Thursday, being our final day that we would spend in Cyprus, was filled with planned events. We woke up early top have our final group breakfast (I’m really gonna miss my daily morning lox) before walking to our last company visit. This one was with the Bernard Schulte Shipmanagement Training Center. Here, they focus on taking in students or people in the shipping industry wishing to further their studies and pick up extra certificates and further train them. While many of our previous visits were mostly presentation or discussion based, the leaders of this visit focused more on giving us a tour of the building. We got to see some of the classrooms, the galley, one of the dorms that students stay in (very similar to towers rooms), and more. My favorite room was the bridge rooms, where students participate in a hyper-realistic simulation of being at sea, having to take on real challenges as if they were truly captaining the ship. There was a simulation going on during our visit, and the people taking part were more than willing to let us watch and explain the mechanisms they were dealing with. This visit was one of my favorites of the whole trip.

After the tour, we hopped on a bus to head up to the mountains to go to Omodos village, which is known for their wineries and their once-a-year wine festival. Our first stop was at a beautiful restaurant in the village for lunch. Like yesterday, we were treated with a mezze, except this one was not seafood based. The main dish of the meal was chicken skewers and fried pork, which was very good, but my favorite dish was the risotto they served, I had never tried risotto before, but it was fantastic, and I will be ordering it again in the future. After lunch, we headed for the Timios Stavros Monastery, an old church full of old artifacts and interesting exhibits. There was one room that was full of paintings (including the one featured as the cover of this blog), and others that showed sleeping quarters. My favorite exhibit was one that displayed war heroes, and even included articles of clothing they wore on the battlefield. Upon leaving the church, we had some free time that I spent buying souvenirs, walking around, and drinking a Cypriot coffee.

When we got back into Limassol, we were notified about a boat show going on at the Marina, which apparently only happens one weekend every year. While walking around, we saw very luxurious jet skis, wave boats, and even cars like Bentleys and Maseratis. This was an unexpected, but definitely very cool surprise and experience. After this, I had some time to pack up my things and prepare for our final group dinner, spent at the Dionysus Mansion. The atmosphere was very picturesque, and we even got to meet some former Pitt alums that live in Cyprus. The food was great, and the baklava and ice cream for dessert left me more than satisfied. Today was so much fun, and a great way to wrap up an unbelievable trip that surpassed all my expectations. Tomorrow is our last day together as a group, and we have a long day of travel ahead of us as we come back to the states.