The premier hostel experience

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Howdy!

I survived my first weekend trip. Shocking, I know! We traveled to Ischia, and it was a weekend of firsts. Now begins the story of Katie's Ischia trip.

We left the JFRC (John Felice Rome Center) at 7 AM on Friday morning. Some of you are aware of how much I am not a morning person, so you can imagine just how pleasant of an experience that was. Getting to Ischia was an experience in itself. It began with a taxi ride to the metro station (subway), a subway ride to Termini (one of Rome's two main train stations), a train to Naples, a bus ride from the train station at Naples to the port, a ferry ride to the island of Ischia, and a bus ride to Forrio where our hostel was located. From there, we got entirely lost trying to find our hostel, and the language barrier didn't play much into our favor. When on the phone with the hostel owners, the term, 'Me en Forrio' was used. Maybe that's not funny, maybe you had to be there.

Anyway, I'm going to go on my Naples rant. When I told my mom that we were going to Naples, she got very excited and said how pretty it was. Sorry Mom, Naples is a dump! One of the main problems is that their trash hasn't been picked up in like 8 months- the mob controls trash pick up. Apparently, they just started to fix the problem. Anyway, Naples was DIRTY! There was trash in the street, and people sitting on the street that literally smelled like shit-like as in fecal matter. I did have some good pizza. That was Naples' only redeeming quality.

So, Ischia and hostel. We stayed in arguably the coolest hostel ever. The hostel keeper, named Anna, was from New Zealand, and was one of those people who just travels and blows wherever the wind takes her. She also was a musician, and played us some of the songs she wrote. Anna also liked to party, always appealing to college kids. There was also a cool British couple I met who was staying at the hostel. It was nice to communicate to people who spoke English. So, there were three brothers that owned the hostel, a hotel, and a restaurant. Every night they shuttle the hostelers to this restaurant. I had gnocchi which just blew my mind! They also had homemade wine which was a recipe for trouble on my end of things. After the restaurant, they shuttled us over to some hot springs (the island of Ischia is actually a dormant volcano). The hot springs were really neat (I almost said cool, but that wouldn't be right at all). Some 30 year old named Rosario who worked in Naples was trying to woo me, but didn't work (he was 30 and worked in Naples: Strikes one and two). But it made for an awesome experience all the same.

The next morning, the boys and I hiked the dormant volcano. I chose to hike as opposed to tan on the beach with the girls, and I believe I made the right decision. So, I was one of the guys for a day and we talked about man things like bowel movements. It took us about an hour and a half to get to the top. At the top, it was beautiful! You could see Naples in the distance. I can't describe the beauty. You'll just have to see my pictures. At the top, there was a restaurant where we had lunch. I had beer and lemonade mixed together, and rabbit pasta. Rabbit is a speciality in Ischia, especially as you get up Mt. Epomeo. The pasta was like a marinara with little pieces of rabbit meat. It was delicious! While we were at the top, clouds started rolling in, and we were higher than the clouds. It such a surreal experience! Then, it started to rain, but I'm unsure if it was raining or if we were just inside a cloud.

That night, we went back to the restaurant, and we succeeded in cramming 17 people into a van built for 7. Apparently, the record is 19. After dinner, we went to a piano bar which is actually really funny in Italy. The piano bar was a man at a keyboard with a bunch synthesizers trying to sing American songs, but not knowing English. He tried to sing September, and we knew the words better than he did. Also, Italians dance funny (I'm sure they say the same about us). It's like a crappy version of salsa dancing. The next day, we got up and left and embarked on the 7 hour journey back to Rome. We had lunch in Naples which was McDonalds. I know, hold the gasping! I thought I'd see if McDonalds was different in Europe, and it wasn't that different except the cheese and they had curly fries. Dad, the ketchup tasted the same.

So, that was the weekend! I have pictures. I learned that I can give links to my facebook albums for people who don't have facebook.

Rome pictures: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2127532&l=a3c54&id=20011971

Verona/Sermione: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2127602&l=814e1&id=20011971

Siena/Assisi: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2127756&l=a0ee8&id=20011971

Ischia: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2127756&l=a0ee8&id=20011971

That is almost every picture I've taken since I've arrived in Italy. Enjoy!

Ciao~

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