Submitted by Olivia May on the 2020 spring semester program in Rome, Italy…
This past week in Rome, I truly got into the swing of my classes. I feel confident now walking to and from class and other shops in the neighborhood I live in. I love walking out of class on a sunny day and being part of the hustle and bustle in this beautiful city. The class that I’ve found most interesting is Principles of Marketing. This class has students from all over Europe and America so intriguing discussions are created between the differences large companies like Starbucks have from country to country. For example, Starbucks is all over America and has been around for years and years, but in Rome there is not one single store. In my hometown, there is at least three Starbucks within a 15 minutes radius of my house. In class, we discussed why Starbucks is so popular in America and why Italians might not find it as appealing and the differences between Italy”s and America’s coffee cultures. My marketing professor brought up that a Starbucks had just recently opened in Milan and one of the American students in my class who had visited the Starbucks in Milan talked about how the store is so different from stores in the United States. I expected my marketing class to just be a basic marketing 101, but taking this class in Rome has given me a greater appreciation for the subject matter and I look forward to learning more!