Today was our last day in Cyprus and it was kind of bittersweet. I woke up today and got breakfast and got ready for our data science lecture with Dr. Trihinas and crypto and blockchain lecture today with the CEO of UNIC.

The lecture on data science was so fascinating to learn more about. We learned about the dataverse and data science, supply chain analytics with data science, data mining, and machine learning. We learned how data is the new oil and how raw data is ‘useless’ if you can’t transform it into structured information and analyze it. We learned about AI and how it provides the “smartness” with data mining algorithms and and machine learning. Dr. Trihinas told us about the Data Analytics Spectrum where data becomes information or insight and then can be turned into knowledge which then turns into understanding and then wisdom. He then told us about the Analytics Insights: Descriptive, Diagnostic, Predictive, and Prescriptive. Last but not least, we learned about data mining, algorithmic modeling and machine learning. Dr. Trihinas gave us really good examples that put a lot of the information into perspective on how it is used both in the digital world and our own lives. One thing that I thought was interesting was how machine learning can be flawed with overfitting and how in order to combat that, you have to back-track or enrich it with more data and go deeper so that the data does not overfit anymore. At the end, there was a presentation of a program called Knime that is basically coding without the actual code and is used to analyze data with simple functions. The program seemed really cool and it looked like it was simple to use. I’ll definitely try it in the future.

Next, we had the lecture with the CEO of UNIC on crypto and blockchain. He talked to us about what a database is and how a database has an administrator. He talked about how databases have been centralizing and becoming bigger, there are fewer companies and larger databases, how machine learning is another database and now AI and the internet are centralized databases. One point that he made was that centralization can make it hard to have a diverse market and he put it into perspective with a really good example of how some your constitutional right has no power over centralization. He also talked about public blockchains and how they are databases without a database administrator and we as a collective can add to the database. Public blockchains are the public space that you have public access to. So this means that one person cannot change something without a consensus. He also talked about how digital art and digital cash are the two main crypto things that are successful. The entire lecture was very interesting and I learned a lot about the two.

After the lecture, we got our last free time before our farewell dinner and I really wanted to explore the North Turkish side one last time. Me and a friend went together and explored some of the stalls and bought a few souvenirs. While walking, we stumbled upon a hidden courtyard that had little shops and stalls in the rooms. In the center was an unmarked grave with a small mosque/prayer area. We wandered from room to room and bought a few more trinkets. It was absolutely beautiful and I was so happy to stumble upon it. After going through the shops, we had a late lunch, walked around a little more and then headed back to the hotel. It was fun to explore both sides and see how both are similar and different. After, we had an hour to get ready and then headed to our farewell dinner (which was very yummy as well).

This entire trip was an amazing experience and something that I will never forget. I’ve met amazing people, made new friends, and explored new places. I’m sad to have to leave but happy that I got the experience!