While visiting the Titan Cement facility, I did not know that I would become so fascinated with their process of manufacturing cement. Starting from clinker, which is a very raw and unprocessed material, they are able to create four varieties of cement, each used for particular applications, and providing these products not only in the UK and the US, but also in Greece. The most impressive thing about the visit was seeing how every stage is about solving some kind of problem; for example, the Elinikon project, which involved creating a special variety of cement that could cope with high salt content of the surrounding air.
At the Athens Airport, I was shown a different face of engineering in the daily lives of people. Walking through the different terminal buildings, the most impressive thing to me was definitely the solar farm used by the airport, which makes the airport completely self-reliant. However, the meeting with the manager of terminal services was probably the biggest revelation in my visit here because seeing him start from a simple position in customer service and then become the head of terminal operations really inspired me. This visit taught me again that behind every well-organized airport facility there is an immense amount of thinking, planning, and effort put into its creation. All in all, both visits allowed me to understand that engineering goes far beyond numbers – engineering helps make a difference in people’s lives in various ways.
