Program Reviews

I am SIMON Olivia and I am a french student of the High Scool Jean-Baptiste Colbert in Thionville. I knew that this experience will be a great opportunity for me. I said that because I can ameliorate my language, especially my English and my Italian. You speak with a lot of people and you discover a lot of think, as a new culture, a new country, new food, and others think. The life in Sicily is really different from that life in France. We discover some specialties like arancini, pasta, fish, typical ice cream, who are really good here and not really expensive. A think who is really beautiful here is the sea, she is really good and not really far from the house where we are living.

My name is Matthieu Gasser. I am 19 years old and I am a student of international trade. I come from the Lycée Albert Schweitzer. I was selected to do an internship for two months in Balestrate, Sicily. For my internship, I worked for a company in Alcamo that is Adragna Pet food. I used to go there with Pierro’s car.
Pierro Tuzzo organized different activities for us like excursions to Palermo to visit the capital of Sicily, excursion with a boat on the sea, another one with a little train to visit little cities around Balestrate and discover some Sicilian culture. We were also invited to some parties in the city. Also, he managed for us some time for football training in the Football stadium of Balestrate to play a game against the team of Balestrate at the end of the internship.
Things that I like are the very nice sea, the weather and the food ( especially Cannoli I will miss them). People are friendly and open-minded. We met some other students who come from other parts of the world. We used to go out with them and create some goods relations with them. We learned some words in Italian with the people who are working in restaurants and bars. The accommodation was well located in the city near the beach, close to the supermarket, restaurants, and bars. The Sicilian lifestyle is different.
During the internship even if a lot of things are good I can say that I missed my family, my friends, my house and my country a lot because the life in Sicily is very different even if I like the Sicilian lifestyle I can’t live here for the rest of my life.
Finally, I am thankful to Pierro Tuzzo for this good experience and this good internship. I think that I will come back to Italy in a few years.

My name is Nolween Clopeau , I’m 19 years old and I’m from Lycée Silvia Monfort in Luisant in France. this internship is a good experience to have more confidence et learn foreign languages, for example, Italian and English. For me, Sicily is very different from France: The climate is different, it’s very hot in June. Life is a little bit different, more relaxed. But the Sicilian people are very nice and fondly. During my internship, I saw too a lot of landscapes and I visited a lot of cities as Segesta with his beautiful temple, Castellammare where I did a boat excursion with my family. Palermo with I did a lot of shopping with my colleagues and I visited theater, harbor and the city in general. Erice my favorite city, is very beautiful. This city is on the mountains so when we are in the city we can see all the landscape and the city of Trapani. With my company, I have the chance to visit Partinico and participate in the seafood party where I meet a lot of people like the mayor and I will maybe see the Etna. The landscapes are different from France but very nice to visit because we can learn more in the Sicilian culture and the Sicilian history. But the cook is nice: I have the opportunity to eat big pizza, the best pasta and very good ice cream. And more with my company I have the chance to realize an interview on the RAI ( the big TV channel in Italia) to explaining my Sicilian experience.

I am Emir Redzovic, I’m a french student from the lycée Alber Schweitzer in Mulhouse. The job was great, the people in the company were very nice, we had a little fun too discovering some of the marina touristic activities. we did all our internship with them, and that will be one of the things I’ll miss when I’ll be back in France, the atmosphere of this internship. … Also being 2 months in the foreign country, is good because I tried to understand what people were saying in Italian and as a french, it wasn’t too hard understanding Italian but I couldn’t speak it, however, it’s not a bad language I would like to learn it one day. I had the opportunity many times to go in Palermo, it’s a real beautiful city we learned about the Sicilian history a bit. Overall i found this experience really useful because I learned to live on my own for 2 months and to manage my money and so on…

My name is Martin Grillet. I’m from Dijon. I was selected to do this internship in Sicily. My first impression was that Sicily is different than Italia. It looks like a different world between the north and the south of this country. When I came here, I found the characteristics of the south. People who are staying on the bench talking or see the blanket trying to be dry from the balcony. Moreover, I was surprised to see how life is way less expensive. So, almost every day, we are going out to go to the restaurant or getting our fresh tomatoes with the mozzarella di buffalo from the Conad. Also, I liked to practice on the soccer field with Italian people from Balestrate until the night time and then coming home tired because I don’t do so much sport.I have to adapt myself to the time because I noticed that after 12' 'o clock there is no market open. Even to be understood, because almost no one speaks English and I don’t know how to talk Italian.
I see myself in Sicily when I’ll retire because I like the tranquility that you can find here. People are not stressful and I think this is the lifestyle that each of us has to take at this time of life.
I think also that it’s nice to work with a stranger because we gonna learn some methods of work that we don’t do in my country and maybe I’ll come back from this internship with a new way of thinking. Moreover, living with other people I learnt to go outside of my comfort zones.
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I am Jean-Félix Distel, I am French, I came from Mulhouse and I have been selected by Piero Tuzzo for the program Internship Summer Camp. This Internship was also an opportunity for me to discover the local culture and the way of life of the Sicilians. I lived for the past two months with five of my friends from the same class in Balestrate, where we had a lot of fun pranking each other or enjoy a nice day off at the beach, eating in the restaurant and talking with the habitant of Balestrate. We assisted in the celebration of the city and visited locals seafood shops and other shops. This internship allowed me to meet other French students from all over France. The program allowed me to visit Palermo and the surrounding cities to eat traditional food and learn more about their history especially for Palermo where I visited the old city and the theater.

