Our third day in Nicosia started off strong. We had the amazing opportunity to visit, and gain an inside perspective, on the Wargaming Group industry. Not only was their functionality and hospitality so admirable, but their success was just as incredible. Throughout the presentation we were given about Wargaming, I learned that over 500 million people play their games worldwide. Not only that, but they are also present in over 200 territories and have 12+ platforms worldwide. Isn’t that amazing? Just when you think it couldn’t get any better, their games are free-to-play and accessible on PC, console and mobile technology. Wargaming has such an inspiring work-balance lifestyle and they truly care about each and every single one of their employees, as well as those who play their games. They are consistently working to improve and provide joy worldwide – and they are doing a great job! Just to go into a little more depth about the Wargaming Group, one thing I found admirable is that they do not call other games and gaming companies “competitors”, instead, they call them “peers”. This immediately showed me the type of people behind this wonderful company and how their mind-set really drives their success. This was truly an experience I will never forget!

We then made the journey up to Kakopetria village and St. Nicholas of the Roof Church. Not long after arriving at Kakopetria village, I learned that this name translated back to “evil rock”. Furthermore, I learned that this name comes from a story about a young couple being crushed by this rock on their wedding day. As we began exploring the village, I learned a little bit about something used by Cypriots as skin-care moisturizer that really amazed me – rose water. Not only did I not know this could be used as a moisturizer, but seeing it in its pure form was so incredible to me because before today, I had never seen anything like this! After our time at Kakopetria village, we journeyed to St. Nicholas of the Roof Church. You might ask, like I did myself, “why is the word roof in the name?”, and that is because this church has two roofs. While being there, I learned that the weather of the location of this church plays a role in the reason why there are two roofs. Because of this harsh weather, it was necessary for another roof to be built, which is exactly what happened. I found this to be so interesting because I had never considered this to be a thing! Another interesting thing I learned at St. Nicholas of the Roof Church is that it ages all the way back to the 11th century. After learning about the history of Cyprus yesterday, connecting the information with this time frame was incredible to me. It was so beautiful and being able to see it with my own eyes is something I’ll never forget! Today was amazing and I cannot wait for another amazing day tomorrow!