Hook by Blues Traveler

During my year in Spain, I developed all kinds of friendships with Americans, Spaniards, and other foreigners living in Barcelona like me.  I established a regular get together with several people and it was so nice to have something to count on and look forward to on a regular basis.  Dunkin Donuts for lunch, following by shopping with Elisa....Cafe y Croissant con Chocolate with Carla and Sara....lunches with Anhchi and Christy.  Today we are heading over to one of several of Christy's apartments for lunch.
We were making, or better, attempting to recreate something my roommate Dolors had made.  To this day I have never made it taste or appear quite as delectable as Dolors accomplished.  It's really a simple dish, packed with contrasting flavors and colors.  She started with rice and she tossed in a smashed clove of garlic.  She fried up some italian or pork sausage.  She then halved a couple bananas and fried them in the same pan as the sausage.  Finally she fried an egg.  Now for the assembly:  Stuff the rice into a small water glass and upend it onto a plate.  It should hold its shape.  Spread the sausage around the rice in a circle.  Place the banana halves on top of the sausage and finally, lay the fried egg on top of the rice.  Lovely, right?!  Serve with ketchup to taste and eat by smashing it all up and combining everything.
I can't remember the details of our cooking experiment that day, but I don't think it was a disaster by any means.  The song Hook came on (a cassette most likely as it wasn't a big hit in Spain) and there is this interlude in the middle sung very quickly.  To my surprise, Anhchi and Christy chimed in, singing every word perfectly.  Apparently they were very familiar with the song and had spent some time working on the lyrics.  Truth be told, I was a little envious of their skills.  I was also envious of their close friendship.  They were very close friends at UC Davis prior to coming to Barcelona and were constantly sharing hilarious stories from back home.  They never made me feel like a third wheel and I always enjoyed our lunches because the hook brings you back....

Maria by Ricky Martin

It was the last night in Madrid, culminating an unforgettable first week. The first week in Spain. The first week of my exchange year.  We were supposed to be packed and on the bus early the next morning to make the trek to Barcelona to settle into our new home for the next year.  I wanted it to be a night to remember....an all night long night to remember.  We returned to the place where we started the week which was a bar right across the street from our hostel.  We had met the sweetest bartender there, I want to say Carlos?   Maybe Jorge?  In any case, a bunch of us headed over to the bar for cocktails and dancing.  This incredible song came on and everyone hit the impromptu dance floor.  Un dos tres!  Un pasito pa' adelante Maria! Un dos tres! I really only understood "un dos tres" and "maria", but those parts of the song I sang with gusto.  I moved my hips.  I danced with abandon.  I was 20, blonde, thin, and living it up in Espana!

At some point in the evening we ended up in another bar that had more of a nightclub vibe.  The bartender was with us, along with some other guys from our hostel. Thinking back now I think it was actually a dorm and these were students. It doesn't really matter.  We danced, drank, flirted, and practiced our Spanish until the bar closed and the sun was starting to come up.  Yet I did not want the night to end.  I remember going back to the dorm to quickly pack up all my things and hurry back to another's dorm room spend the last few minutes in Madrid with a beautiful Spanish boy.  It was a night to remember.

Barbie Girl by Aqua

The majority of the songs that I listened to during my time in Germany and Spain never made it to the US.  I think that when it comes to music, Americans take themselves (a little too) seriously and a lot of the Eurotrash dance hits simply weren't sophisticated enough or "real music".  Then again, Who Let the Dogs Out was an enormous hit in 1999 and that was one of the dumbest songs I ever exuberantly danced to, so maybe my reasoning is completely false.  In any case, competing for THE dumbest song I exuberantly danced to is Barbie Girl.  It was an enormous hit in Spain in 1997 and you would often hear it in the discos.  It always makes me think of Albert B. because he liked it (and me) so much, he created an alternative verse, just for me:

I'm a Yankigirl, in a Yankiworld

Life in dollars, it's fantastic

You can dance with me and go to Sabadell!

Albert was the first friend I made in Barcelona and of course I immediately fell head over unrequited heels for him.  He was cute and hilarious and completely unpredictable.  He would often show up at my door at any time, sometimes even at 10pm and suggest going out somewhere and I almost always did.  He was completely ADD and talked faster than I do using all the latest slang and idioms.  It was a challenge for me when I was just learning the language and often resulted in me unknowingly using the most inappropriate expressions to his great amusement.  

Yanki is what Spaniards call ALL Americans, no matter how many times I told them that we only use that for the Americans in the Northeast.  I found the expression so endearing however, that it became my email address for the longest time.  Sabadell was a town just outside of Barcelona and Albert drove me and a couple friends up there to go to some disco that wasn't any better than any you could find in Barcelona.  I can't remember what he thought was so great, but I do vaguely remember his car breaking down and it being some big, stressful, dramatic ordeal to get back to the city.  I found the whole experience to be oh so typical Albert and a good story to boot. 

MMM Bop by Hanson

There was no shortage of things to do in Barcelona.  It had everything - the beach, countless museums, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, nightclubs, street fairs, festivals, you name it.  There were options galore, yet for some reason, when Anhchi L, Christy R, and I found out that Hanson of MMM Bop fame was slated to perform at some indoor concert at the old Olympic Village.  We weren't Hanson fans and honestly, who could like that ridiculous song?  We thought it would be funny to say that we saw Hanson perform in concert.  So we traipsed all the way out there to see these blond teenagers sing their ridiculous song.  First mistake.

