Today was our last day in Nicosia and our last day in Cyprus! It’s been an amazing time here! We still were able to go see UNIC again and Dr. Demetris Trihinas, a professor and researcher at UNIC, talked to us about Data Science and Machine Learning. We got to learn more about how computers have transitioned from being retail calculators and data registries to super computers that can process almost anything, making the world its own data source. Now instead of computers, everything is a connection to data exchange and processing. So many things happen in a minute online like 77160 hours of streaming on Netflix. As Dr. Trihinas said, data is the new oil. Something I found interesting was the thought behind some of these companies. For example, Uber has the world’s largest taxi company and owns no taxis or Alibaba is the largest online seller and sales no product. It’s a different way to think about how companies work and what they sell. It was also interesting to learn about the chain of Analytics. It shows what goes into each decision and how to compare past results to future predictions. Data mining is something that was touched on as well, which is the extraction of interesting and non trivial patterns. We also got to hear from UNIC students that were working on a program called KINME that is more focused on the supply chain. It was cool to see other students that are going into data science put what Dr. Trihinas was talking about into use. I really enjoyed learning about Data Science.

We next got a lecture from the CEO of UNIC, Antonis Polemitis. He talked to us about the blockchain and cryptocurrency and how we are in just the beginning of this revolutionary way of storing money. UNIC was the first university to offer courses and certificates for blockchain studies, making them the leading scholars. It was very cool to hear from Polemitis because of this. He talked about how databases are everywhere and have changed the way we live compared to 25 and even 10 years ago. For example, 25 years ago, you could only really be denied by a taxi driver if you were getting in fights with them or jailed. Now that Uber and Lyft are around, profiles could potentially have a warning for drivers saying the customer is reckless or rude which an Uber driver could deny driving. This is a great way to show how databases can be used in this digital world we live in. Another great example is how social media has replaced publishing and distribution. A few decades back, you had to read your local news to know what was going on and wouldn’t know a news article elsewhere. Now on the internet, anyone can read a tweet or Facebook post with the news, which could be from any country. Databases and platforms have replaced media from the past. The downside is that it can concentrate power into few companies, that can completely wipe stories they don’t want to be heard. Databases and online presence is a double edged sword, but was very interesting to see what the future holds.

After the very interesting lectures, we were able to have some free time in Nicosia before our final farewell dinner. I got to go eat lunch at an Italian restaurant on Ledras Street, which was rated the best in Nicosia! After that I was able to walk around and go to some shops where I was able to get some cool postcards that I will be bringing home. The old city is very lively and fun to walk around and see all the shops and restaurants. I was able to get some packing done and get ready for the amazing dinner that we have tonight. I’m going to miss Cyprus so much!!