Yesterday evening, I had planned to go to the cathedral with Ahmed. We arranged to meet at 6, and when I found him he told me that the cathedral closes at 6:30. I'm not sure why he didn't tell me this before!

As the cathedral was going to be closed we walked around a bit to find somewhere to have a drink. Ahmed once again ordered something stronger than necessary - this time he wanted a Jack Daniels. It was huge as Spanish 'measures' are about 3 times the size of English ones. It was painful to watch him drink it and he obviously didn't enjoy it, but tried to drink it anyway. When I ordered my second caña (small beer) I got him a coke and he mixed it in and was able to drink it. I made an excuse after this and went home for a while.

When I got home I replied to my emails and went down stairs on my way out. Oliver and Charo were in the kitchen and Oliver invited me to eat with them. Charo told me they didn't really have any food and it was a bit awkward. I wanted to say "I was going to eat out, but I can eat here if you want me to". Basically the rules are that I get breakfast and lunch here, but eat in the evening on my own.

I couldn't figure out how to word it so I told them to give me a minute and ran to my room to look it up. This a really useful phrase: "Iba a ..." literally "I was going to ...". When I found them again I told them that I was going to eat out in the restaurant, and I can still do so, but I can eat here too. I will only eat here if I am invited. Eventually we all understood each other and Charo said they don't really eat a meal in the evening - they just snack on bread and fruit. It was all a bit difficult because of the language barrier.

After that I went to a restaurant in the "Plaza amador de los rios" - the square of the lover of rivers. In some ways it was better eating alone than with Ahmed because I chatted to the waiter more. I asked the waiter what "Alcachofas con Jamon" was and he said serano ham with vegetables so I ordered that. When it came it was a plate of artichoke hearts with little pieces of ham and was very nice. Every time I saw the waiter I asked him to repeat what it was called until after about 3 times I'd got it. He seemed impressed that I wanted to learn.

I slept well last night and awoke feeling refreshed. When I got to class there was no Ahmed - apparently he was ill. I predict that he had drunk more spirits and was ill because of that but I don't know for sure.

Class was pretty good as it was just me and the teacher. The first half of class went extremely quickly, and as usual we went for a coffee in the break. In the second half of the lesson I had a lot of fun trying to explain Imperial Units (feet, inches, ounces, pints etc.) to my teacher. I always knew it was a stupid system, but it seems even more so when explaining it to a foreigner! "What - there are 12 inches in a foot? Why?".

Lunch today was the best so far and I ate a lot. I had green beans with ham to start, and tortilla for my main. I had a custard desert (natillas). I have also mastered the words for knife, fork and spoon at last!

This evening I am meeting up for some kind of tour of the city (in Spanish). I'm not 100% where so I will go now and try and find it!

Last night was not good - for some reason I woke up about 3am with stomach pains and couldn't sleep again for hours. I think my body is struggling to adapt to the new eating routine.

Lunch today had a really nice starter - it was gazpacho soup (a cold tomato, cucumber and onion soup). Charo served it with chunks of cucumber, tomato, tuna and croutons. It was really nice and refreshing.

The main course I didn't think so much of. It was risotto, but it was just too heavy and I only managed to eat half of it. Afterwards I had my favourite Spain food - Sandia, which is Spanish for watermelon. Normally I don't like it that much but here they are amazing. So refreshing in the intense heat.

Tonight I am going to the cathedral with Ahmed.

When we met up at the school, it was actually a tour of the city by the director of the school, Maite. It was just me Ahmed and Maite, but it was quite interesting. Maite explained some of the history of Toledo which was very interesting, and showed us some monuments, bars and restaurants. She explained everything in Spanish and I understood most of it!

Afterwards I went to dinner with Ahmed. He seemed ok - but we quickly reverted back to English so I will try and avoid spending too much time with him in the future. He told me how he drives around with a machine gun in his car in Lebanon and that his dad has a bazooka! He said it is normal in Lebanon - but he finds it a bit strange as he lived in Paris for his early life.

I had a few beers and Ahmed said he wanted to try something different, so he had a Gin and tonic. You have to remember that the Spanish measures are very big and he is only 16. Afterwards he couldn't walk in a straight line.

After a few drinks it was still too early to eat so we went to the Alcázar. This was a large building that was built by the Moors when they controlled Spain. It has since been destroyed and rebuilt, and now has a library in it. We went to the library just to see the view out of the window, as it is very tall. You could see a long way, especially considering Toledo is on top of a mountain!

I also got a phone call from Dad and he is coming to visit me on 12th which I am looking forward to.

When I got back to the house, I saw the eldest son (Oliver - pronounced Oliber) from the familly walking his dog so I walked around with him for a bit and chatted in Spanish. Then when I got back I talked to Charo (the mum) for a while. She said that she couldn't believe how much my Spanish had improved in 1 day - but I think I am just less tired and have got a bit more confident. It is still difficult for me! At the moment I am trying to learn some useful words like fork (tenedor) and knife and spoon which I forgot already! And a tap is a grifo.

Going to bed now - I'm tired.

Today was the first day of school. I slept like a log last night, but I didn't really have much of an appetite in the morning. I had a coffee and a couple of (very small) bits of toast and went to find the school.

I left plenty of time in case I couldn't find it, but it was much easier this time. As I got there very early I wandered around a bit beforehand, and went in about 5 minutes early.

Class was actually really good - the profesora who took our class was really good (and pretty!) and there was only one other student in the class which was great. The other student is called Ahmed and is from Lebanon. He is leaving in a week so I don't know who will be in my class then!

After class I came home to eat. Eating is the most difficult part at the moment because the meal times are very different. In the morning we have breakfast at 9:00. I wasn't really hungry at all but that's just as well because breakfast is light! Just a few small bits of bread and some coffee and juice.

Half way through class (at 12:00) we have a break and everyone went to a bar. Some people ate their second breakfast but I had no appetite and just had a coffee.

Class ended at 2:30 so it was about 3:00 by the time I had lunch and it was very heavy - I am so full now! We had a rich chicken soup with noodles to start, then some meat and fish and bread, then some custard things for desert (called 'natillas'). I keep having to say "solo un poquito" - just a little bit. I laid down for half an hour after lunch to let my stomach digest the food.

Everyone is meeting up at the school at 5:00 for something so I am going to go and see what they're up to. They said something about dinner, but Spanish people normally eat around 9:00pm so I doubt they will go straight away. If they do I think I will have to leave because I don't think I will be ready to eat anything for about a month!

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!