60 days of Palermo in a nutshell

Even if I tried to sum up those 2 months spent in Palermo for an Erasmus Traineeship, I still could not manage to say it better than Plato:

“In Sicily they build houses like they will live forever, and eat like they will die tomorrow. ”

Source

Last year, the summer of 2017, I was just back from University of Amsterdam where I had already finished a full exchange semester. Freshly returned home, probably most of the people would have embraced the time of ‘being back at home’, but for me apparently, the ‘Once an Erasmus, always an Erasmus’ tune that was playing in the back of my mind influenced me more than I had imagined. By the end of May my next experience was already planned, although this time, more Mediterranean and by far more sunny.

My future perspectives blossomed along with the enthusiasm of an AIESEC volunteer who stopped me on the hallways of my university in Bucharest, asking me: “How would you like to spend your summer somewhere in the world, teaching English and even better, if you choose to do it in Europe, even receive an Erasmus grant to help you with your expenses? “ And this way, fast forwarding to July, I was once again embarked on a 2 months journey with only 10 kg of clothes and an infinite amount of curiosity in my luggage.

About my home

Palermo, Sicily, welcomed me in an accommodation offered by AIESEC Palermo for free – a lovely typically Sicilian home with the landlady living right below us and visiting us once in a while to see if our international place had everything that we needed.

‘At home’ we lived together with other trainees coming from Georgia (my two roommates), Mexico and Tunisia.

By now, I cannot tell what I miss the most: the mornings that smelled like coffee when Naniko was enjoying her everyday coffee on our balcony, the narrow streets that were full of the ‘oh, so typical’ motorcycles, the same streets that I had to walk on for 40 minutes to my work, the children greeting me right when I entered the sporting campus, my team mates, the teachers or the Italian entertainers who were talking to me in their language and I replying in English, perfectly understanding each other…Not only can't I imagine this picture without any of these things, but also I cannot name one that did not make me nostalgic at some point even now writing these paragraphs.

About my work

Before coming to Palermo, after two Skype calls and a submitted video where we had to show our best, I only imagined teaching 7-10 year olds basic English while struggling to use the 100 g of basic Italian I knew by then. After my first weekend, I realised the whole experience would come with so much more than that, because after I was welcomed to my new ‘workplace’ by two AIESEC representatives - my receiving institution - and after I started my day at Sporting Village Palermo – a sportive complex for international children, I was also expected to organize educational and cultural-sportive activities for them! So there was much more than simply teaching them English and I did not mind that at all.

What did a full day of traineeship look like?

The tennis lessons, the football, the creative workshops where we used to paint kid’s faces or simply let them paint us… the treasure hunts, the mini golf games, the swimming lessons and sometimes even the spontaneous water fights in the warm afternoon breeze. What a summer!

My main responsibilities were to speak to the kids in English and be a part of the entertaining team that assisted the teachers in their sports lessons. We were the ones that spent most of the time with the children while they had 1 h of each sport every day, so can only imagine how attached I got to all the kids there and how after 2-3 weeks I had already anticipated the amount of sadness I was about to feel at my departure.

From Monday to Friday, from 8 a. m. – 2 p. m., that was it. These few hours of spending time for the actual work of traineeship were just a few from all the other times that made me fall in love with the beauty of Sicily and its people.

About the vibe of the Palermitans

Palermo is a place of mythological stories, tradition, Italian gastronomy and incredible views from the hills surrounding this city. Although I did not know what a treasure this city was before arriving there, I knew it would be a different culture, that easily allows you to make friends because of our shared Latin roots, but I did not expected them to be so extremely welcoming and so easy going about everything, so open to accepting a stranger like me in their homes, in their everyday lives as if they had known you since the beginning of your life.

That was something that took me by surprise or at least flattered me more than I had imagined. Their warmth is so natural that after ‘nice to meet you’ you could actually expect a ‘You should come for dinner next week with my family! ’ too. From graduation parties to pool parties in the neighborhood and spontaneous family trips to the other side of Sicily in Agrigento, these people only care about ‘Gli amici sono benvenuti’ (friends are welcomed).

The nightly church parades, the weekly fireworks, the music coming out of the passing cars, the sheets covering and shadowing the balconies of the houses, the Palermitans talking and shouting from each other’s balconies, the fruits and vegetables street markets, the long evening walks on the Vittorio Emmanuele street all the way to the port, passing the stunning Palermo Cathedral and the university library or sometimes taking the shortcut through the Jewish neighborhood.

About where you can travel

Everywhere! Go along the coasts, visit the small cities, you can enjoy every city in Siciliy because there is too much history and too many cultures on this island after so many different conquers. Monreale, Agrigento, Catania, Syracuse, Taormina, Cefalu, Ragusa, Erice, Modica, Trapani, San Vito Lo Capo, Corleone, Caltanissetta and so many more... Palermo was definitely a gem and there is so much to do here, but if you’re traveling here for holiday or you’re even thinking about doing an Erasmus exchange or a trainee ship like me, you will enjoy its hidden treasures right when you thought you have already seen them all!

More about all these cities later on my blog! Stay tuned!

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