Well. I know its been a while since the last post, but I still don't have internet in the flat and I've been so busy I've not really had time in school to write up a blog to tell you all about everything…so here goes!2 weekends ago I went on a trip to "Alcala de Henares" with my flatmate Bob and our friend Gonzalo. It's a little town on the outskirts of Madrid and is the birthplace of Cervantes, and we went because there was a medieval fair to celebrate Cervantes Week. There was so much food to choose from and other little stalls. We had traditional chorizo and cider and then some cakes to finish off! After that we went to another town on the outskirts called Pinto to watch one of the other teachers, Marisa, singing in a concert with her choir. They were soooo good, an all female voice choir who sing a cappella and were just amazing. On the Sunday I went out for a drink with the Bebington crew….yes that's right there is more than just one of us in Madrid! Ol, who lives in my road is over here working too (considering there are only 7 houses in my road it's pretty incredible!) and I used to live in the same road as Amy, the other girl! T'was nice to meet up with some familiar faces anyway. School happened somewhere after this and then on the Friday I had my audition for choir and went along with César, Marisa's husband, and I also give private English classes to their children so have got to know them quite well! The audition went well and I stayed for the rehearsal to see how things worked. You get 30mins of a group vocal training session with a professional vocal coach and then you also get 20mins private vocal tuition at some point during the rehearsal…all for free! I've just found out that I have got in which is great news and I have a lift to and from the rehearsal each week too so it all fits in really well! Can't wait to start on Friday.The day after, Sat, I went on a free day trip with the Cambridge crew to Covarrubias, a small village in the region of Burgos, about 3hours north of Madrid. We went care of the Norwegian Embassy to see a concert in the village (as Jaime is studying Norwegian at the uni here). It was great fun and really nice to drive up into the North of Spain, which is so green….as soon as I have internet I promise to post some photos! This week has been pretty busy as on top of School and private tuition it was a week of visitors! On Tuesday, Ol invited me out for a meal as his mum and dad (my neighbours) were over to visit so we went out for tapas in the centre and to a really cool bar which overlooks one of the squares and is apparently one of David Beckham's fave hangouts when he is in Madrid! It's called the Penthouse and is on top of a hotel and all lit up with sofas outside and everything!Then later on in the week I made a journey to the airport to surprise mum, dad and Sam at the airport, who nearly walked straight past me! They had come over for a few days at the beginning of ½ term and it was lovely to see them. They were invited to Marisa and César's house to meet the family which was really nice and then we did loads of other things. We went out for a meal in Plaza Mayor for mum's birthday and did lots of nice things in the nice sunny weather like taking a boat out on the lake in Retiro park, and visiting the Reina Sofia art gallery and one of the highlights must be having chocolate con churros in a lovely little bar…they're gorgeous! We also fitted in a bit of shopping too (some essentials) but I must add we didn't even go into 1 Zara which is amazing!They have just left earlier this evening and mum is going to send over an electric blanket for me as it is really starting to get cold here at night! (and they are v expensive here). My cupboards are full of nice things that they have brought over like Cadbury's chocolate, teabags, toblerone and horlicks! I've also got some great DVD's to save me from the rubbish that is Spanish TV…including our very own Elsie in Benidorm series 1!Well I think that's more than enough for you all to take in for now and I've got to go and get ready for school tomorrow…where I'm going to be spending a week talking about Halloween! Speak to you soon.

Lots of love, Jess xxxx

ps the picture isn´t actually where we went but we did travel through some mountains!!!