. We saw St. Marks Basilica, went for a gondola ride, and spent a lot of time drinking spritz and playing an Italian card game called scopa by the canals.

In my internship this past week, I’ve spent a lot of time getting to look into B Corporation certifications as well as sustainable measures that the company I work for could implement into their rental properties. I’ve learned a lot about all the different certifications needed to be a “green” company, and how difficult it is to become a certified sustainable company. In most of my research, I have found that many companies claim to be green or sustainable, but they have no actual proof or information about what they have put in place to achieve that.

I’m our class this week we’ve focused a lot on the corporation and a lot of the negative light that gets shed on them. We had some interesting conversations and got to watch a video that really made me think more about corporations and the trust that I have in them. For our seminar class we went to see the last supper painting, and learn a bit about Davinci and r he history of the painting in Milan. It as great to be able to learn about some of the history of the city and gain an understanding of its past. We also focused on the Italian culture of dressing nice whenever you go out. Even the topic of how people don’t wear athletic clothes to the gym, they wear normal clothes and change once they get to the gym.

Gondola Ride in Venice

May 28, 2022May 29, 2022

Jenny Svanson’s Blog Post #1: Week ending 5/29/2022

My travels to Italy was nothing short of complete chaos, and about everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. One of my flights got cancelled 24 hours ahead of time due to storms that were expected later that evening. At the time, this seemed like a blessing in disguise because it allowed for me to drive straight to Newark airport, and I was able to spend more time with my family before leaving for this trip. Once I arrived at Newark airport, my traveling nightmare began. I spent 1.5 hours standing in a massive line waiting to talk to customer service. I then proceeded to run around the airport trying to get my bag tagged. After a handful of stress induced tears and some encouraging words from my mom, I was finally able to make it through TSA barely 10 minutes before my flight boarded. The flight in itself was uneventful, but my nightmare would start up again once we reached Milan. The obvious next step in my traveling adventures was waiting around baggage claim for 45 minutes, and never getting my luggage. I had to find the customer service area, wait for around another 45 minutes to talk to someone, only to find out that my bag was never put on the plane because there is no record of me boarding the flight from Newark to Milan. At this point the tears has started again as I was dealing with my lost luggage, worried about whether the bus transporting us to the apartments had already left, running on barely any sleep, and now I was also worried that I had some how entered illegally this country because there is no record of how I got here. I managed to pull myself together, get on the bus, and once I made it to the apartments everything began to calm down. I took a much needed nap and got to go on a little shopping spree that was funded by United. I did spend my first 3 days in Milan without my suitcase, but since its shown up its all been smooth sailing.

Other then my initial flight issues, everything I’ve done in Milan has been spectacular. The first night we had a welcome dinner with the other IES students, and it was nice to be able to connect with them and learn more about the type of things that they were going to be doing while in Italy. A group of us also went to the Duomo and got to see the celebrations that were going on for AC Milan. We didn’t last too long at the Duomo, and a group of us went on a mission to find a very needed Aperol Spritz. We were a bit directionally challenged and found ourselves wandering the city for a long time with no idea as to where we were going. We found ourselves on a street and we were like fish swimming upstream. Hoards of people were walking at us, police vehicles were driving past, and we could see flares in the distance. Instead of being smart and leaving, we decided to stop in our tracks and try to figure out what was going on. Luckily for us, it ended up being the bus parade for the team. We got a front row view of the players and the celebration which was completely unexpected. On our venture home we were finally able to find our Aperol spritz, and we were able to get it for takeaway and wandered the streets sipping on them.

All of the locals that I have met so far have been beyond kind and very helpful when dealing with the language barrier. They mix between speaking English to us and also teaching us some Italian words and phrases for us to use in the future. Its easy to feel comfortable walking around the city and going into stores and restaurants, and I’m learning more about their language and culture everyday.

AC Milan Parade Video

AC Milan Celebration, Duomo