I’m so grateful we had the opportunity to visit Vasso Eliades and get a better understanding of their company, values, and goals. One thing I found particularly interesting is their sustainability efforts. Green business and sustainability are often buzz words in the marketing world today, however Vasso Eliades lives up to the expectations provided by these words. I think it’s cool how they use geothermal cooling to help reserve energy in the air conditioned part of the distribution center. The solar lighting they use to reduce the need for artificial light was also interesting and a concept I have never seen implemented on such a scale. I think it’s impressive that the company produces all of its electricity and has already achieved carbon neutrality, despite not needing to reach it until 2050 by EU standards. While we were there, I noticed that the workers seemed proud to work there and talk about their company’s achievements. I thought this accurately reflected the stats shown in the initial presentation by the HR manager, which in my opinion is really exciting for the company. 

Similar to my history lectures at Pitt, Dr. Solomou used a mixture of text heavy slides and picture slides. I liked how he had a clear timeline written on his slides and thoroughly explained each aspect of the timeline. In my experience with lectures, the notes he gave throughout these slides would often be written on a slide somewhere or reiterated later in the presentation. I thought the exclusion of this information on the slides helped to show his depth of knowledge in the topic, however I prefer the other methods I had seen in the past for taking notes. I thought it was interesting how he preferred to frontload the information and include pictures at the end, rather than mix them in throughout the presentation which I was used to during Pitt lectures. One interesting fact I learned through this lecture was that the Venetians, in their conquest of Cyprus, immediately took to fortifying the island, knowing that the Ottomans would attempt to take control shortly thereafter. I think it’s interesting that they took control of Cyprus to get a competitive advantage, despite knowing that they were destined to lose resources and control of the Island once again in the end. Another interesting fact I learned was that Cyprus changed ruling parties three times within the year 1191 AD from the British, to the Knights of the Temple, to the French. I knew Cyprus was conquered many times throughout its history, but I found this particular period of conquest interesting because it was so frequent within a short period, and was followed by almost 400 years of French rule.

Below is a picture of a gate from the Venetian walls still standing in Nicosia.