After three fantastic weeks in Santa Cruz we spent our final night at one of the biggest parades in the country. All the Queen floats were presented to the street audience along with dancers party buses and many more. It was great to see all the Queens lit up in the dark highlighting more the great talent and the exquisite eye for detail each of the designers have. We all dressed up for the occasion, it was a wonderful night and great end to a once in a lifetime opportunity. We have learned so much from this trip and most importantly, we bring back home with us some great memories and new friends. An experience that will stay with us forever and it is sure to help each of us in our future careers. Below are some of the pictures from the night. 

Thanks for reading and keeping up with our trip over the last few weeks.

From all the Tenerife Fashion crew17.

Last night we attended the crowning of queen of the carnival. It was a great night with Santi's team coming in 3rd place and Daniels team coming first runner up. We were privileged to be able to go backstage before and after the show to meet up with our designers, models and have a look at the other designs. To say we've gained a lot from this experience would be an understatement. Working with people with such creativity and experience has been an ultimate privilege. We will all come away with new knowledge and skills which will benefit us in the future. 

​The day finally arrived! It was the first day of the "Carneval de Santa Cruz de Tenerife", and the city was alight with excitement and anticipation. All 10 of us were so nervous about the outcome as we had dedicated so much of our time and effort to helping Daniel Pages and Santi Castro in creating their visions. We queued for what felt like hours, but we also got to take a quick tour backstage and show support for our teams, while also having a quick glance at the competition.

Finally, the time came and the show began. The dancers, the music, the comedy sketches and the Dresses were a sight to behold. It was a real culture shock, we all became very aware that this is a once in a lifetime experience and that we were witnessing a moment in time in this proud nation's culture that we would always remember. 

The time came when the Crowning of a Queen for 2017 was to take place. The stadium fell silent as the thousands of people who had gathered waited eagerly for the announcement. One by one the were announced.. and then Santi Castro's model, Carla was announced as 3rd runner-up. The girls from his team were delighted with the fact they had placed and there hard work had been acknowledged. Then Laura, Daniel Pages' model was announced as the first runner-up and we were all delighted on Team Pages. Daniel's other model in his other dress, Violetta didn't place in the final, but she was clearly happy and emotional for Laura's win. Laura looked so happy to have placed so high and so close to winning. It was an emotional moment afterwards, when we all went backstage for the last time to see Team Santi and Team Daniel. We all said our goodbyes and we laughed, hugged and some cried as we walked away from the people who had given us the most amazing experience of our lives. 

Reminiscing on the night, it was amazing to see what all of our teamwork had created. We had all learned and gained new skills, improved our relationships with one another and created valuable memories to cherish always. 

We are coming to the end of an amazing experience, but last night was something that will live on with us well after we leave the island.

Until Tomorrow,

#TeamTenerife xoxox

Model: Violetta Tyurkina. Her theme: Sobre la Bóveda Celeste (the Celestial Vault) Team: Daniel Pages
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     Model: Carla Cabrera González. Her theme: Aguas de Victoria (Victoria Waters). Team: Santi Castro
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Model: Laura  Rodríguez Jorge. Her Theme: Oración Caribe (Caribbean Prayer) Team: Daniel Pages.  Placed: 1st Runner-up

Today was the day before the Carnival, it was all hands on deck to get the dresses finished and moved to the exhibition centre. Team Santi spent the day finishing off their dress and cleaning all of the sequins and jewels so that it will sparkle as much as possible tomorrow night.
         
Team Pagés went down to the exhibition centre to help with the moving of the dresses. It was very exciting to see some of the other entries coming into the centre. Everyone involved has made such a tremendous effort and all of the dresses look amazing. They're so huge that it's quite an operation to move them and bring them inside.

A lot of parts can be taken off and reassembled once inside. Everybody down there looked tense and excited at the same time. A lot of them will work through the night to finish off the last details of their entries. All that's left to do now is to get one more sleep for the big day ahead tomorrow...

​Team Tenerife.

Team Daniel were asked to arrive at work a little later than usual today as most of the work has been finished. We waited to meet our GTI tutor-Helen to show her where we had been working and what work we had done.

When we arrived we were shocked to see that the floats were almost completely together.  The floats had been lit with really bright lights to give a better idea of what they will look like onstage. Everyone was completely gobsmacked at how beautiful they looked. We all felt proud of the work we had done and the skills we had used and improved to complete the task. 

As the floats were almost completely put together we didn't have to stay at work for too long. We did however spend time looking at pictures of the headdresses and gowns to accompany the floats. We talked to the members of the team about what we thought of the finished products and we organised when we would meet tomorrow at the theatre where the crowning is taking place on Wednesday.  Our communication skills with the members of the team  have really improved since we first arrived as our Spanish has gotten better and they have also learned some English phrases from us. 

