I have always felt that pop culture is the great international uniter. Everyone’s got an opinion on Michael Jackson. Most people agree that Meryl Streep is a damn fine actress. You don’t have to all speak the same language to have an opinion on Andy Warhol’s soup cans.

But if you’re feeling lonely, homesick or just a bit nostalgic, there are certain things that can unite you even more with your expat community – a common pop culture past.

I’ve watched British friends giddily quote Withnail and I at the pub to the bewilderment of everyone around them. I’ve seen an Irish girl phone a friend just to tell her that they sell Kerrygold butter at El Corte Inglés.

These silly little common links are often how expat friendships are often born.

Like trying to explain why a joke is funny, attempting to explain why this seemingly minor stuff from home holds a special place in your heart usually just ends with sympathetic smiles or blank stares.

Nostalgia feels stronger when you’re alone in a foreign place. You need to grasp onto something, however minor, because it’s a solid reminder of who you are and where you’ve come from. It’s especially important when you’re in a place where everything is not as it was when you were a child – from the faces and places you see to the radio stations on the dial and the brands of cereal on the shelves. You can feel oddly disconnected, no matter how immersed you are.

Last week, one of my American coworkers and I couldn’t believe that no one else in the room had grown up watching Sesame Street. We laughed and swapped stories and memories – we hadn’t known each other as children; we’re from opposite sides of the country – but we both knew all about Mr Hooper, may he rest in peace.

And this can happen to anyone displaced from their culture – not just among us guiris here in Spain.

My Spanish flatmate once told me of the Erasmus year she spent in Manchester, constantly craving pipas. “I don’t even liiike pipas!” she laughed. But something about leaving a pile of shell shrapnel at her feet made her feel closer to home in the chilly UK.

She told her new British friends: “Back in Spain, people eat these all the time, at the football matches and…” and they gave her the same polite smiles that we get from Spaniards when we yammer on about the gourmet sophistication of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I’ve had loads of conversations since arriving in Spain about things like The Godfather or how Diet Coke in the US tastes a little different that the Coca-Cola Light here.  It’s makes the world seem smaller, which can be just what you need when you’re miles from the familiar. Because if we all wear cheap blue jeans from H&M, really, how different can we be?

23 March 2009

text: Kristen Bernardi / Expatica
photo credits: u07ch, Vin0rz and Svadilfari

Kristen Bernardi is an American journalist living in Madrid. She has contributed to various travel publications including Fodor's, TimeOut, The Insider's Guide, Spain Magazine and InMadrid, and most recently assisted in 2008 Spanish presidential election coverage for CNN International. She is on a constant search for the perfect tortilla española, and will consider returning to US soil once the Pittsburgh Pirates make the World Series. Kristen writes a blog, Oye, rubia, on a wide range of topics for Expatica on fortnightly Fridays