XpatAthens
Thursday, 09 January 2020 23:17
Two All-Inclusive Resorts In Greece Named The Best In The World
All-inclusive vacations are considered an utterly stress-free getaway with access to a variety of cool amenities such as meals, snacks, drinks, and activities for one flat price.
To help travelers pick the best all-inclusive resort, through their Travelers' Choice Awards 2019, TripAdvisor has named the best all-inclusive resorts in the world. There is a total of 25 exquisite resorts listed; however, the good news for Greek tourism and hospitality is that the 2 best resorts on the list are located in Greece.
Ikos Olivia
Ranked 2nd on the list, Ikos Olivia is one of the most exquisite 5-star retreats in Greece. Situated in Gerakini, Chalkidiki on a private beach that overlooks Toroneos Bay, Ikos Olivia compises 142 bedrooms and 149 bungalow suites. Here you will find all the amanietis you need to kick back and relax!
Ikos Oceania
TripAdvisor's top all-inclusive resort is Ikos Oceania in Nea Moudania, Chalkidiki. Just one look is enough to understand why this resort was voted the best in the world. The vibrant blue of the Aegean that spreads at the foot of the property, the lush gardens, exquiste decor, 4 à la carte restaurants serving mouthwatering food and 6 bars is all visitors could want from a Greek luxury holiday!
To discover the full list of top all-inlclusive resorts in the world, please visit: Tripadvisor.com
To discover the full list of top all-inlclusive resorts in the world, please visit: Tripadvisor.com
Published in
Greece In The News
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Wednesday, 08 January 2020 07:00
Diverse Teams Drive Better Outcomes
“Diverse teams drive better outcomes.” IWG’s Chief Customer Officer and Chief Sales Officer talk female leadership and diversity.
On average, only 33% of women living and working in the European Union are likely to hold a management position. When it comes to the world’s largest corporations, only 24% of women (4.8%) are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, with female professionals accounting for less than a quarter (24%) of senior roles globally, according to the 2018 Fortune list. In practice however, attitudes are changing.
On average, only 33% of women living and working in the European Union are likely to hold a management position. When it comes to the world’s largest corporations, only 24% of women (4.8%) are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, with female professionals accounting for less than a quarter (24%) of senior roles globally, according to the 2018 Fortune list. In practice however, attitudes are changing.
A 2019 survey by Ipsos reveals that globally, 75% of respondents said they would be comfortable with having a female boss. And following a 2018 IWG gender gap report, it was revealed that 69% of upper middle management roles at International Workplace Group (IWG), the operating brand of Regus, Spaces, HQ, Signature and No. 18 are occupied by women, and women represent close to half (41%) of top paying roles at the company.
For Lorraine Veber and Fatima Koning, Chief Customer Officer and Chief Sales Officer respectively, the reason lies in IWG’s unique company culture in which diversity, flexibility and balance are core values.
Veber, a New York resident, has spent over 20 years nurturing her career with IWG. When she joined Regus – now the largest operating brand of IWG – the company hadn’t opened a single flexible workspace location in the United States. In her new job, she was given the green light to build from scratch.
“The first few months were full-on but being thrown in the deep end allowed me to see the company’s potential and the part I could play within it. Instead of getting carried away by the current, I laid down an anchor, defined what I wanted to achieve, then committed to reaching my goals.”
Veber cites several factors that helped her progress. Build relationships. “Talk to people, especially those you don’t work with directly. Chances are they’ll help you solve a problem by looking at it from a different angle.” Expect as much from your boss as they expect of you. “I need a boss who is always 50% ahead of me in the game. Your boss can demand a lot of you, and that is good, but you can demand a lot of them in helping you grow in return – and you should.”
Above all, Veber holds, you need to strike a balance between what you know and what you don’t.
“I was once asked to manage a finance team and didn’t know the first thing about what they did. I had to tell them: ‘Guys, I’m not going to help you grow in your knowledge, but what I can do is challenge you to see things differently.’ Rather than squeezing myself into a role that didn’t suit me, I used what I did know to best serve the team at hand. It’s another sign that diverse teams complement each other and lead to better outcomes.”
