07 Feb
If you’d told me a few months ago that New Year’s Eve in Italy would blow a traditional Dutch celebration out of the water (and later into the water, but I’ll get back to that later), I might have been sceptical. It’s not necessarily that the Italians party harder than we do; it’s just that you can’t replicate the glorious, high-energy chaos of 40 ESACers.
The evening began at a slow pace after a long day on the limestone. Each apartment hosted its own dinner, and all prepared their speciality drink. While our place (Appartment 15) served up a killer Limoncello Spritz, other apartments stepped up the game with Mojitos and the classic esma. The vibe shifted from tired climber to party mode real quick, especially once Lucas and Jule took to the stage with a fire fireshow. Interestingly, Italy is much more conservative with fireworks than the Netherlands.
One of the apartments was transformed into a disco. As the small apartment was filled with 40 ESACers, the heavy-duty speakers, disco lights, and a smoke cannon completed the party. DJ Robert took the decks, dropping absolute bangers including the mandatory KKW classic, "Que si, Que no." Around 23:30, the mob moved toward the town square of Finale. We were greeted by a slightly surreal sight: an Italian punk-cover band playing their hearts out to a crowd of "boring" locals standing in polite silence.
Then, ESAC arrived.
We brought the noise, the energy, and—inevitably—the moshpit. The local security guards weren’t exactly thrilled with our enthusiasm and shut the pit down, but we did manage to recruit a few local Italian teenagers who were clearly inspired by the Dutch madness. We danced together for the rest of the night.
While the locals watched from the shore, wrapped in heavy coats and convinced we were insane for we ended the night properly with a New Years dive in the Mediterranean sea.