Second mistake - I already mentioned that the Olympic Village is quite the journey from our dorm.  It is on the edge of town and once you get to your bus or metro stop, it's a long walk through the Olympic Village to the performance hall.  There is nothing else around it and it wasn't a really cool venue with anything to see or do.  We basically stood around and tried to get into some of the other bands that were playing.  We started asking people when Hanson would be performing and no one knew what or who we were talking about and couldn't answer us.  We waited and waited, but Hanson never appeared and we never got anyone to confirm they were actually coming.  We ended up leaving before the concert ended, very disappointed.  We never did figure out what happened or where the breakdown in communication or loss in translation occurred.  By the time we got back to the metro, I think we were probably so disappointed and tired that we ended up going back to our dorm.  Needless to say, the song never improved with age or listening! 

La Flaca by Jarabe de Palo

It was my first weekend in Barcelona in late summer, 1997.  I was beyond excited because I was about to take a bus to the Mediterranean.  In fact, I told my dad this very thing when he called the dorm right before we left.  I couldn't get over it.  A short bus ride across town to the Mediterranean.  How cool is that??  My dad responded by quoting skin cancer facts and horrors.  I was so disgusted that I told him I had no intention of wearing sunscreen and I had a bus to catch.  I mean, honestly!  Sunscreen in hand, I headed to the beach with Anhchi L, Christy R, and Lia B. It was everything I hoped for and more.  Topless sunbathing.  Cute boys everywhere.  The beautiful, sparkling Mediterranean.  Vendors with funny songs promoting their snacks (my favorite: Agua!  Coca Cola!  Cerveza Fria!).  We settled in for an afternoon of sun, sand, and fun.

At some point we were joined by some cute Barcelona boys.  I can't remember how we started talking to them.  Anhchi might have joined their soccer game and then they came over and sat with us.  There were 2 of them and they were obsessed with their soccer ball, to which I thought, of course they are!  Spaniards love soccer!  The boys shared some of their music with me since I was listening to music on my Walkman.  Pretty sure it was a Walkman back then.  Some of the music was not to my liking, but then they played La Flaca.  I might have heard it before then.  It was totally the song of the summer in Barcelona definitely (the band is from Barcelona) and possibly all of Spain.  It has a clever beat, the singer's voice is really sexy, the chorus is fun.  I was singing along, but since I didn't know exactly what they were saying, I wasn't singing the correct words, which are:  "Por un beso de la Flaca daria lo que fuera.  Aunque solo uno fuera".  On a nerdy note, this song would be an awesome example of the subjunctive for a lesson in a Spanish class.  Just saying.  The boys corrected me and I later learned precisely what I was saying and I love everything about this song to this date. 

After the beach, we proceeded to follow the boys back into Barcelona.  They kicked the ball the entire time and I am not sure where we thought we were going.  I hoped we were going somewhere fun, perhaps to a bar to grab a drink, but no.  We just walked around aimlessly, watching them kick that stupid ball.  I think we eventually said to heck with this and got back on a bus to our dorm.  And that was my first trip to the Mediterranean!

Kiss of Life by Sade

They say that Christmas is the turning point when you are doing a year-long study abroad program.  After 4 months (around Christmas), you have finally started to get the hang of speaking in another language.  You might be dreaming in it at that point.  You know your way around, you have a nice routine, and you have developed some nice friendships.   A lot of people get homesick at this time and it is tempting to go home for the holidays, but you need to resist the temptation!  Get through it and when Christmas is over, you are on the path to truly settling in and enjoying the rest of your year.  Unfortunately for me, one of my roommates left early in the New Year and was replaced by a new one.  The new one was a nice person, but I just didn't click with her.  On top of that, my landlady was a crazy person.  I had to deliver my rent check in person and it was a super lengthy, super annoying and patronizing experience.

At this point I had started making those friends I mentioned above.  I was a dedicated gym-goer and I was starting to make a little group of friends there.  One of them was Esther and when she heard about my apartment woes, she invited me to come live with her.  She happened to have a recently vacated room and it was only a 5 minute walk from my current apartment!  Since I was in Spain with literally the clothes on my back, moving was a cinch.  Esther's apartment was pristine.  She and I cleaned together on a regular basis - from top to bottom, walls included.  It was decorated in a fun, modern style (she is an artist).  We really got along well and she was the best part of the rest of my exchange year.  We had our daily routine.  After school, we'd head to the gym.  We'd spend about 2 hours working out and then shower and head home.  At that point it was about 9pm.  We'd eat dinner (iceberg lettuce salad with corn and an oil and vinegar dressing.  2 slices of toast with cheese or ham or a hotdog.) and more often than not, get dressed, swapping clothes, to head out for a drink.  So fun and as an added bonus, it was the skinniest I have ever been!!   

Sometimes I would come home from school or wherever and Esther would have the stereo blaring as she read, painted, relaxed, took a bath.  She was usually blaring Sade, specifically Kiss of Life.  It made me feel sophisticated.   I was living in this modern, European city, sitting in my light-filled apartment, just minutes away from the Mediterranean.  The music made me feel contemplative and I would sit and write in my journal for hours, thinking about who I was....who i wanted to be...what was next on my life journey.  It was a transitional year and that music was my backdrop for making choices and learning how to live a grown-up kind of life.