A belief in the value of diversity is also shared by Fatima Koning, a long-term resident of the Netherlands with Moroccan heritage. Koning joined IWG as a Sales Director in 2015 before managing a national market in 2017; she was promoted to Global Senior VP of Sales Transformation the same year before finally beginning her current role in 2018.
“From the moment I stepped through the door, I was struck by the employee diversity. In the Barcelona office alone, almost 40 languages are spoken. It was such a pleasant surprise – I knew I’d joined a company that shared my own values.’”
As a boss, she has made a conscious effort to continue the legacy. “I believe in diversity and the impact of diverse teams on performance. It is my mission to build teams with this outlook, and giving female leaders a fair chance to step up. I’ve definitely had a chance to achieve this while working for IWG.
“It would be great if every single female leader out there commits to supporting the career development of another talented female professional. Women must help other women grow.
“When I hire people, I’m never concerned that because they are a mother, or because they might have to look after someone at home, they won’t be capable to deliver a great job. It just never crosses my mind. At IWG, flexibility is at the top of the agenda.”
With IWG’s recent Global Workspace Survey concluding that 83% of professionals would turn down a job without flexible working, Koning’s mission to promote flexibility and fairness at work is timely.
“As technology is truly enabling flexibility, it’s about time we make use of it and let our people work flexibly. If a boss gives employees the time and space to get their home life totally under control, it fosters loyalty, job satisfaction and ultimately the kind of employee productivity that drives results.”
This content has been sponsored by IWG - an XpatAthens Brand Partner.
Originally published at International Workplace Group
Published in
Business News
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Tuesday, 07 January 2020 15:03
Searching For Greek Science Stars
The U.S. Embassy in Athens and Greek nonprofit organization SciCo, are organizing for the first time in Greece, the STEM STARS GREECE competition with the aim of supporting, highlighting, and rewarding 14 to 18-year-old students with a special inclination towards science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM). The winners of the competition will receive special prizes, including the opportunity to represent Greece at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the largest international science competition, which will be held in Anaheim, California from 10 to 15 May 2020. The competition is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs.
Participation in the competition is free. Students who attend public or private schools in Greece and are between 14 and 18 years old (High School 3rd Grade – Lyceum 3rd Grade) on the date of the competition are eligible to participate.
All projects must be submitted online between December 16, 2019 and February 16, 2020.
For more information and detailed participation requirements, please visit: U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Greece
Published in
Local News
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Monday, 23 December 2019 07:00
ACS Athens S.T.E.A.M. Team Returns To Space
ACS Athens High School students conducted their second S.T.E.A.M. experiment, investigating how ouzo and pure organic grape molasses (petimezi) behave at an altitude of 100 km. More specifically, the students of ACS Athens (‘’spACS 2’’ team) investigated how these Greek traditional products behave under microgravity conditions.
The students’ scientific experiments were carried by Blue Origin’s New Shepard groundbreaking reusable rocket into space beyond 100 km altitude, also known as the Karman Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space.
New Shepard was successfully launched on Wednesday, December 11, from Blue Origin's West Texas Facility and landed vertically 10 minutes later, with the entire space flight been broadcasted live. Earlier in 2019, ACS Athens students (“spACS 1’’ team) sent Greek honey into space with New Shepard again, becoming one of the few non-US K-12 schools to have participated in such a space mission.
ACS Athens students had to meet strict safety, size, and mass criteria in order for their experimental apparatus, containing ouzo, petimezi, electronics, and their 3D-printed container (designed and prototyped by one of the students) to be approved for a space flight, familiarizing themselves with real-world S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) investigations. Jaeho Nam, ACS Athens student and member of the spACS 2 team said: "I was fortunate to be a part of the spACS 2 team, and I personally think this experience not only provided me the opportunity to attain essential skills for a career in engineering but to learn the true meaning and value of teamwork."