My name is Mathias MARTELAT, I’m 18 years old student studying International Trade. As part of my studies, I had to work two months abroad. After an interview with MISTER PIERRO TUZZO, I’ve been wisely selected to get an internship in a real estate agency in Sicily.
I landed in Palermo on May 7th, 2018.
First of all, since I don’t speak Italian, there is always the language fence. And unfortunately, people here speak English neither Spanish. It’s quite difficult to communicate, in a shop, at work and so on…
I’ve also met very good mates, we used to hang out at the pub, do some parties, go to the beach and so on. After almost two months seeing them every day created a strong link between us. I’m pretty sure I’ll miss some of them.
The food here is probably the best thing, pasta and pizza are way better than the ones you eat in some other part of Europe. And it’s cheaper.
Moving here was also the opportunity to, for the first time, live without my parents. I learned to live with my roommates. I had to do everything on my own, food, laundry, etc. My work experience was kinda good, my boss was very “cool”. He used to offer us the drink that he brings from the bar close to the agency. He used to not pressuring us etc. But I think not everyone behaves as he does in Sicily. Sicilian are known for being strict about rules.

My name is Camille, I’m 18 years old, I live in North-East of France in Mulhouse and I study International business at Lycée Albert Schweitzer in Mulhouse. In Sicily, people are nice and welcoming, the landscape is beautiful and the beach too, even if it’s long to walk until the most proper beach. We have some restaurants around us, bars with music with nice people who work there, supermarkets or what we need. To conclude, I would like to come back but I think it’s better to live there than coming for a holiday in my opinion.

My name is Anaëlle Bidault, I am 18 years old, I’m from Lycée Silvia Monfort in Luisant. I live in a flat which is just above our office so it’s more simple to go to work, and because we can sleep more. We also live near the other trainees, near the main square, bar, restaurants, shops, beach. We also work with, two girls from Tours. They are very nice and sometimes we hang out with them and with other trainees. At the office, we have to talk in English so we could be better, and in the life, we can learn some Italian words like Grazie, boungiurno, ciao, arivederci, spiaggia.. but also some food words like pomodoro, mele, fragola, panini. Thanks to this experience, we can learn about the culture and the history of this island, we did few visits like Palermo, we saw Massimo theater, gardens, we also do shopping, it was very nice. Segesta, we saw temples and theater, we go the Segesta with Irina and Marine, and with my parents Agrigento, we saw temples it was very beautiful, my favorite visit for now Cefalu was very nice too, with the clear blue water Erice, a city in the mountains, with a beautiful view on Trapani…

I am Chloé Kuster. I am from Highschool Colbert in Thionville. I was selected for an internship in Italy, more precisely Balestrate in Sicily. I worked in Immobiliare Curcuru’, an Immobiliare firm. It was a good project for me because it was my first work experience and I had the opportunity to practice 2 languages that I learned in school: English and Italian. This internship was very beneficial for me because it was an opportunity for me to do all the things I learned during my studies.
Balestrate is a beautiful city. We can go to the beach walking when we have free time. I went to Palermo twice for the moment. The first time I went to a villa for an Immobiliare conference with my mentor, Lorenzo Curcuru. The second time I went with a friend to do the shopping and eat at Mcdonalds. The food is different from French food because there are a lot of Sicilian specialties. We had the opportunity to assist at the celebration of fish in Balestrate. For this occasion, we visited some kitchen of restaurants and can degust food and wines. The ice cream and pasta are very good and the pizza is less expensive than France.
This Internship was very important for me because since it was my first work experience in life. I liked to work with Lorenzo, my mentor because he trusts in me and believes in me. He is a very good person and mentor because he explains slowly and takes time to speak to us when there is a problem. The experience was very good and we will remember this first work experience forever.