A quick late night post depicting how random my life is

Bonne Soir, dear readers.

the paparazzi waiting for U2

it is 12:18 at night(12:56 by time I actually post this), and I just had to post the ridiculousness that just happened to me.  If you don't know, Ana left for Germany yesterday to visit her boyfriend, leaving me with the key card to her room.  Which is amazing, because hostels/hotels/housing in general is EXPENSIVE here.  So today, I had a very fun day in Paris, wandering around the Haussmann/Richelieu area.  I popped into an Irish pub for a pint and a few football matches (I am in desperate need of my "footie fix")  While there, I met a handful of very cool people - a young guy from Norway, a group of people who had made friends on a U2 Fan Forum (U2 is playing in Paris tonight, too bad tix are insanely expensive), and 2 guys going to university here, one American and one Brit - all there to watch some premier league action and have a chat.  These people were all incredibly friendly and it makes me happy that my travels have allowed me to encounter some truly awesome strangers.  Two games and too many pints of carlsberg later, I headed over to see my friend Faes, the security guard at the Tour Eiffel.  After a nice time with him, I headed home because I am DETERMINED to get to the Louvre on time tomorrow (this has been a constant theme of this trip - can I wake up early enough to miss the crowds? nope).  As I was walking back to Ana's building, I caught up with Jana, Ana's friend that I met on Wednesday.  Jana is also an insanely friendly person, and while going into the building we joked about the many flights of stairs, and how if I think 2 is a workout, imagine walking up all 5 flights everyday like she does.  So we parted ways and said goodnight.
At this point, it was 11:45 at night, and I was DEAD TIRED.  However, when I inserted the key card into the door.....it didn't work!  Ana had given me 2 cards, because she thought one might expire while she's away,  so I tried the other one..... and still... NOTHING!  uhhhhh  uh-oh,  what do I do???  I tried to hop upstairs to find Jana, but I didnt know her room number and couldn't hear anyone talking.  So i tried the door again.  still nothing.  This time,  i went downstairs to find the night security guard and explain the situation....in french.... after a lot of beer, and maybe a kiss from a Frenchman.... he explained to me that maybe the card had deprogrammed itself, but there was nothing he could do without the owner of the room, Ana.  "uuhhhmmmm"  i said, "we'll she's out... i mean, she's not here,  she's in Germany. (in french of course) and the security guard told me there wasn't much he could do, cuz he can't just open someone's room without them being there, which I understand.  So i explained that I only know 2 people in France right now,  Ana, and her friend Jana, so maybe I
should find her and ask what to do.  The guard agreed and helped me find her room number, because I didn't
even know that. So up to the 5th floor I trudged, knocked, and explained the situation to Jana, half in french, half in English.  We went back down to Ana's room to try the key ONE MORE TIME, just in case, and of course, still nothing.  So down we went,  and THANK GOD Jana was there, cuz I don't think I could've explained half the stuff she said in french.  The main problem was that there was no proof of who I was and without Ana there wasn't much the guard was willing to do.  Luckily, I had the receipt from the school of when I paid for the extra bed to go into Ana's room, so we we're taking a step in the right direction.  Then Jana told the guard to check the security log, because Ana would have needed to tell the front desk that I was coming.  And sure enough, the combination of the bed receipt, my name in the book, my ID, and Jana vouching for me was just enough for the guard to reactive the key until Monday morning.  At which time I'll have to make sure I sort it out (in the monetary sense) with the front office,  but whatever,  at least I can get back into the room now!  phew!

So that, ladies and gents, is how my night ended.  Let's not call it a fiasco, let's call it an adventure!

this is a very sleepy sierra, saying "over and out!"

~Sie

A brief intermission

Hello Faithful readers! (do I have readers?  I'm still not convinced, you're a quiet bunch...)  Alas, I want to apologize for the lack of bloggitude lately.  It seems that being a Woman of the World leaves me not much time to update the masses on my whereabouts.  Also, a computer that's acting a bit wonky lately is also preventing that...  So here's a quickie to hold you over until there next installment of What in the World is Sierra Doing Today?!