The international team of ACS Athens, formed in 2018, consists of High School students, their educators - Dr. Antonios Karampelas, Dr. Ioannis Kerkines, Ms. Victoria Poulou, Mr. Spyros Arsenikos, and Dr. Liana Tsigaridi - and external collaborators (Mr. Panos Mazarakis, Mr. Ilias Botsios). As Dr. Karampelas, Principal Investigator, stated: "I am proud of my students who managed to complete such a challenging task and excited to have seen ouzo and petimezi flying into space for the first time in history."
The container of the experiment will be returned to ACS Athens a few days after its successful landing so that the students can process and analyze the collected data.
More information on the conclusions of the experiment will follow, as they become available.
The video of the launch is available by Blue Origin
The ACS Athens team first presented the spACS experiment during the 2019 Athens Science Festival
To learn more about the experiment click here
To learn more about Blue Origin click here
Published in
Local News
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Monday, 06 January 2020 12:58
Hadrian's Unknown Reservoir In Athens
One of the most extraordinary engineering achievements of Roman Athens lies below a modern open-air cinema right in the center of the city. In the warm summer nights, Athenian cinephiles gather to watch their favorite films, atop a nearly 2,000-year-old reservoir.
Due to Athens' growing water needs, Emperor Hadrian ordered a project to increase the city's water supply. An aqueduct starting at the foot of Mount Parnitha and extending more than 20 kilometers to a reservoir at the base of Mount Lycabettus was constructed in 125 CE. At the time it was completed in 140 CE, the aqueduct was Athens' most significant infrastructure project to date.
Hadrian's reservoir is located at the western foot of Mount Lycabettus, and its pipes covered the water needs of the area's residents for over 1,000 years. The tank was abandoned during the Ottoman rule, causing most residents to become reliant on wells. Restoration works began in 1847, though it stopped to be Athens' primary water source in 1929 when the Marathon Dam was constructed.
Today, only a small amount of water still makes it to the reservoir, only parts of the steps and 2 column bases remain at the site. A surviving segment of its architrave can be seen in the National Gardens near the Children's Library.
The reservoir is located in Dexameni (Reservoir) Square in Kolonaki, right below the homonymous cinema. Even though access inside the reservoir is not allowed, the large viewing portals on the western walls offer great views of its interior.
Every year on Epiphany (January 6), the reservoir opens for the ritual of the Great Blessing Of The Waters, where a priest immerses a cross in the water and then sprinkles the congregation with holy water.
Photo: Cine Dexameni
The reservoir is located in Dexameni (Reservoir) Square in Kolonaki, right below the homonymous cinema. Even though access inside the reservoir is not allowed, the large viewing portals on the western walls offer great views of its interior.
Every year on Epiphany (January 6), the reservoir opens for the ritual of the Great Blessing Of The Waters, where a priest immerses a cross in the water and then sprinkles the congregation with holy water.
Photo: Cine Dexameni
Published in
City Discovery
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Monday, 06 January 2020 11:50
Harvard’s Greek-Themed Online Course Attracts More Than 40,000 Participants
Through EDX, an innovative online learning platform, Harvard University will be offering a free online course called "The Ancient Greek Hero." To date, more than 40,000 candidates have registered for the class that starts on January 9th, 2020.
Here is a brief description of the course:
'Explore what it means to be human today by studying what it meant to be a hero in ancient Greek times.
In this introduction to ancient Greek culture and literature, learners will experience, in English translation, some of the most beautiful works of ancient Greek literature and song-making spanning over a thousand years from the 8th century BCE through the 3rd century CE: the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey; tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; songs of Sappho and Pindar; dialogues of Plato, and On Heroes by Philostratus. All of the resources are free and designed to be equally accessible and transformative for a wide audience.
You will gain access to a supportive learning community led by Professor Gregory Nagy and his Board of Readers, who model techniques for "reading out" of ancient texts. This approach allows readers with little or even no experience in the subject matter to begin seeing this literature as an exquisite, perfected system of communication.
No previous knowledge of Greek history, literature, or language is required. This is a project for students of any age, culture, and geographic location, and its profoundly humanistic message can be easily received without previous acquaintance with Western Classical literature.'
