Three class days down, eleven to go!!!

I'll do my best to remember all the good things that have happened since my last update. Sunday we went on a group excursion to S

egovia and Ávila (yes, I was wrong, but thankfully I'm not in charge..) It was about a two hour bus ride back towards Madrid, but most people slept. As soon as we got off the bus, everyone snatched out their cameras to take pictures of the Roman Aqueducts! Let me just say, they're incredible. They are in amazing condition, even fake looking they're so perfect. I took tons of pictures, be sure to check out the facebook album. We had a walking tour of the city and saw the massive cathedral and went into Alcázar, the castle of Ferdinand a

nd Isabella. That evening we drove to Ávila, one of the last remaining walled cities in all of Europe. We didn't go into the city, but saw it from a lookout spot to take pictures. It was a great day for picture-taking. When I got home I was able to skype with both Daniel and my folks for a while. I'm so thankful for such incredible technology!

Monday was our first day of class..... and surprise(!) none of the professors hablan ingles. I'm pretty sure the elementary spanish students were terrified. I have a Spanish Civilization class from 9-12:25 am and we cover Spanish history since Carlos IV, and culture. Our teacher really enjoys talking about the differences between traditions in the US versus Spain, such as what time to eat, or what is and isn't polite to ask people. Its a lot of information, but hopefully it'll end up in an A:) I promise I study more than 90% of the people here... which means I should get an A, right? Some people are ridiculous and could care less. After class, a small group of us at the other dorm have a 20 minute walk, then we have siesta time, which is mostly for people 

who party all night long, but a break is nice. We eat lunch around 2:30 and go back to class from 4-7:25. My second class is a conversation class, which is mostly games or activities to get

us to talk about different things. Its been pretty easy so far! Now I'm back in my dorm to regroup before dinner at 9. The food has been pretty good so far, I'll usually eat whatever they offer so I don't have to walk 2 miles downtown to get a meal for 7ish Euros. During the week I've stayed in to get work done, but several others go out to the Plaza around 12 and hang out or party until as late as 6am. We've already had some very interesting/nerve-racking morning after stories.

 So, I've realized that the best thing I can do is have a good attitude and do my very best to be uplifting to others, and use any and every moment to be a witness for Christ.

Oo, I just thought of a funny story: this morning on our way to class, I was walking with 3 girls and we heard 2 guys near by making really strange squawking noises and trying to yell things in english. Then they do some sort of bird dance around us (while we're still trying to ignore them). And out of no where one of them hops on my friend-piggy back style-and hops off and runs away.

Tomorrow I am giving two presentations in my Civ class, one about a province of Spain called Cantabria (in the north), and the other is on the Tomatina festival (the big tomato fight in August). All in Spanish, of course. I think it'll go well, but there are bilingual (highschool) kids in the class who will know when I mess up which is a bit intimidating. But I'm glad to have the work out of the way. Now I'm about to start a presentation for conversation, in which I get to talk about AUBURN!!! I'm so pumped I get to talk about something I love so much. I have tons of pictures (mostly ones Daniel took) that I'll be using to show how beautiful it is-don't worry Daniel, I'll give you your due credit. I also got Mom to email me old pictures of Auburn, like me in a cheer uniform when I was five-haha! As you can tell, I'm really looking forward to talking for 5++ minutes about my home:) 

Friday we have another excursion for the long weekend to Southern Spain and will visit Toledo, Sevilla, Granada and maybe one other town. It'll be a very busy trip, but I'll have my camera glued to my hand to you can see it all as I did! Next week we have class Tuesday-Friday and Friday night a small group is going to the beaches in PORTUGAL! Then I have five more classes, then PARIS for 4 days, then I come home! Its going to fly by.

Hopefully I'll be able to update on Monday night after the trip. No promises though. I hope everyone is doing well, and thank for keeping up with me here and on facebook. I love hearing from you! Even though I'm busy here, I think about you often. Miss and Love you all!!

1 Corinthians 2:9

All my love, Anna Grayce

(ps. I just got to talk to Cliff on skype!! Thanks so much for calling!)