Baila Baila Baila! Fiesta!

Woke up entirely too late today…I should have gone to bed much earlier last night. I made some progress on my model but not enough. The studio space was not open today, to my surprise, so half of my materials were locked inside, thus preventing me from getting to a better stopping point. Tomorrow is going to be even busier in terms of completing this model.  

Throughout the entire day the city had multiple celebrations in honor of Santa Eulalia, it was the Festival of Santa Eualia. For this reason the city was very lively today…even more crowded than normal. After dinner a group of us went out “exploring” and we encountered the many festivities of the night. I wish I had pictures of everything but it was dark outside and there were way too many people for any of my pictures to turn out well.

Our first “encounter” was with a small parade which ended in Plaza St. Jaume; in the parade there were people inside of giant costumes which were representations of people from each area of Barcelona. In between each "giant" was a small ensemble of recorders, drums, and clarinets. Once the procession arrived in the plaza there was a larger band that was setup on a stage; the band performed a “waltz” like song in which all of the “giants” danced with each other. After the dance there was a very impressive light show. This light show utilized multiple projectors and projected 3D images and synchronized videos onto the façade of the town hall. During the 8 minute show various effects were displayed (like fireworks coming out of the building, various classic games such as Pacman, Mario, Tetris, Galaxga etc. and other optical illusions). It was neat to experience the city from a different perspective…I almost felt like a local and not a tourist for once. After the light show we walked to another festivity where a dance show was being held. During the performance the dancers came off the stage and into the crowd where they taught people the dance moves. I was lucky and got to dance with one of the performers in the crowd…I caught on pretty quick if I say so! Towards the end of the dance everyone in the crowd was prompted to form a dance line…so we all danced around to the music!

I need to go to bed much earlier tonight, I refuse to wake up late again and have the larger portion of my day gone, Buenos noches!