Published in
Greece In The News
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Sunday, 05 January 2020 23:47
Fast Love - A Tribute To George Michael
He's the artist who performed countless songs we still sing today. And with his biggest hit ''Last Christmas'', how could a tribute to him not take place at the Christmas Theater? Straight from London's West End, the biggest tribute to George Michael comes to Athens!
The incredible Andrew Browning and his band will take you on a journey through the artist's biggest hits from his era at Wham, as well as the 80s and 90s.
An unforgettable experience not to be missed! You will get emotional, dance and sing along to tracks like Careless Whisper, Last Christmas, Freedom, Faith, Jesus To A Child, Father Finger and many more!
Published in
Performing Arts
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Monday, 20 January 2020 23:36
Wozzeck By The Greek National Opera
One of the 20th-century lyric theatre masterpieces, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, will be presented for the first time by the Greek National Opera in a new production directed by the top French director Olivier Py.
In the title role, the internationally acclaimed Greek baritone of the GNO, Tassis Christoyannis, will sing for the first time one of the most taxing roles in the modern repertory.
The opera is based on Georg Buchner’s play Woyzeck, which remained unfinished and was published in 1879, more than forty years after the writer’s death. It recounts scenes from the miserable life of soldier Wozzeck in a village. When his wife cheats on him, Wozzeck kills her and after that, in his attempt to cover his tracks in a state of delirium, he drowns in a lake. Wozzeck is one of the first extensive operas of the 20th century written in an atonal idiom with the use of Sprechgesang – a type of vocalization between speech and song.
Both due to its importance for the history of music modernism and for the quality of its music in itself, it has been a staple of the repertory of all major opera houses in the world.
On January 19, 23, 26, 31 and February 2. Starts at 19:30 (Sundays at 18:30).
Both due to its importance for the history of music modernism and for the quality of its music in itself, it has been a staple of the repertory of all major opera houses in the world.
On January 19, 23, 26, 31 and February 2. Starts at 19:30 (Sundays at 18:30).
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Performing Arts
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Monday, 03 February 2020 23:23
The Phantom Of The Opera Live In Athens
The Phantom Of The Opera is here! The iconic musical viewed by more than 140.000.000 people worldwide.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's iconic musical, one of the world's greatest hits with more than 12,000 performances at Her Majesty's Theater in London, is presented by People Entertainment Group, with an all-star cast from London's West End, in the biggest theatrical production that has ever been presented in Greece!
Andrew Lloyd Webber's romantic and monumental musical with famous classical songs that have left their mark in history, the suspense and mystery, and the tender love story between Christine and the mysterious Phantom of the "Paris Opéra House" comes to life on the new state-of-the-art ''Christmas Theater" in February and March 2020.
A "bigger than life" production that will fascinate and enchant even the most demanding spectators!
Information & group reservations: 216.800.46.68
Information & group reservations: 216.800.46.68
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Performing Arts
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Friday, 03 January 2020 00:00
Athens English Comedy Club | Open Mic
Happy New Year from the Athens English Comedy Club!
What better way to start the year than with something new and bright? We will be hosting our first English open mic, this Sunday January 5th!
MC: Dimitris Dimopoulos
Comedians in alphabetical order:
- Vangelis Harissopoulos
- George Iliadis
- George Karamanlis
- Kinthia
- Maria Koufomanoli
- Lefteris Koulonis
- Nefeli Louizou
- Vaggelis Moularas
- Stavroula Pabst
- John Papadopoulos
- Kanelli Scalcoyiannis
- Odysseas Deniz Ürem
Some performers will be doing stand-up for the first time ever, so bring your loudest applause and all of the love you can give! Others will be trying out new material, so bring your most honest giggles and open hearts and come see comedy being born!
We need YOU to make comedy happen!
Come and laugh! Nay! Come and chortle. Or better yet, guffaw!
For reservations:
- Message us directly on Facebook
- Call us at +30 698 799 4689
- Email us at athensenglishcomedyclub@gmail.com
For reservations:
- Message us directly on Facebook
- Call us at +30 698 799 4689
- Email us at athensenglishcomedyclub@gmail.com
Published in
Performing Arts
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