I am currently in beautiful Paris, France.  I arrived Sunday night after a very fun and spontaneous long weekend in London.  Here's the short story of it (you KNOW the long version will come later)
Last wednesday I met up with my friends Peter and Meghan (a potsdam graduate from my horn studio) for a bit of sight-seeing in London.  We saw all the major tourist attractions - the london eye, parliment, buckingham palace, etc- and then saw the Lion King on the West End.  It was amazing.  The next day I wandered around alone, saw some more cool stuff.  Then Friday I met up with my friend Shari (also a potsdam alum, you'll notice a trend soon) and hung out with her in Canary Wharf.  On Saturday I attempted to get tickets for a footie match (Arsenal vs. Bolton) but that didn't work, so I found a pub close to the stadium, had myself a pint and watch the game with the locals.  After that I headed to London Bridge, with the mission of taking pictures of Tower Bridge.  I was successful.  It was awesome,  and I found the Thames Festival  - a huge street fair along the river.  But unfortunately, it's a little lonely to be at those things by yourself.  So I decided to head back to my hostel with the plan of having an early night in (on a saturday, in london - BORING).  Luckily, I befriended some crazy Welshmen on the Tube and they invited me out for a night of drinking.  It was AWESOME!  These guys are all about my age, live in london, and were definitely a good time.  So we drank, we talked, we wandered to a few different bars, and then we realized that I have no idea what time my coach to Paris was!  AHHH. So after some quick thinking and quicker money-dropping, I bought a new ticket, and got myself to the coach with enough time to spare. 
And now I'm in lovely Pariiiii, with my lovely friend Ana, and I've been "seein the sights" as it were.

So there you have it folks, I am not dead, but I am in fact deliriously happy to be seeing the world, making new friends, and eating good food.

I must leave you all now, as today's agenda includes the Funicular of Montmarte, a look around Sacre Coeur, possible a walk over to La Tour Eiffel, and crepes by the River Seine with Ana in the evening!  (Are you jealous yet?  Cuz you should be!)

Au Revoir, mes petits chou!

~ Sighting Sie

Soccer + Sylvia + Scotsmen = So Long, Sobriety!

As of Friday night I have been in England for 1 full week!  Yay!!  To celebrate, I went to the pub to watch England vs. Bulgaria in a UEFA Euro qualifier.  For those non-footie fanatics reading this, all you need to know is that it was an English National Team soccer game. 

Luckily, I convinced my new friend Sylvia to come with me, as it was a Friday night, and really, what else is there to do?  Sylvia is very cool and I'm glad we've become friends!  She's 26 (I think) also from the states, and doing a 10-month horticulture work program thing with the RHS (royal horticulture society.)  She'll only be in Guildford for a few more weeks, but she'll be moving all around England over the next year-ish, so I'm sure we can make it a point to meet up in different cities. :)                                                
So we popped over to Bar Med, across the street from the Y, for a pint and ran into another YMCA-er, Tim from Germany.  It was nice to have people to go out with on a Friday night, as I haven't really had any evenings out on the town.  The football-viewing-in-pub was a bit of a let down, to tell you the truth.  There are a few answers as to why that was the case.  One being that England did REALLY terribly in the World Cup, and English fans are some hard people to please!  Secondly,  this was just the beginning stages of EURO qualifications, so it was a game that didn't really have a lot of weight.  Lastly,  it was a game against Bulgaria of all places.  Not really a big football rivalry there if you know what I mean.....  Anyway, as we were enjoying the game, some guys at the bar next to us ordered drinks that looked peculiar, so I ask what they were.

"Jager Bombs!" they replied "would you like one?"
"No. yes. No.."
So without hesitation, the boys ordered more drinks for us, and bottoms up!

*Now, a quick note on culture vs. culture
As a respectable and responsible young professional woman, I always drink in moderation, watch my back and my surroundings, and make sure I don't embarrass myself.  Also remember that I'm in Europe now, drinking is not the same as it is in the states, there are no frat boys, and most people go out drinking at night just to have a good time and meet new people.  With that said, I am proud of my collection of pictures and the fun I'm having in my new home :)  (This disclaimer is mainly aimed at my mom, who is probably freaking out over the photos.)

As it turns out, these gentlemen were Scottish members of the British Army.  Very very entertaining scotsmen, they were, too.  

They were nothing but pure fun and silliness the whole night, just up for good conversation and dancing at the club. They're from Glasgow, Scotland, and are in Guildford taking a course for the Army doing something or other.  Each of them is in a different section of army-ness, but somehow they all act like brothers.  Incredibly immature brothers....


Let me introduce you to them!  First up on the left in these pictures, is Sean.  He's a tank operator.

He's also the first one to offer us jager bombs, so naturally I couldn't say no.  He has a RIDICULOUSLY Scottish accent.  It was definitely a challenge to understand everything that was being said between the accent, the alcohol, and the always loud music!

He kind of reminds me of Steve-O, no?  ---------->
Sylvia and Tim don't agree at all.










<---Next we have Ian, known to his friends as Eggy.  (Please don't ask, cuz I have no idea why!)  He's a combat soldier (i think?  does that make sense? no, maybe not)  and very smart.  He's got his 10, 15, and 20 year plan all figured out.  He's been saving money, bought a nice house, will rent it out to someone while he's serving, the tenants will pay off his mortgage, and when he's ready to retire - with pension - he'll have all the money he's been saving, a payed for house, and a nice little spot to call home and make haggis.  Not bad planning for a 19 year old.



