The Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is held each February in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital of the largest island of the Canary Islands, Spain. It attracts people from all over the world, and it is considered the second most popular and internationally known carnival, after the one held in Rio de Janeiro.
ERASMUS+ Blog: 2019-2020
In February 2020, three fashion students Anna, Simona and Eva from Galway Technical Institute were chosen to travel to Canary Islands (Santa Cruz de Tenerife) to complete a 3 week Erasmus+ placement. Our journey began on 1st February until 22nd February. During this time, we had the fantastic opportunity to work with designer, Daniel Pages, helping to create two designs for the "Gala show", along with costumes for the dance competition show. As a material, most of the time we were using hot glue guns, glitter, gems, sequins, and feathers. During our placement, we built very good relationships with art students from another Irish college in Sligo, and also with our Spanish team of designers. We were also invited to join the team next year, and get a chance to work on designs for future projects.
In our third week of placement we had the opportunity to work with a filming group, where we recorded record interview video interviews, sharing our experience. During our time in Tenerife we also visited local museums such as "Casa del Carnival", which translates as House of Carnival. The placement also gave us the opportunity to explore the culture on offer in Tenerife. During our days off we explored the Island, visited the local Historical Military Museum of the Canary Islands, Plaza de Espana, the local Sunday Market "Mercado De Nustro", along with much more. We also visited local towns, Garachico Town, La Orotava, La Laguna and the beautiful local village of Tagananna. The main cultural cuisine of the Island is seafood, spiced with local herbs, and at a times accompanied with Jamon, a local cheese selection and wines...delicious!
Benefits of the Project
First we would like to say a huge thanks to everyone who was involved and took part in Erasmus+ Project. We have so many memories which will stay in our hearts forever. The main reason why we decided to take part in the project was that we wanted to develop personal skills, such as adaptability. It was also a great opportunity to experience different learning practices, to learn/improve on a foreign language, and also to do part of our studying in a foreign language. We also wanted to meet new people and explore a different culture. During our work placement we met wonderful people, developed many fashion related techniques related to Fashion industry and explored this new culture. Erasmus+ also helped us understand what we wanted to do in the future.
Overall, we can say that there were no negative aspects to this experience, only positives, and if someone gets the chance to be part of this Erasmus+ experience at GTI, don't even think about it, just apply!
Thanks to GTI, Léargas, and the EU Commission for this amazing opportunity!