Where to Begin..

Well to be honest, today wasn't anything too exciting or crazy or funny. I got to Skype with my Spanish class! I miss them and all of my other classes too. I think they're expecting me to be amazing at Spanish or something now... Awkwaaaaard cause I'm not.... Basically the only noticeable difference in my Spanish is the lisp and I've picked up some new vocab. I still can't speak fast! Oh well. Today Grace, Danny and I officially realized something about our classes and teachers. If they acknowledge you (they usually don't. we feel special....) then you have to participate in class. Maybe not participate but at least pay attention a little bit. Those are usually the teachers who give you something to do so you can (attempt to) follow along.  Sometimes we get homework. Well, the other Americans have. I haven't! .... yet. Kind of hoping I don't. Not too sure I'll feel motivated to do it. Anyways, when the teacher doesn't acknowledge you, you can do whatever you want. Sleep, read, write, do other homework. I think phones, laptops and music are frowned upon though. I haven't tried because my phone doesn't work without wifi and I'm too nervous to bring my laptop to school, but just common sense really. It's an easy way to get by. Today we FINALLY got our tour of the school/monastery. It's absolutely enormous. It makes you feel completely insignificant, you have no idea. Wait.. I'll give you an idea:

The green is "el colegio," the part where the school is and the blue outlining is kind of a rough perimeter of the whole property I guess. The pink is where I took this photo from:

Gorgeous right? Absolutely breath-taking. This is my town, San Lorenzo de El Escorial!! I think we were only allowed on one part of the roof but when our guide said he wasn't following us, I decided to be daring so I went to explore.. That's when I found the staircase. I couldn't resist. ALL of the staircases in this part of the monastery building are the creepy, dark, stone, spiral staircases. The one leading up to this viewpoint was pitch black but beyond rewarding when I finally got to the top. So overall, today was an amazing day. The things we got to see on our tour were amazing and informative while also fun. From here in Spain, we are wishing all of you well in America!!