Καλησπέρα; In Greek, the semicolon represents an exclamation mark! That’s one of the things that we learned from the “Surviving Greek” lecture from this afternoon, which was all about the basic phrases we may use in Greek. The other lecture we had today was about Cypriot history, instructed to us by a UNIC history professor who specialized in history of the island. It was similar to any lecture I’ve had at Pitt, where he presented information from a slide show in a predominately one-sided manor. However, due to taking entirely STEM classes, it was different in the way that we didn’t pause to apply our knowledge, like how my teachers have slides with practice problems for the class to do. Additionally, I have had asynchronous classes as well as “flipped classes” at Pitt, while this appeared to be more of a traditional style of learning. I learned that Cyprus was controlled by many powers in its long history, not just by the Ottomans and the British. Other empires that controlled the island were the Romans, the Venetians, the Francs, and more. We were also taught that in one single year, Cyprus was controlled by the King of England, the Knights Templar, and the Francs. Cyprus had been conquered or sold many, many times throughout its history due to its decisive location for military stations and connectivity economically.

Additionally, today, we went on our first tour of a Cypriot company! We explored the warehouse of Vassos Eliades Ltd, a Cyprus-based company that dealt in storage, distribution, and sales of various products. This company worked with almost a hundred companies to sell and distribute thousands of products throughout the entirety of the island (except, of course, to the Turkish occupied territory of “Northern Cyprus,” which is strictly prohibited at this time). I was highly impressed by their vast warehouse with different controlled climates, allowing them to stash a variety of goods from fitness equipment to alcoholic beverages. Most amazing of all, this hyperefficient, green distribution facility has won a number of awards for being one of the least wasteful companies and having one of the best work environments for employees. So far this year, they managed to source 109% of their energy consumption from clean energy that they harvest! That means their electricity bill is positive, from producing and selling back to the energy company excess power they do not require after already powering the entire station. I was highly impressed by everything I saw and heard from the tour and presentations, and I look forward to seeing what the rest of the companies have in store!