Bocconi Finally!

Today was all about Bocconi. When I woke up this morning, I had received an email from Daniela - one of our contacts at the school - suggesting that we attend the "Technology in Fashion" class at 10:30am. Of course it was 10:57am when I read the message. So I emailed back asking if there were any afternoon classes we could attend. Daniela suggested we come for a 2:30pm class so I told her we would meet her at her office at 2:15. We walked about 20 minutes to the MBA building, and of course when we first arrived at Daniela's office (at 2:14pm), she was not there. We hung out in the hallway until about 2:25 before she finally showed up. Daniela turned out to be nothing like what I pictured her to be - actually I'm not sure quite what I expected, but she wasn't it. She's very petite, long hair, with a laid back personality - I think I expected her to be more cheery, but laid back is good. She escorted us to the Technology in Fashion class which apparently had continued throughout the day. The professor had given the students a break and said class would return later, so when we arrived at the classroom there were only a handful of students there. Around 2:40 students and the professor showed up along with their guest speakers for the class (the professor was Italian but used to teach at NYU and when I told him I was from the Bronx, he said "yes, Van Cortlandt! I used to take the 2/3 train line to Van Cortlandt to play rugby" - it was cute). It turns out the class would focus on a case (for a second I forgot I was at a business school, but the case definitely reminded me quick). The case was on the launch of Calvin Klein's fragrance CKin2U (which I hadn't even heard of until today) in Italy. The two guest speakers included the CEO of Calvin Klein Europe and the Brand Manager from Coty Prestige who worked on the launch - quite impressive. The format of the class was quite different from Wharton. At Wharton, we would have all been responsible for having read the case in advance and we would have spent the entire 90 minute class discussing the issues of the case and debating potential courses of action with a brief wrapup regarding what the company actually did at the end. At Bocconi, first of all, the class lasted two and a half hours (yeah I know, but it was extremely interesting - I didn't even realize it lasted that long). The professor began with videos from YouTube which explained Web 2.0 and social networking - two concepts which were central to the fragrance launch. Then the guest speakers talked about their companies, gave an overview of the launch, then went into details about how they actually did the launch (it was almost like getting the answers to the case before the questions). Then the professor gave the students 40 minutes to break and discuss the case questions then return with recommended courses of action. There weren't really any formal groups of students working on the case - students were informally discussing the case questions with whoever happened to be nearby although one or two groups actually wrote something down and a couple of students presented. It was much more laid back than Wharton.
During the break, two of the girls who will be working on our project team came over and introduced themselves. I think their names were Ashley and Alex although I have to admit, I could be wrong (I know, I'm so bad with names). Both speak really good English and seem genuinely nice and down to earth. They are also very outgoing which was a relief and made us feel immediately welcome. Other students came over as well and introduced themselves and asked us questions. It was nice to be welcomed so quickly. Ashley showed us where the coffee/cappuccino machine was and even offered to treat us both to a drink, which again, was a nice gesture. Bocconi is very diverse in that many of the students are not from Italy. Many have also either lived in or visited the US so we weren't quite as "foreign" to some.
I enjoyed the class immensely. The case questions centered around how to give meaning to the fragrance name in a country like Italy where "CKin2U" lacks meaning and how to adapt a global strategy to local market needs. I found it interesting hearing the students ideas in comparison to my own. Also, the CKin2U brand was very new to me so I enjoyed learning about it and hearing how they came up with the concept, name, packaging, etc. I even learned some new things - for instance, the CKOne fragrance (one of my favorites of all time) was the best selling fragrance launch ever, and most of the CK's fragrances with the exception of CKOne, Obsession and Eternity have not lasted more than 2 or 3 years. CK One is 12 years old for example. Oh, I also learned that I fall somewhere in between generations X and Y, lol. We had a whole debate about what defines each generation which was quite hilarious. Today was actually the last day of classes for Bocconi students so I'm glad we had the opportunity to participate. The Brand Manager from Coty gave all of us free gifts which consisted of a bottle of CKin2U for her (or for him for the fellas) - who can turn down free perfume? I believe that qualifies as my second freebie since I arrived in Milan - earlier in the week while chitchatting with the guy at the Kiehl's counter, he gave me a free bottle of their Coriander lotion. It actually turned out to be a nice scent. Quite impressive for my first week, lol.
After class, we stopped by Daniela's office and said goodbye, then we attempted to find Simone (our other Bocconi contact) but it looked like he had left for the day. On the walk home, we decided to check out the other side of Corsa di Porta Ticinese and visit some stores we hadn't explored yet. We ended up having dinner at a Pizza/Pasta restaurant (there are tons of them in the city) called Luna Rossa (which I believe means "Red Moon"). We were looking at the menu and the cook came outside asking if we spoke Italian. I said no, so he asked if we spoke Spanish. I said yes. He told us in Spanish to have a seat, as if to say "stop looking at that menu and sit - our food is good". We happily obliged but when we sat down the staff was in the process of eating their dinners so we sat at a table outside and watched people pass by as we waited for them to take our orders. They brought us sodas, which I've been drinking more of in the last week than ever (I stopped drinking soda a long time ago) - apparently mineral water, soda, beer and wine are the only options at most places and I drink water all day to avoid dehydration given the heat so soda has become the default. Apparently, the cook at Luna Rossa took a liking to us - he came over several times just to talk to us about where we were from, what we're doing in Milan and how we like the city. I ordered a calzone with tomato, ham and mozarella. It was huge (see the pictures from today - I took a picture of it). Of course my slim self didn't manage to eat it all, but I gave it a good faith effort. It was very fresh and tasty. For dessert we ordered "sorbetto" - lemon sorbet. They had a "sorbetto alla vodka" with vodka in it, which Rita tried and said was good. I had to take a picture of my sorbetto as well because it was nothing like what I expected. First of all, it was a drink. Almost like a slushy drink. Second, since it was lemon, I was expecting it to be some shade of yellow, and instead it was orange. Regardless it tasted delicious. I have a feeling I'll be back. The entire tab with tip ran us about 12 euros each which I could live with given my satisfaction level. Before we left, the cook returned with a pen and pad asking us to leave our names, address and phone number so we could get together again for an "apertivo" or dinner, and even offered to come over and cook for us. We said ok, but managed to sneak off leaving the blank pad and pen on the table. He was nice and all...but that was a little much.
So we have decided to go to Venice tomorrow as our first weekend trip. Its supposedly relatively close - only 2 or 3 hours by train - so we can make a day trip of it. I'm excited! Although let's see how early either of us wake up in the morning since we've both been staying up really late (still not quite time adjusted). If we do go, I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures and post an update. Here is the link to today's photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/keeshaun/June20th. Ciao!