"A Red of Summer, Please"

Two years ago, when I interned at a media company for a summer in Madrid, I went to this bar in Plaza Mayor with my friend Abby. I was there to intern as a translator to see if that was what I really wanted to do when I grew up and she was there to be an Au Pair and teach English. Every evening she would call me up and ask if I wanted to hang out. We'd always split a pitcher of sangria, get into these really intense conversations about life and then say good-bye and meet up the next night after "work". Thursday is a party night in Madrid, as is Friday through Wedenesday. So sometimes on Thursdays Abby and I would get two pitchers instead of one and stagger through the stiffling heat of the madrileño summer and realize that we'd started the "party" too soon. That was only sometimes. Once we tried to take it easy. She ordered agua del grip- tap water, and I ordered a tinto de verano. I had originally asked for a glass of sangria but they said to me, "Aqui no hay". They didn't have any, but they did have tinto de verano. Something very similar to sangria they said. They brought it out, set in front of me, then I took a sip. That was the most disgusting thing I'd ever tasted that was supposed to 'taste' like sangria. I guess it was because I was expecting that lovely intoxicating taste of wine with a not-so-subtle taste of citrus fruits. From that day on, I never ordered a tinto de verano. Anytime anyone said they were going to order it, I'd tell them they were making the biggest mistake of their life because it was disgusting.

Fast track to 6 months later, back in Spain but in Sevilla. I tried it again, against my will. Only because in Sevilla, drinking sangria is for guiris- tourists. Tourists? I wanted my sangria! So I tried it and it was one of the most amazing drinks I've had in a long while. Amazing I tell you. A bit of red wine mixed with a bit of lemon Fanta. Fabulous. If it was too early to order the usual vodka con naranja, I'd order a tinto de verano. The first drink I ever had has a bright green colour, it tasted much like mouthwash and went down just like mouthwash. It was one of the first times Will and I had gone out 'together' with a group. I was sitting at the bar and he came over and asked me what I was going to have to drink. I pointed to the brighest stuff on the shelf despite the strange look the bartender shot my way. I had never had a drink till that day. Drunkedness came later, some other day with peach schnaps, plastic cups and rocks at a university down the street. My friend Kim bashed her head on a rock in a fit of drunken laughter (she was ok, her boyfriend took her home in a taxi). What a pretty sight I was, staggering down the street hanging off Will's shoulders, feeling more fluid that I had ever been, babbling about a rock. I'd just decided that I'd done enough field work (e.g. observing people under the influence of alcohol to see if it really was 'safe') throughout the semester, so I went for it.

So while you're up, "A Red of Summer, Please".