Today was packed but so much fun! We woke up got our classic breakfast and headed over to the wargaming headquarters which was such a cool site visit! We walked in and it was very modern with multiple consoles to play and demo their games. We then got a mini tour of the facilities by one of the software developers. We started with the basement of the building which housed the offices gym and saunas with massage rooms in addition. We were in awe of all of the extra amenities and the fact that the employees were able to use these services for free and anything they desire to do so. He explained of Jeff Bezos’ mindset of work life harmony over work life balance; it shouldn’t be a balance of the two but rather a combination of the two.
This was another example of a difference between US industries and the Cypriot industries. In the US the corporate industry is very similar. Typical desk job with a cubicle and a desk, but here the building and desks were all very spacious with plenty of workspaces. There was no one who looked particularly stressed or unhappy. People were playing games and conversing with others. In addition, the fact that employees can go down to the gym and sauna and have flexible work hours made it a very desirable experience. At first, I thought it was just wargaming as it was such a large company but even CMMI felt the same as well as other large companies we have driven by. As we continue to do site visits I will update my final thoughts if this idea is confirmed.
After this informative visit we went back to UNIC where we had lunch and then had a lecture on supply chain emissions by a professor and then worked in groups to calculate our own personal emissions we caused to come to Cyprus. We worked with UNIC students to do so as well. Nobel was our student in our group and he was so friendly and fun to talk to. We used Excel to calculate our emissions and we’re shocked yet disappointed in how many emissions we caused. After our discussion we headed over to another class where we worked in teams with other UNIC students. It was very fun as we did many team games and activities.
We were sad to leave, but we were reignited with Demetra to get a tour of the old town of the capital Nicosia. We saw the cathedral where the prime minister lives and he actually drove by us while we were there! We then saw the buffer zone of the green line and learned more about the divide and how they handle it in the capitol. We got free time in the area and headed back after our long day.
