Children by Robert Miles

It was the summer after my freshman year in college, 1996, and I was back in Germany for a 2 month visit.  I had landed a 3 week summer internship at Hewlett Packard, thanks to Bastian's dad, which would end up paying for my fall semester tuition and also afford me plenty of time to enjoy the summer and my time in Germany.  Did I mention I was living at my boyfriend's house for the summer?  It was heaven.  There are so many memorable events and amazing stories from that summer, but today we are going back to the very beginning of the summer.  A group of friends were all meeting at the Kroko Kellar, a disco in Karlsruhe.  I had been there once before at the beginning of my exchange year in 1993.  Discos and drinking and techno and the whole scene was all very new to me back then and my first experience left me feeling mostly out of place.  Fast forward 2 years.  I was 15-20 lbs lighter, thanks to being finally diagnosed (and treated for) hypothyroidism.  I felt cute, stylish, and I was there with my boyfriend.   I also had an entire year of college behind me and felt completely comfortable with the drinking, dancing, party/club scene.  It was going to be a great night.

Tons of our friends were there and it was a big reunion for me.  I was enjoying myself thoroughly.  But the best part was yet to come.  One of the songs of the summer was by Robert Miles (Roberto Milano in Italian).  His music was very different than the cheesy Euro techno that had been popular up until then.  It was actually more trance than techno.  I learned that he created it because there were an extraordinary amount of car accidents caused by young people in Italy and his theory was that the music they listened to was too aggressive, causing them to drive aggressively.  His music had a driving beat, but it was more soothing, rhythmic, and calming.  It is really good stuff and immediately caught my ear that night in the Kroko Kellar.  But what caught my eye was this German guy doing the absolute, most perfect white man's overbite and air drums as he enjoyed the song.  Most American guys back home wouldn't be caught dead listening to techno, let alone visibily enjoying it.  It made my night.