Until tomorrow 

​Team Tenerife x 

After seeing all of Santi's beautiful dance costumes at the Comparsas competition we felt inspired and decided to start searching for items for our own carnival costumes. We can use all of the skills we learnt from our designers over the past two weeks to make our costumes. The theme for this year is 'El Caribe' so there will be plenty of pirates and mermaids on the streets of Santa Cruz. We visited a fabric shop and were amazing by the beautiful selection they had. This will definitely be useful for our courses in GTI. 

Due to the fact we are working everyday during the week we were glad to get the chance to eat out at an Italian restaurant on our street this evening. 

Happy Saturday. This morning we decided to make the most of our day off and headed to the pool. The weather was so nice that we soaked up the sun.

The Santa Cruz dance competition was on this evening and Santi was kind enough to buy all his team tickets for the show. The show started at 8pm and we arrived early at the arena as we heard that there would be massive queues to get in to the show. The place was packed and full of people supporting their dance teams. We sat with Santi and his family and the rest of his team and waited for the show to start. Santi had designed costumes for his dance team and we were all so excited to see them on show.

All the dancing and all the costumes were out of this world and we were completely blown away. When Santi's team came out we all got up and cheered. The atmosphere in the arena was incredible. You could really see how much the carnival means to everyone in Tenerife and it was so nice to see.

We all really enjoyed the evening and to top the whole night off Santi's Dance team got first place. Everyone was so delighted.

The show ended really late so we headed home after and hit our beds.
Team Tenerife :)

We got the bus to work and as we arrived, Daniel was leaving to go to his other workplace with one of the models to do the finishing touches on what was going on over there.  Work was slow to start as the majority of the work is almost complete.  We were split up to complete three different projects. Daniel's team have a lot of confidence in us and leave us to our own devices until tasks are complete.

From the beginning, the four of us have worked exceptionally well, both together as a team and also  individually. This is a skill we all developed before we came to Tenerife. We have excellent organisational skills as a group and are able to negotiate and delegate tasks to suit the strengths of each team member.  This makes our team very efficient when working together.

At work I am definitely becoming more confident in using the little Spanish I have. It also helps that Daniel and his team are very willing to use the little English that they have. The language barrier is no longer a problem and we can laugh and joke with each other using both Spanish and English. As for practical skills, I am now a whizz with a glue gun and I have developed a great eye for detail. I have found that I really enjoy detailed work and that I strive for perfection when it comes to this. I believe all the skills I have mentioned above will benefit me when I go home. The skills I have developed will help me in college and in any future workplace. I believe communication, teamwork and organisational skills are three of the most useful skills I can possess and I have definitely developed each of these since arriving in Tenerife.

Today was another beautiful day on the island. When we arrived at work today we could really see the float coming together and it started to look like the pictures he got his inspiration from, which he showed to us the previous day. There was still a good bit more to do so we got stuck in straight away. He split us up to do different tasks, so some of us got the glue guns and material and started gluing parts together while others were cutting up fabric into small strips. The model came in again to practice walking with more parts on the float. she was doing well. We got a lovely lunch half way through and then continued to work. Towards the end we ran out of material so the designer started to make a list of what he needed for the next day. We all couldn't get over the amount of material we went through. It's very interesting and exciting to see all our work coming together. 

This morning, we got up early before work some of the group went down to the pool to get some more Vitamin D! While some of the others and myself decided to visit the botanical gardens which were beautiful. 

Team Tenerife.

Hola from Tenerife!

Once we got to work we began working on a lot of the smaller bits for the floats. They love sequins and glitter over here. The brighter, the better. We were all paired into teams of 2 and given tasks to do. We use glue guns a lot over here and its very easy to get burned so we always ensure that we take our time when working. We work with a lot of small pieces of sequins and materials and we need to make sure we do it neatly but also safe. The floats get examined very closely by the judges so its key that all glue and steel is covered.  Santi looks over all of work as we do it anyway to make sure we do it correctly and is always there to give us a hand if we're finding anything difficult. All of Santi's team are really friendly and welcoming. They always lend us a hand if we need it and thankfully they speak very slow Spanish for us so we can understand them. We are looking forward to seeing how the float eventually turns out.

On the journey to work we get to do a bit of sightseeing. The city is so large over here and there is so much to see. We got the tram into the city centre and instead of staying on the same path we decided to have a look through the other streets. We soon found amazing views down at the Port where there are loads of little cafes to sit and enjoy the view. The mornings fly when you're having fun.

Hasta Luego!