On our second day in Cyprus, we began with a site visit to Vassos Eliades, one of the top distributors in Cyprus. We were given an excellent tour of their warehouse in Dali, which is about thirty minutes outside of Nicosia. Having never been in a warehouse that was not just an Ikea store, it was interesting to see the inner workings. At one point, as we were walking to a meeting room for a presentation, we walked over a skyway overlooking the main warehouse, seeing everything from above, and still being dwarfed by all the merchandise, was a weird visual. It also strangely smelled really sweet for a warehouse, though I think that has to with Vasso Eliades being the sole distributor of Nestle products such as KitKats and Nespresso.
After another amazing meal, we returned to the University of Nicosia for lectures on Cypriot history, language, and culture. As a fan of history, I preferred the lecture on all of Cypriot History led by Dr. Solomou. Even knowing much prior about Cyprus’ history, in how it has changed hands many times over centuries, to the modern day independent state it is today, I still managed to learn a few new facts. For instance, I learned that Cyprus has been inhabited since 7500 B.C., or that the colors and imagery on the nation’s flag came from not being able to show allegiance to the Greeks or Turks. Having taken a history class at Pitt before, I noticed how often history professors tend to connect past events to what’s going on in the world today. Which always make me realize that the world is way more connected than I expect it to be .
Even after only two days, it feels like I have been forever, cannot wait for what tomorrow holds!
