Saturday 7th May

They had agreed to have breakfast at 7:30 in order to set off for Norton at about 8:00 or 8:15, but, strangely enough, many alarm clocks did not go off and many students had to hurry up and leave without having breakfast and looking like drowsy. They should have taken their teachers' advice!
Anyway, they checked out and the same driver and the same coach which took them from Gatwick were waiting for them. They left at 8:30 and were ready to face up to a five-hour trip on the A1 road driving to the North and accompained by the rain in several moments. After two and a half hours, the driver told them he had to stop. At the services everybody could have breakfast or a snack and stretch their legs. After forty minutes, they were on the road again. Their destination was closer and closer.
At about 13:25 they reached the destination: Norton and Norton College. The feeling of nervousness was increasing among the Spanish students.

The English teachers, Sarah and Teresa, and the host families were waiting for the Spaniards. After the warm greetings and some embarrasing situations, the Spanish students went with their English families.
Then, Sarah and her husband very kindly offered the Spanish teachers to take them to their hotel, The King's Head, located in Malton.

Before unpacking, the Spanish teachers went out to have lunch and go for a walk to know how far Norton College was from the hotel. It was a twenty-five minute walk. They came back to the hotel and unpacked. After a period of relax, time for dinner and they were longing for going to bed. But surprise! It was Saturday and they did not know what was going to happen until one in the morning. Yes, a lot of people gathered outside the hotel to drink and have fun. There was so much noise that it was impossible to get to sleep.

Friday 6th May

The second day in London started with breakfast at 8:00. Next, they took their packed lunch and were ready for a long walk through London streets. After leaving the hostel, they walked along Bayswater Road and parallel with Hyde Park. The first stop was at Marble Arch.

Then they made their way towards Oxford Street and the first big shop they found was Primark, where students enjoyed shopping all kind of clothes, shoes and accessories. They had planned to stay there for fifteen minutes but, in fact, they spent there nearly an hour.

The reserves of pounds had dropped but everybody was very happy and proud of their shopping. After that, they went on walking along Oxford Street. Then they walked down Regent Street and got to Piccadilly Circus. The students had read about this place many times in the textbooks, but then they were lucky to see it live and took several pictures.

Without much time to rest, they continued walking and reached Trafalgar Square with Nelson's Column and the National Gallery. By the way, a TV series was being filmed there.

They resumed their walking, They went past Horse Guards, 10 Downing Street and after several minutes walking they were amazed by the spectacular view of the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Then they crossed Westminster Bridge over the River Thames and went to The London Eye.
It was time to have lunch. After lunch, free time. None of the students went for a ride on the London Eye (the ticket is too expensive for them). But the teachers enjoyed that unforgettable view of London!

At 14:30 the group of Spanish students and the teachers were heading for Westminster Abbey, the place where a few days before, on 29th April, the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton had taken place. The students refused to visit the Abbey (mainly because of the expensive price of the tickets) and decided to rest on the nearby grass, as many other people were doing, while the teachers were visiting it.

Inside the Abbey, the trees which were set as ornament as well as the bridal bouquet could still been seen but photographs were not allowed.
After the visit, they went to St. James's Park. As they were walking through this park, a lot of pigeons, ducks, geese, swans and squirrels came towards them and they fed the animals.

Then, They arrived at Buckingham Palace. Another magnificent building which was being visited by thousands of tourists like them. Everybody was staring at the windows and the row of balconies just in case Her Majesty the Queen or any members of her current Royal Family waved at the crowd. Unfortunatley, it did not happen. They must have been very tired after the wedding. It made them feel a bit disappointed but it did not prevent them from taking a lot of pictures.

they left this superb palace and started walking again towards Hyde Park. Before entering Hyde Park, they went past Wellington Arch.

Hyde Park is one of the largest park in London, like a big forest in the centre of a city. There, you can see a lake called The Sepertine and Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.

On their way to the hotel, most of the students asked permission to go to Oxford Street again and do some shopping. They were allowed to do it and agreed to be back for dinner. A few were a bit late but there were not any problems. After dinner they were advised to go to bed not very late because next day they would have to get up early to set off for York. However, some of them ignored the piece of advice and went out.
It was the end of that tiring Friday in London.

Thursday 5th May

The journey to Norton started at 00:05 on Thursday 5th May. After saying goodbye to the families, twenty students and two teachers got on the coach which took them from Jaén to Madrid airport (Barajas). They got there at 04:15. They had not slept much, so they were tired. They had to wait for one hour until they could check-in. First problem: some suitcases were overweight and some students had to take out some clothes and give them to other mates.

The first step had already been done. After that, everybody had breakfast and looked for seats to have a rest, even the floor was suitable.

At 7:50 they went to gate B30 to board. Most of the students could barely conceal their nerves because it was the first time they were going to fly..



At 8:30 the plane took off and the flight was calm.


At 10:30 the plane landed at Gatwick airport where a coach was waiting for them to take them to The Royal Bayswater Hostel.

After spending a few minutes at the reception, the students and teachers left their baggage in room 108 because the other rooms were not available yet.
Fortunately, their packed sandwiches were prepared and everybody munched them eagerly.
Once they got their strenght back, they started walking through Regent's Park to go to The Natural History Museum.

In spite of their tiredness, they were able to visit different sections of the Museum for three hours.

They came back to the hostel at about 17:00 and their rooms were already available. So time to have a shower and, at last, to have a short and well-deserved rest.
After the rest they had dinner in the Pizza Factory and then everybody went to their rooms to change clothes and walk around until bedtime.