Lastly is Damien (Damo).  He's not any army man, he's an Airman!  I was reminded of this several times that night.  Damien was definitely the most willing to dance, even though it was Sean that suggested going to the club. 



Sylvia claimed that Brits can't dance, and decided to show the boys how its done.  Here's what THAT lesson looked like:

Check out those moves! ->




Thank god Damo was so good natured about the dance lessons!
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V

Amazing!

Besides the dancing, and the drinking,  we took alot of pictures.  I think they came out rather well, what do you think?

Needless to say, we had an AWESOME night!!









I have no idea if I'll ever see these guys again,  but the memories will last.

(God, that was cheesy!  Sorry, readers)




Finally, at the end of the night, we made a startling discovery as to what English people eat after a night of drinking.  Every culture has their late night, post-bar refuel food.  For those of us from the Tri-State Area, it's late night greasy diner food.  In Brooklyn, it was Chicken Spot.  In Manhattan, it was Chicken N' Rice.  In Frankfurt, it was Doner Kebabs.  In Spain, it was Churros y Chocolate. So what was THE ONLY option for sustenance after hitting the bars?

Yes, ladies and gentleman, Burger King. 
American fast food. 
That's what the drunkies eat on Friday night.
I had no choice.

So I bit the bullet  (haha,  that shouldn't be a play on words, but it is!) and ordered from BK.

  








But you know what, it was late,  we needed carbs and protein,  and as the saying goes,  When in Rome!



I've been here for a week, and I've already met amazing people, gotten my barrings on the town of Guildford, and am loving life!  As always,  I hope you enjoyed the latest installment of my travels abroad!

~ Sie

A Mix of Mild Malaise, Frustrating Findings, and Plenty of Peters.

OK,  I was about to post this huge rant about what a crummy day I had on Tuesday,  but I've decided (with the help of my accidental page-reload) that no-one really wants to read 1,000 words of me being pissy.  So I'll give you the gist of it - On Tuesday I went on a wild goose chase trying to track down all of the following: the student medical centre, the accommodations office, the international student office, a doctor, the ability to move into campus housing, the option to switch my dorm closer to the PATS building, Surrey County Council, a job, and most importantly, a student ID card.  Needless to say, I didn't accomplish any of that, which was VERY frustrating.  I've been ridiculously sick for about 2 weeks now (I came down with the WORST COLD EVER on the Saturday before I left for England) and I was just hoping to talk to Dr. about it before semester starts.  But unfortunately you can't do that without a student card.  So I went in search of someone to help me get a student card, and it turns out that I pretty much don't exist in the university's system until International Student Week/ Induction Week at the end of September....  As I said: frustrating.


Regardless of how obnoxious that ordeal was, I still enjoyed getting my barrings around campus, meeting new people, taking a few more pictures, and serendipitously running into Kate Hedley-Boxall, the uni staffer from Registry that's helped me with pretty much EVERYTHING through email.  So I got to introduce myself to her and thank her profusely for putting of with all of my insane/inane questions.


The very next day I FINALLY met up with my "email contact" Pete, a music student at UniSurrey who's just finishing his masters.  We met for lunch and a pint at Chancellor's, one of the on-campus restaurants.  He and his flatmate, Leigh, are awesome!  We talked, and ate, and had some fun, and then they were nice enough to show me around the entire campus!  They even showed me the uni's mascot, the Surrey Stag, referred to by the two of them as "RoboStag." 


So naturally,  I challenged them to climb Robostag.  After a bit of hemming, hawing, and haggling they finally complied (I knew they would, cuz I'm awesome like that!)   


                    
                                                                       

           
     
            

Alas, I was wearing a dress and nice (read:girlie)  shoes, so I couldn't climb the stag, but I told them when I'm wearing jeans and sneakers, I'll get to the top of Robostag (so there!)

I also explained to them how I've been sneaking around  campus for the past few days, since I technically don't exist yet.  I've already been in the PATS building because a side door was open..  And the door leading to a rehearsal room...And some practice rooms... And a door leading to the faculties offices... And some cabinets that held some coursework... So the on-going joke is that IF I see a door open, I WILL go through it.  And usually poke around where I probably shouldn't.  But really, that's shouldn't come as a surprise!

After a lovely afternoon with the boys, we exchanged mobiles, agreed on drinks later in the week, and parted ways.  This now brings my mobile-phone contact list up to 6! Whoohoo!!

