Before my trip I was very nervous about the whole thing. The journey seemed like it would be stressful, because I had to take a plane to Madrid, then a bus, and then a train. Also I have never really been in a situation where I was the only English speaker and doing this on my own made me very nervous.

I was also sad to be leaving my girlfriend for a month - the longest we have ever been apart since we met was 2 weeks before this.

In the end the journey went very smoothly. My flight was on time, and after asking a taxi driver for directions I managed to find the bus stop easily. It was quite hot outside as Madrid is very hot and it was just after noon. After about 10 minutes the bus came. The bus ride through Madrid was actually the highlight of the journey. I have never seen Madrid before, and the bus went past a huge palace and some other monuments.

After about 40 minutes I ended up at the Renfe Atocha train interchange. This was probably the most confusing railway station I have ever been to. All of the station is underground, and it is huge. It took me a while to find the ticket office, and I bought a boarding pass. I then had to go through security where they scanned my luggage, like in the airport. The train ride itself was not very interesting - the scenery was just scrub land the whole way. The train seemed bigger and a lot quieter than trains in the UK.

When I finally arrived at the station, a man and woman were waiting with a little girl, with a piece of paper with my name on it. I was really nervous by this point, and after I introduced myself I realised how little Spanish I knew! I think they thought I didn't know any Spanish at all!

My first impressions upon arriving were that Toledo was a very pretty city - even the train station was impressive. When we drove out of the train station I could see the old town at the top of a hill with the city walls and some impressive buildings. Charo (the mother of the family) pointed out some of the buildings on the way.

When we arrived at the house I ate some Russian salad and they showed me to my room.

After I had unpacked my stuff I came down and got some crazy directions to the language school from Charo. She didn't really know the way, but she had a (bad) map of the city in the phone book. She wrote the names of all of the streets where I had to go and I went out to find it. It took me a long time to find the school because Toledo is a very confusing city, and the route was not very efficient. On the way I came across the tourist information centre and they gave me a free map. Once I found the school I drew the route back and it was a much better route.

That evening I ate a little, and sat downstairs with the family. I was very tired and found it very difficult to speak. Charo's brother came around with his wife and I chatted to them for a while and ate watermelon. It is nice to meet new people because you can say the same things again! After a few minutes they talked amongst themselves, and eventually I left and went to bed early. I was so tired!