A Night of Flamenco 

By Tammy Martin, Fiorella Torrejon and Christelle Hunt-Thomas

This evening started with my first taste of Cava, which is a Spanish sparkling wine similar to Italy’s Prosecco, or France’s Champagne. Both Champagne and Cava come from grapes, sometimes the same grapes. But Spain doesn’t have the same restrictions on where these grapes can be grown as France does, so you get a sparkling drink with all the flavor and none of the price tag. Salud! 

Showtime - the Flamenco setting was intimate. Plush chairs were set around a wooden stage in a darkened room with warm red lights, making everything glow. This is done so you will concentrate on the performance. Flamenco is a very emotional style of dance. The dancers, or  “bailador”, try to express their deepest emotions by using body movements and facial expressions. In a Flamenco performance, it is customary to shout your bravos during the performance, clapping while the show is going on. I enjoyed the seriousness of the dance, but I also couldn’t help thinking the singer looked like Tom Hardy and the male dancer in the blue suit looked like Charlie Day (from Sunny in Philadelphia). But what a performance! Fiery, passionate, wonderful. All that a Flamenco should be.

--TM

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I enjoyed the flamenco show very much since I have never experienced one like that one before. Since I am Spanish, I grew up singing and dancing to all types of music including flamenco, and since especially love dancing, I was always very intrigued by the amount of passion and strength that this type of dance requires. I was able to notice how every dancer has their own flow but was able to also adapt to their partner when need it. Flamenco dance has been around for hundreds and thousands of years and originated in the south of Spain, mainly in Andalucia and Mursia.

We also got an option for a drink before getting into the show (which btw was a nice starter to enjoy the show) and I chose Cava to try which later on found out that was a very similar drink to sparkling wine but originated from Spain.

--FT

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The Flamenco performance that we got to see was honestly the best part of the trip for me. I love listening to music in all different kinds of languages and in this performance, it really hit upon the kinds of things I love. The mixture of cultures stood out to me the most and I thought the dancers looked so amazing in their outfits. The entire time I was just sucked into the singing and the dancing that had so much emotion in it. It was clear that the people dancing really loved what they do and I enjoyed seeing how they all supported each other while being on stage. It was the best part about this trip by far and even though it was the first time I've ever seen that style of dancing, it won't be my last. It's something I'd love to see a lot more because there's nothing I love more than listening to music and seeing people dance. There's a lot of beauty in the two because they're a universal language and can really bring people together even if they don't understand what's being said. It was a great experience that exceeded my expectations by a long shot. 

-CHT

La Sagrada Familia

By Christelle Hunt-Thomas and Tammy Martin

La Sagrada Familia was extremely overwhelming, but in a good way. When we first got there and were standing on the outside, I couldn't stop looking up at all of the details that were on the walls. It was truly art and something that I've never seen before in my life. The amount of detail and story that was on the outside alone was enough to blow me away, but then when I got inside I definitely wasn't expecting the beautiful sight that was right in front of me. I personally love anything that's colorful and vibrant and La Sagrada Familia was exactly that. I felt like I was in more of a fantasy rather than a church and if my church looked like that, I'd be the most religious person in the world. It was just amazingly built, especially with all of the very tall pillars that look like you're standing under trees. Something that stood out to me also was where they had all of the languages and it made me feel like it's really a place for everybody.

--CHT

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The first glimpse of the La Sagrada Familia leaves me with astonishment. This imposing, mile-high church bewildered me. As we got closer, I started to see so many designs and religious figures and animals sculpted into the design. You had to look carefully because everything was about the same color, a light shade of tan - except for the green in the evergreen tree halfway up. I definitely enjoyed the inside way better than the outside. We were lucky to visit on a sunny day to see this cathedral in its full glory with the use of natural light. Because of the creative ways Gaudi designed the windows the sun streamed through the stained-glass windows in colors from golden yellow to all the colors of the rainbow. It was like cracking open a geode and discovering the glowing brilliant crystals inside, or the reveal of a freshly tie-dyed shirt. It really does take one's breath away! Every snapshot I took on my phone looks like a postcard, it’s that ornate inside.

The body of Antonio Gaudi was buried on the lover level that we did not access, the guide pointed out a glimpse of the bottom with the candles, but I could see the whole thing when I spun the Pokestop of it (see pic). Another body was buried in the building he created. It’s becoming a theme on this trip! I loved it.

--TM