Today is our last day in Cyprus and we started the day with a lecture, before hearing from some students at UNIC. After, we had one final lecture, and then a few hours of free time! First we had the opportunity to hear from Dr. Trihinas who talked to us about data science. He started off talking about how we now hold super computers in the palm of our hand (aka our smart phone). He also discussed how rapidly technology has advanced and how progressive it has become in recent years. Some cool facts he presented to us were statistics on streaming services per minute. In just one minute, 77160 hours are streamed on Netflix and millions of Instagram likes are accumulated. Another really interesting point that Dr. Trihinas presented was how many of the world dominating industries such as Uber, Airbnb, Facebook, Alibaba, etc. don’t actually own any physical product. It made me realize that in this way, these companies have revolutionized their industry and distribution. Even though Uber is one of the largest commuter services, they don’t “own” any cars, saving their company a lot of money. This modern way of using data and data science to advance companies was really interesting to me.

Following our first lecture, we got the chance to listen to some UNIC students present about a program called KINME that allows you to do the functions of coding without having to learn a coding program. It was really cool to hear them speak about how they collected data through KINME and I was grateful for the time they took to come and present for us. After, we got to hear a lecture from CEO Polemitis about databases and how it relates to blockchain. Antonis Polemitis discussed how UNIC was the first university to offer courses on blockchain back in 2013. He talked about how fast cryptocurrency gained traction and how his predictions of the crypto timeline were about 10 years into a 40 year time period for the peak of blockchain. Additionally, Antonis Polemitis talked about how many databases are private. I personally did not know this before and it intrigued me to hear him talk about advocating for more public databases. One comparison he made was how in physical spaces, there are public places such as the parks, the beach, etc. and how a similar public space should also be present in the virtual world. As the world evolves and becomes more digitalized, he emphasized how databases can help provide information to this continuously developing world.

Lastly, for my last full day in Nicosia, Cyprus, I got a group lunch with someone of my classmates. We went back to the Old City where we ate some yummy pasta! Following lunch, I stopped by some shops to get last minutes gifts for friends and family and then walked back to the hotel where I started to pack up my things. It hit me as I was packing that my trip here in Cyprus was ending and as I was reflecting I couldn’t help but feel so thankful for all the experiences and new friends I have made! I hope that plus3 Cyprus continues to foster an environment where students are able to learn academically, culturally, and create relationships that last for many years!