We had to meet at 7:45 this morning (15 minutes earlier than usual) because we were crossing the border into the Turkish occupied part of Cyprus. We had no business meetings today which was really nice because it meant I could wear something without having to make sure it was business appropriate. After we made…
Tag: Summer 2022
Day 9: Turkey but no Thanksgiving
Today was an explore day. Unfortunately, it the last day we spent with Georgia, our wonderful tour guide of Cyprus. The city and surrounding area we toured today was Famagusta. Georgia is actually from Famagusta. Famagusta is located on the Turkish-occupied area of Cyprus, therefore, we had to cross the green line with our passports….
B C U later
My last class at BCU was filled with so much information that expanded my knowledge so much. I am so glad I had the opportunity to explore Birmingham City University and meet amazing faculty and students. Without this trip, I would still be blindsided in so many aspects of the world that were brought to…
Pineapple Fields Forever
The supply chain for the fruits vs coffee is very different. I don’t think you necessarily quantify the levels of difficulty but there seems to be more steps on the coffee industry. Coffee required growing, harvesting, cleaning, drying, roasting, etc. Like we saw between Doka and Café Britt, this required multiple companies to produce. However,…
Day 8: Lots to Learn
Today, there were three meetings at the University of Nicosia. The presenters today were Fleet Management Limited, Mr. Antonis Polemitis, CEO of UNIC, and Dr. Spyros Makridakis, Director of UNIC’s Institute for the Future. In between the presentations we had lunch at The Block, UNIC’s version of The Eatery. The first presentation of the day…
Day 7: A Relaxing Beach Day
This blog is a bit of a shorter one because it did not have any cultural or business visits. Instead, many people within the group went to the beach in the morning before we transferred our stuff from our overnight stay in Paphos back to our hotel in Nicosia. At the beach, a large group…
Day 6: Culture in Paphos
Today, we checked into our hotels in Paphos for our weekend trip. Afterwards, we visited the Kourion Archeological Site, Petra tou Romiou, the Paphos Mosaics, and the Tomb of the Kings. The Kourion Archeological Site is a beautiful site of an excavated Roman bath house in addition to a Greek amphitheater that was later turned…
Day 8: Crypto and Competitions
Today was a big change of pace from the weekend. We left the hotel at 8 to go to UNIC where we had lectures all day. The first lecture was with two representatives from Fleet Management Limited (FML). They are an international shipping company. Essentially, they manage ships and shipments for the owners of the…
Day 6: The Cliffs of Moher
Today was an extremely early wake-up call, and I did not feel like getting out of my cozy bed, but it was so worth it! We walked to the bus stop and started our drive to the Cliffs of Moher. Prior to this trip, I was already familiar with the cliffs for two reasons. One…
Day 5: Vasiliko
Today, we visited two companies: Vitol Tank Terminal Vasiliko (VTTV), a subsidiary of Vitol Tank Terminal International (VTTI), and Vasiliko Cement Works. Both of these companies are in the Vasiliko area and met us in the Cement Works building, where they had a joint meeting with us. VTTV is a company that deals in storing…
They Are True People
When was the last time you didn’t use your phone for 24 hours? What about two days? Before May 12th, my answer to that was never. On our fifth day in Ecuador, we loaded into canoes to trek into the Amazon to visit the Waorani tribe. This name translates to “They are true people”. And…
Peaky Blinders Museum ;)
Today we visited the Black Country Living Museum. I was very excited to visit here today because I had heard that a few scenes of Peaky Blinders were filmed here and I love Tommy Shelby. When we first got to the museum I don’t know what I was expecting it to look like but it…
Beachin😎
We started our day today by going on a short company visit. We visited the maritime training center in Limassol which was really cool! We got to see their engine room simulator and bridge simulator. It was really fun “steering” the boat and trying to navigate through rain or snow. After the visit, we got…
Day 5
Today we only had one site visit, and we heard from two companies, VVTV and Vsaliko Cement works. VVTV was an energy storage company. They made money by acting as an intermediary between oil companies and customers. Basically, they act as a hotel where a company pays money just to use their space. Later, when…
Day 4: The Limassol New Port
Today we visited a handful of companies at the Limassol New Port to see how Cyprus’ shipping industry fits in with the global supply chain. At the new port, we visited Dubai Ports World (DPW) and Eurogate, as they are the main companies that run the port. Both companies work with P&O on this port,…
Tracing the Terraces of Monteverde
Life as a Tico farmer seemed very busy. Specifically at the Monteverde farm, Don Guillermo had animals to care for as well as crops. The animals required constant feeding and checks on their health and milking or shearing for goats and sheep respectively. The coffee crops which are grown organically need to have weeds removed,…
Fish Eyes and Pink Hummus that is not actually hummus
Day five is now complete. Today we had a company visit with the BSM Maritime Training Academy and had some free time at the beach in Larnaca. At our visit, we toured the classrooms and training facilities that shipping crews go through in order to be certified to work on a boat. The building itself…
Day 5, Guinness Storehold
Today was so fun! We first went to breakfast which was great and then we were off to the Guinness Storehouse. I was excited to see the storehouse since Guinness is so famous and associated with Ireland. It was a cool space with a lot of fun displays showing the process of making the beer….
Science + Art = Public Health
Today we spent our morning learning about the Public Health of Birmingham. I thoroughly enjoyed our speakers today, James and Adol. If you are reading, hello! When learning about public health in the UK, I enjoyed the inclusion of the definition of public health. Public Health Work being the science and art of preventing disease,…
The Hotel of the Sea
Today was a packed day filled with lots of information about Cyprus’s main source of revenue, the shipping industry! Because of the location, Cyprus is in a prime location to easily receive and transport goods. We began our day at the Limassol New Port security checkpoint where we were able to see Dubai World Port’s…