Day two in the beautiful country of Cyprus! Today, we did things with less of a cultural focus and more of a business focus. We had meetings with two companies: Medochemie and Wargaming.

Medochemie is a pharmaceutical company that makes generic versions of popular drugs on the market to sell for a cheaper price. Their headquarters and most of their factories are in Cyprus, with other offices in Vietnam and the Netherlands. They told us that their research and design process does not focus on innovation. Instead, it focuses on mimicking existing drugs in order to make generic versions that are cheaper and more readily available to the public.

We heard from a few of their representatives. One was the manager of quality assurance, and to be quite honest, I do not remember the positions of the other ones (sorry). They talked to us about the company’s mission, their supply chain, how they operate globally, and how quality assurance is in each part of the manufacturing process. One interesting thing that stuck out to me was the fact that there are different standards in the European Union that there are in the United States for quality of medical products. The “Good Manufacturing Practices” (GMP) in Europe are similar to the standards that the FDA puts in place in the US. However, Medochemie does not operate in the US because the FDA standards are very hard to meet. I guess this makes me feel better about the things I put into my body back at home, haha! We also went into one of their warehouses where we saw moving shelves filled with supplies and the temperature controlled room. We also had to put things (slippers I guess?) on over our shoes before we entered.

In between meetings, we went to the dining hall at the University of Nicosia. Let me tell you, it is a large step up from the Eatery and the Perch back in Pittsburgh. I had grilled calamari with a side of mashed potatoes and carrot salad. It was quite delicious. I also had a good iced latte from their coffee shop right there, although I had wished they used a bit less milk. Still gave me the boost I needed, though.

We met with Wargaming that afternoon. I am not super familiar with gaming of any sort. I don’t have an X-box or a Playstation or a PC gaming setup like some of the other people on this trip. However, I thought it was really interesting to meet with a company that does a lot more creative work. Since it is mostly software based, it was little difficult to comprehend the supply chain aspect of this company. I was pretty surprised to learn how many millions of dollars go into producing these video games, though. Some of the figures that the game developer cited at one point amazed me. I do not really understand where a lot of their revenue comes from, seeing as many of their games are free to play. I forgot to ask that question during their presentation. Does the money come from ads? From in game purchases? I do not really know. They must bring in stuff somehow because they have kept the company afloat for twenty four years. I liked seeing how passionate their workers were though. It seemed like they really cared about and enjoyed their work.

For dinner, me and a few friends went to a little Greek restaurant. I got a lamb souvlaki wrap. I am not entirely sure how traditional this place was, but it was tasty nonetheless. They gave us a free panna cotta (I think, they did not really say what it was) at the end. I finished the night with some pistachio gelato. Looking forward to more informative meetings and good food!