Blogs from La Vella, Andorra, Europe - page 3

Today, on the Feast of St. Anthony, all of Andorra gathers together in various plazas throughout the country to celebrate what is called L'escudella. Escudella, itself, it the name given to a traditional Catalan stew full of delicious things like Catalan sausages, beans, and various vegetables. Apparently in the early 70s some friends in Andorra got together and prepared plates of escudella for their neighbors and the shopkeepers in the area. They were essentially reviving the centuries-old tradition of distributing food among the poorest in the parish on St. Anthony's day, January 17th. As you might have guessed, this became quite popular and now the entire country participates. Lucky for us, in Andorra la Vella the festivities were taking place just a 5 minute walk from our apartment in the Plaça de Les Arcades. Basically the ... read more

Well after 3 weeks of living in the prison known as Aparthotel Conseller I am finally free from such pleasantries as water being turned off without notice, paying for an internet that worked 1/300th of the time, and breathing in fumes from the construction that never seemed to cease. After some mild trauma with respects to securing a 4th person for our 4 bedroom apartment, Mike, Alex, and I convinced one of the Oxford students to take the 4th spot until she leaves around Christmas. After that...who knows...but for now it works out well money-wise and we are happy as clams. The place itself is located in the main Andorran city, Andorra la Vella, more specifically in the Ciutat de Valls, a neighborhood somewhat elevated and hence named "City of Valleys" literally. Since all four of ... read more

The next day in Andorra brought an even earlier appointment with which to start the day - 7am blood tests. At 6:30 we met in the lobby to make the trek to the hospital. Now Fulbright had already demanded from us the paperwork from a full physical including blood work and tb test, but of course Andorra wanted it AGAIN. No matter that two PPDs within a few months of one another can result in TB symptoms. Hogwash! We were all out of there by 7:45, with only one British girl having an issue with nausea before finally getting over it and completing the short visit. Afterwards those of us with the 9am appointment with Jordí went for coffee and fresh croissants before heading further into town to meet him, as well as Risha, at the ... read more

Well as you all may have guessed I've made it to the mountains valleys of Andorra. Chris and my last morning together, as you may have guessed, was rather traumatic, but once I shifted my mind to the exciting few days ahead I calmed down and was fine once I got to the bus station. I had maybe 40 minutes to kill at station, but by 10:15 I was ready to board and seated right in the front row with the best view of the journey in to the Pyrenees. A few minutes later I noticed who I was fairly certain was another of the Fulbrighters standing outside the bus, but he got on without looking at who was around so I figured I'd just wait til we got to Andorra to meet and just relax ... read more

Day23(I think) I'm trying to load a video but the Wi-Fi is really slow here. Right now I'm in Andorra and will be leaving at 2:00 to go to France(gag) will post the Video as soon as i can it has a lot in. You probably will not believe this but yesterday I went snowboarding and the guy who rented me a board asked me what I was doing, well later on I met him on the lifts and began talking again and I ended up staying at his Apartment that night. It was really cool because I never thought I would do something like that. He and his friend who rented out the apartment are both from Argentina, and are here to work and were very nice. I’ll post a picture of my bed so ... read more