Ischia

This past weekend was the first unorganized trip me and a group of friends embarked on. It was an unexpectedly awesome time full of good people, good wine, and great views. 

The group was large--10 people--but I started my travels early on thursday afternoon with my friend tia to get a head start on the trip. We decided to leave early on a whim and boarded a train to naples with no place to stay for the night; surprisingly, we weren't at all nervous. We randomly ran into kids at the station who were also going to naples and mooched off of their hostel for the night. I had heard all the usual awful things about Napoli: its trash, crime, and overall sketchiness, but was determined to come up with a better image. Sadly, all my expectations were met and then some. Naples is not a pleasant place to be, especially the area surrounding the train station which is where our hostel was. That night (after eating the most delicious pizza i have ever had) was a sleepless one, full of suffocating heat, loud bomb like sounds, rickshaw screeching, and other noises one would usually associate with a third world country. 

We woke up early and rushed to the ferry station; within an hour and a half we were in paradise--the beautiful mountainous island of Ischia. What really made the weekend a success was RING HOSTEL. This place is a true gem--the whole place is covered in murals and graffiti of people who have stayed there, there were hammocks right outside our room, a rooftop terrace overlooking the mountain and sea, etc.

After a awesome day at the beach full of rock jumping, we all had what will be a night of legend. Almost the entire hostel went to dinner at the owner's family restaurant, where we had a delicious dinner, with good music (matt, katie, sarah[s], they played 'one more night' by stars!), and copious liters of homemade wine. Then, the hostel organized this event where we all piled into these tiny taxis with water jugs full of wine and drove away to a secret cove across the island where there were natural hot springs. We spent the next three or four hours lounging in this organic jacuzzis with the moon shining right on us--seriously no words can describe how unreal this felt. 

The next day we split up and my group climbed to the top of the mountain (ill have pics up soon...i swear). That night the hostel took us to a local 'piano bar'..which is Ischia's version of a nightclub,...the piano is a keyboard, and they play weird techno versions of songs like 'september' by earth wind and fire. It was really really amusing. 

I must end this post with a dedication to Anna, a kiwi who worked at the hostel. She is honestly the coolest person i have ever met in my life. Her life is full of energy, spontaneity, music, and new experiences. Everything she told us about herself and what she had done already in her life was exactly what i wish i could be like.  She hung out, talked, and partied with us all weekend. I think she is only going to be working there for a few more weeks before she goes on tour in New Zealand so to all those studying in Europe this semester, go to RING HOSTEL as soon as possible!