Thursday, our last day in Cyprus, started with our final breakfast at the local cafe next door. I’ll miss the familiarity of going over there every morning and knowing we’re being cared for by the sweet owner who provides us with more than enough food and always stops by the tables to make sure everything is good and take coffee orders for those who want some. From there, we were off to our last company visit of the trip, with just a short fifteen-minute walk to one of the Maritime Training Centers of BSM, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement.

This company visit was markedly different from all the other ones we have gone to, and the tour-based structure was a nice change from the long lectures while sitting in the same room. BSM is an interesting company where, unlike the other ship management companies we have visited, they focus on training those involved in shipping operations with a variety of simulators that they offer. The representative walked us through the variety of rooms, from simple classrooms, to control rooms, to a room where they practice steering the ships during the day and at night. This steering simulation reminded me of a flight simulator I had to do for a class I had in high school. The people operating the ships here, however, were much more competent at their skill than I was at plane navigation. The rooms where this simulation took place were small, so we had to take turns going in and out to observe. I was in the first group of students to witness this and while nothing particularly interesting happened while I was in the room, the group after me had an interesting experience where the ship ran into another boat and almost capsized, from what I could gather. It’s easy to think of steering the boat as being relatively easy because it looks straightforward, but this put the difficulty and stress of the position into focus and gave me a new respect for ship captains. Later in the tour, we got to see the cabins where crew members going through training stay to prepare for life on a ship. I was in shock by how small these rooms were, especially as they were meant to house three people. The brief time I spent in the room was enough to make me claustrophobic, I could not even begin to imagine having to live there!

After our time at BSM, we had a brief break as we were done early. Since we were done with the business portion of things, we were all elated to rush back to the hotel and change into more comfortable clothes before boarding the bus and venturing into the village of Omodos which sits in the beautiful Troodos mountain range. We were all pretty hungry when we arrived, and it was a great surprise that our group lunch ended up being one of the best meals of the trip, if not the best. We eagerly finished our fantastic meze, complete with a mushroom risotto that I’m still thinking about, and then went to explore the quaint village. We made a stop at the monastery, where Smeragda gave us a brief overview of the history (which featured a monk beheaded by the Ottoman Empire), then went inside to tour the grounds. What stood out most was the fact that all the girls were required to put on robes to go in as we could not show shoulders or knees, but the guys were free to venture in as they were. I think in America, we’re used to a more modern stance on these issues and it’s easy to forget that the rest of the world isn’t quite so progressive and still upholds a double standard.

After our time in Omodos, we traveled back to Limassol to pack and prepare for our final night. We walked with the group over to Dionysus Mansion, a gorgeous outdoor restaurant, to enjoy our second meze of the day. For this meal, they invited Pitt alumni who live in Cyprus to join, so we were able to network with the five or so people who dined with us. When we got back from dinner, I made sure all my belongings were packed up then enjoyed the last hour in Cyprus on my balcony with my friends, reminiscing about the trip and getting excited about what our future together in Oakland will hold. We then met with the group at midnight in the lobby and were off to the Larnaca airport, bidding farewell to the city that was so great to us during our stay.