Milan Muste|25-03-2026|v4b
Scroll
I arrived in Sicily on a Friday evening and the first thing I noticed was how warm it was compared to the Netherlands. We went straight to a birthday party and even though I didn't know anyone it was really fun. People here just seem really easy to be around.
Saturday we slept in and then went to get arancini, a fried rice ball with meat inside and one of Sicily's most traditional dishes. I wasn't sure what to expect but I actually really liked it. After that we watched a handball match, ate great pizza, and hung out with friends in the evening.
We had lunch with my exchange partner's whole family and the food just kept coming. In the afternoon we went to a football match and it started raining heavily. The whole pitch turned into a swamp and everyone got covered in mud. It sounds bad but it was actually hilarious to watch.
School was more expressive and less structured than I'm used to. We started the day in the auditorium with dancing and singing. Not something that happens at my school back home. It was fun but a bit surreal.
Tuesday we went on a day trip to Palermo which is the capital of Sicily. It was a lot busier and more chaotic than Marsala. That said the architecture was really impressive with Arabic, Norman and Baroque influences all mixed together that you don't really see anywhere else.
Wednesday was spent at school and was honestly a bit of a mixed bag. In the morning we did a presentation combining Sicilian and Dutch food cultures which was a cool idea but the instructions were kind of unclear. In the afternoon we did a school wide challenge where teams had to find certain objects around the school and take a picture with them. My team actually won and I got a school merchandise shirt as a prize.
Segesta Temple
Segesta Theater
Segesta Mountains
Segesta Temple
Trapani Coastline
Trapani Coastline
Trapani Street
Trapani Coastline
Segesta Temple
Segesta Theater
Segesta Mountains
Segesta Temple
Trapani Coastline
Trapani Coastline
Trapani Street
Trapani Coastline
An ancient Greek temple and theatre on top of a mountain. The views were some of the best I have ever seen. Easily my favourite moment of the whole trip.
A beautiful coastal city with an old town and stunning views over the sea. The light hitting the water was just perfect. Really did not want to leave.
Friday was an early start and a quick goodbye. Sicily surprised me a lot. I found a place with genuinely warm people, amazing food and a culture where family and being social is really important. I came back feeling like I understood a bit more about what it means to experience a different culture.
My exchange partner arrived and we had classic Dutch snackbar food. The next day she just would not wake up. My dad played his instrument in her room and she still did not move. We eventually had to use water. We missed This is Holland but still did the canal boat tour in Amsterdam.
A 19th century Sicilian novel about a fishing family dealing with poverty and staying together. Read in Italian schools to understand Sicilian identity around family and community. After spending a week there I could connect the themes to things I had seen in real life.
A nostalgic Sicilian film about a boy growing up in a small village and his friendship with the local cinema projectionist. I genuinely loved it and having been to Sicily made certain scenes feel really familiar.
I recommended The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank and the Dutch film Oorlogswinter (2008). Both carry a lot of cultural weight in the Netherlands and are read and watched by pretty much every Dutch student at some point in school.