El corazon en Espana!

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We departed from O'hare International Airport in Chicago at 8:00 am and landed in Barcelona, Spain at 8:00 am. It was really weird when our planes tickets read the time. It look like we weren't going anywhere. We made sure that we would try to get as much sleep on this flight as we can. We only had a few hours so we needed to have as much energy possible. We arranged a cab to pick us up at the airport and we were off. Barcelona Spain was beautiful. From the grand towers to the lush environment, we were really starting to feel the Spanish spirit. As we explored the many barrios(an urban area in a Spanish-speaking country) and tried to understand the dialect(local or region characteristic of a language) , something caught our attention. There was an impromptu audition to star in the lead role of a play at the Gran Teatre del Liceu theater! The play was at 11am and since we knew we had to leave at 1pm the same day for a flight, it was now or never. Excited to get the true taste of Spain, we decided we might as well give it a shot. To our surprise, we got the parts! With only a couple hours to prepare, we started to feel nervous and unsure. To cope with our uneasiness, we stopped at a small restaurant for Tapas. We all ordered something different and shared off of each other's plates. While we were eating, a man started to play the guitar and serenaded the audience. One by one everyone got up from their tables, stopped eating, and started to dance. We got up too and it was some of the most exciting dance we've ever done. It felt like a scene right out of high school musical. After finishing our food and dying from laughter, we felt a lot better about performing. If we were able to make ourselves look like fools and dance around a restaurant, then the theater can't be that much bigger of a feat. On our way back to the theater we walked past many beautiful sculptures and artwork that you couldn't find anywhere else. By each sculpture or painting there was an artist waiting to teach us about the true folk culture(cultural traits such as dress models, dwellings, traditions, and institutions, of usually small, traditional communities) and influence that Spain played in their artwork. This only fueled our drive more to do something great and worthwhile. We felt like we were finally ready to accept the challenged. We arrived to the theater just in time for dress rehearsal. The director of the play, Marcelo Givenchy, assured us that we would be okay and perform just fine. He said that when he first saw us audition, he knew that we were the ones for the part! With the words of wisdom and the pumping adrenaline, we felt like we were ready to perform. It was showtime. As the curtains rolled down we started our performance and from there it as history. At the end of our performance roses were being thrown and we couldn't believe it. We really just performed at the Gran Teatre del Liceu! It felt like a dream come true. Marcelo greeted us afterward to tell us that the audience proclaimed it was the best performance they had ever seen. It was so good in fact, that they wanted to paint a portrait of us so they can hang in the theater to always remember our performance. We couldn't believe it and would never forget our trip to Spain. To know we would become a part of history was the greatest feeling in the world. We as a group made a vow to come back to Spain in 20 years to see if our painting was still there. Until then, we still had more countries to go to! We quickly hurried to the airport almost missing our flight, but boarding the plane.

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