Tonight we would dine at Trattoria Da Nennella. Michael read online that it boasts a three course meal with wine and water included for only €12! We also read online that the line up can sometimes be so long, people wait for an hour or even two to be seated! We found the place and stood in the line. It was only about half a block long, so we didn’t think the wait would be too long. Everyone around us was drinking Aperol Spritz in little plastic cups, so we followed suit. Michael quickly found the place selling them and ordered two while I stood in line. He came back, “they were €1 each,” he said. “Well,” I replied, “it looks like we are getting wasted tonight!”

Michael went to get our second round; the first one went down so quickly. The line hadn’t moved, so I asked the young guys in front of me how long they had been waiting. “For what?” one asked. “Aren’t you in line for Nennella?” He laughed and told me that no, in fact they were just standing there, drinking. Michael came back and told me that on his venture to get two more drinks, he went to the other side of Nennella to discover the actual line — a way bigger line. We both laughed. The young guys in front of us “in line” introduced themselves as Luca and Francesco.

The street was bustling! Shoulder to shoulder people. I was getting a bit hungry, and Luca told us to eat at Nennella, but to just skip the line. He told us that we could either stand in line for ~2 hours and have 3 courses and wine for €12, OR we could order our food from the window and eat it on the street. We went to the window and ordered two bowls of penne, Michael ordered seafood, and I ordered pesto. When I took the bill to the cash register to pay, the man told me €5. I’m sorry? For both? When the meals came, the bowls were HUGE. I love Italy.

We ate our meals and chatted with Francesco and some of his friends. Francesco told me he is in first year university. He said he is older than all of his friends, that most of them are still in high school! Michael and I laughed. There we were, hanging out with 18 year olds That’s when Francesco asked, “Want to go to a trash party?” Yes, Francesco, we do. We didn’t drink 4 Aperol Spritz and two €2 glasses of red wine to just go home before midnight!

We followed our new young friends through the back streets of Napoli. People were on the streets everywhere, drinking, eating, smoking, and having the coolest time. We finally made it to the trash party. It was in a big courtyard of an old building. Under-the-table beer was €2, and a DJ was set up at the end of the courtyard. I danced. I was drunk. Just so drunk. So, I danced. The DJ was horrible. He played only 90s and 00s hits (which is old school for most of the attendees), but only the choruses and then there came a point when he didn’t even play the whole chorus, and just skipped to the next song. Even drunk Beth knows this is poor form.

We lost our friends, they probably realized early on that this trash party was going to be garbage (haha). After a bite to eat at a street food cart, we stumbled home. Man, partying like an 18 year old when you’re 27 really takes it out of you!