Then, on Thursday, my friend Peter Pring from Portsmouth (hehehe) stopped in town for a visit and dinner on his way to retrieve our friend Meghan from the airport!  We had a blast, and I realized how nice it is to actually have friends that you've known for a while and can just walk around and chat with.  It was also cool to be the one leading the tour, as Peter has never been to Guildford!  I showed him everything I knew - the North Street/High Street area, Guildford Castle, the River, and the curry place I found by accident.  The curry place was verrry good, but it didn't open until 18:00 (that's 6:00pm) so we decided to have a drink by the river at a place called the White House.  It was SOOOO nice out there!  A beer-garden style outdoor seating area right next to the river, with the shade of HUGE weeping willows, and the smell and sight of beautiful flowers everywhere.  Because Peter came by car, we drove around a bit, checked out the big Tesco by the uni,  and walked around campus in search of the Loo.  (This prompted a discussion of the proper way to ask where the bathrooms are.  In the UK there are no bath-rooms, "because there's no bath in it."  So for future reference you can ask for "the loo," "the toilets," or simply "the ladies."(or "gents" as the case may be.) 

Finally, to wrap everything up, I've taken just a few more pictures to show you.  There isn't really any good anecdotes to go with the pictures,  just me wandering around some more, finding new alleyways and streets to wander down, and doors to open ;)

This is the Duke of Kent building on campus.  It is DIRECTLY next to my dorm.  This building is supposed to look like a giant ship,  but I think the picture doesn't do it justice.  In real life, this side of building is angled out to a 50 degree angle.  My dorm, the Millenium House, is supposed to look like a train.  Are you noticing a pattern here?








(PS, I totally cheated... I actually stole this pic of Millenium House off the internet!!  This will be the ONLY time I do that... maybe...)

This picture is hilarious to me, and me alone probably, because it is THE ONLY view of campus that I could get from google maps before I got here.  Seriously, try it.  Go to Google, click on maps, and type in University of Surrey, Guildford, UK.  If you drag the little street view guy onto the south east, just below "UniSport" this is the view you get.   So it felt strangely familiar when Pete and Leigh took me here to see Robostag.

Also in my travels, I came across this statue dedicated to Lewis Carroll (who wrote "Alice in Wonderland," and of course you knew that).  Carroll lived in Guildford in "his later days" and there's a whole wing of his stuff in the Guildford Museum.  In case you can't see the picture clearly (click it to expand I think) it's Alice and her sister sitting under a willow tree, as the white rabbit hops by.

I also found this wonderfully-named street on my search  for Surrey County Council.  (Instead I found Guildford Borough, which is not the same thing, and discovered that SCC is allllll the way over in Kingston-Upon-Thames, definitely not walkable.)





Alright,  enough pictures for now.  Next time, on "Seeing the Sights With Sierra Schwartz,"  watching an England match at the pub!  Stay tuned!

~Sie

Taking a stroll on the High Street

As promised, I want to show you all (you all? I'm not even sure anyone reads this thing...if you do, please leave the word "hippopotamus" in the comments section) pictures of what the town centre and Guildford Castle look like.  I've gone over to High Street almost every day, but haven't actually done any clothing shopping.  So far I've purchased: a hairdryer (with diffuser attachment!) from Argos, a cornish pasty, a few bottles of water and soda, a shower sponge, a krispy kreme doughnut, coffee, and Mint Aeros.  Very exciting stuff, I assure you.  However, the High Street/North Street area is really nice, and a good workout since I haven't gotten to play any football yet.  So without further ado, pictures of shopping!

To the left is a view UP High Street, and yes, that is a pretty sizable hill. And to the right is a shot DOWN High Street, which looks out onto some nice English Countryside.

Additionally, there are tons of little alleyways between North Street and High Street that have even more stores, and lots of little coffee shops with outdoor seating.  By the way, the temperatures have been in the low 70s almost every day, which is AMAZING!  I've worn some nice summery dresses and brought along a scarf/pashmina just for good measure, but havent needed it once.








But the best part of all of this? Behind the main shopping area is Guildford Castle.  It's big, beautiful, fantastically landscaped, and incredibly peaceful.  I'm not too well-read on all the history of the castle, but I know it was built by William the Conqueror in 1066.  If you're reallllyyy dying to know more,  you can check out the website here.  (Oo, are you excited?  Interactive Blog!)  Anyway, as I said, the castle is literally the next street over from all the shopping: 

(Left) A view of the castle from the street.

(Right)  The upper entrance.







                                                   

So, like I said, It's REALLLY beautiful and peaceful, and I've been going to Greggs (a sandwich shop) to buy a cheap lunch (£1.80-£2.60 for a sandwich, £1 for a soda, and I think 50p for a bag of crisps) and sitting on a bench in front of the Koi pond to enjoy my food.  Really, I'm doing just what I would do in the states anyway ;-p

I hope you're enjoying the pictures and the narrative!  Please feel free to steal my pictures if you'd like, and if you want to use them for anything (like background pics or whatever) let me know and I'll send you the originals, which are a higher resolution!  And please leave comments!

~ Sie