I Have Sintra Sceneries For A Lifetime!

Saviez-vous que.. /Did you know that.. ?

Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state.

Canada is the coldest country in the world.

The USA has invaded Canada twice, failing both times. 

There are 53 aboriginal languages spoken by 612 bands in Canada.

Ottawa was chosen to be the capital of Canada by Queen Victoria in 1857 as a compromise between the anglophones and francophones. Previous capitals were Kingston, Montréal and Toronto. 

Ottawa is the third cleanest city in the world. 

In province of Ontario there are several namesakes for English towns like London, Whitby and Scarborough.

Toronto was known as the city of York untill 1834. 

Younge street in Toronto being 1,896 km long is the longest street in the world.

Ottawa

The name Québec comes from the Alconquin (native Canadian inhabitants) word “Kébec” - where the river narrows. Today Québec is also known as the “Belle Province” – The beautiful province.

Québec, three times of a size of Spain, is the largest province of the country.

There are 37 National Parks in Canada which 24 are in Québec.

Québec is the biggest producer of Mapel Syrup in the world.

Québec’s “fleurdelise” was the first provincial flag officially adopted in Canada in 1948. The white cross comes from the ancient royal flags of France when the fleur-de-ils stands for a symbol of purity.

Tourism is the 5th largest industry in Québec and the province welcomes over 3 million tourists annually. Most of them from the US and France.

The capital of the province is Québec City, 230km from Mtl.

Québec City holds the biggest Winter Carnival annually. 

Québecois motto: “Je me souviens” – I remember.

Québec City, founded in 1608, is not only the oldest city in Canada but one of the oldest European settlements in North America.

The city of MTL is an island.

MTL is the 2nd biggest French city in the western world after Paris.

Montréal is told to have more festivals/events than any other North American city. 

MTL was originally called Ville-Marie but was renamed after the “mountain” Mount Royal.

The Mount Royal Parc was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted who also designed New York’s Central Park. Don’t still be mistaken to imagine that Montréal’s parc is a copy of New York’s one.

Bixie (bicycle sharing system) which can now be found in several metropolitan cities of the world, was developed in Montréal.

The oldest brewery of Canada, Molson was founded in Montréal in 1786

Château Frontenac in Québec City is said to be the world’s photographed hotel.

(Château Frontenac, Québec City)

Olympic Stadium, also known as “The Big Owe” is one of the costliest one in the world with 1,61 billion dollar expenses.

Mtl is a popular location, especially the old town, to shoot movies. For example movies like X-Men: Days of Future Past, Catch me if you can and many others have been filmed partly in the city. 

Cursing in québecois includes several religious expressions such as tabarnac (tabernacle), criss (Christ), sacrament etc.

With 6 universities and 12 junior colleges Mtl has the highest number of post-secondary students in North America.

Mtl is one of the gay friendliest cities in the world. 

Sources: LonelyPlanet, Wikipedia

Any canadian/québecois readers correct me, if I'm wrong in anything :)

UMK25 Song Review: Hitaammin Hautaan

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK) is back and stronger than ever! We have seven new artists ready to compete for the trophy and the ticket to Basel in May! The second song won't leave anyone cold!

Nelli Matula - Hitaammin Hautaan

Nelli Matula has been a recording artist since 2016 and since then released two albums, achieved Emma (Finnish Grammy) nominations and wide popularity in Finland with her gold-and platinium streaming singles. She's a name you should know!

The singer takes part in UMK25 with her deeply personal song Hitaammin Hautaan which is inspired by the health issues she suffered a few years back. The song fits her musical style and what people have grown to expect from her so for her most loyal fans the song is already a hit!

Hitaammin Hautaan is a pure pop track that doesn't play too many games with different genres. Again sounding in the beginning like a ballad it picks up a beat that is very difficult to resist. Chorus is strong and memorable and I do believe we have the next Ylivoimainen (UMK, 23) or Ram Pam Pam (UMK, 22) making here.

Her voice is very clear and fine and goes well with the melody. There's a beautiful harmony here with the visuals, the pink and grey color scene isn't too over the top but still princess enough like and she fits the role like a glove. This is probably the best UMK25 videoclip btw!

Structure like this is pretty close to perfection: builds up is just right and keeps the viewer / listener hooked. There's nothing life changing here but still enough that pleases you until the very end.

These types of songs are very popular in the national selections because now days many shows offer fame and opportunities for tracks to become big hits even without the trophy. However, that's where they'll stay as viewers rarely give their votes to these big radio hits.

What do you think of the second UMK25 track and what are the chances of Nelli to advance to ESC? Talk to me in the comments below!

Those of you who don't understand Italian http://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-geografia-del-mio-cammino-geography-my-way.html#songtranslation

Coming back is feeling growth

Hey guys. Felt like rambling again.

Leaving Montréal and Québec behind me was as difficult as expected but it feels good to be home too. Autumn is on top of its beauty with the multicoloured trees, the air is briskly cool, leaves are falling down slowly. Rain or shine, this kind of autumn is my favourite time of the year. 

So I made it home allright. In one piece. With all my luggages this time.

At the Toronto airport, very cool lounge I must say. Luggages were full so I was forced to wear my winter stuff..

On my way home, on the flight from Reykjavik to Helsinki, there was this old man on board.An  80-year old, originally born and raised in Finland and on his way home for the first time for the 30 years which he had lived in the States.  As life-changing I’ve described my Montréal experience, it made me and my year feel quite small…and it is compared to that! His eyes were shining when he told how he hadn’t heard Finnish language been spoken so widely for decades and how he had missed Finnish food during the years he was gone. He had his grand-daughter and son-in-law with him to whom he wanted to show the country where the family's origins are from. It was touching to listen to his stories.

And when I did arrive in Helsinki, there was a pleasant surprise since some of my friends were waiting for me at the airport. What a luck also for them that my changes of flights went smoothly and I arrived as scheduled.

My favourite: Sallad with goat cheese buried in DEVIL'S JAM!!! :)

Surprisingly didn’t experience any jetlag. I just went to bed on the first night and that was all the sleep I needed. Almost disappointed, I was so prepared for it.

And as for what am I doing now. I’m back at my studies, more or less back at my old job and I’m living with my mom for the simple reasons that I don’t have any money for a flat of my own or any idea of a city, a place which I’d like enough to live in at the moment.  Not exactly the place in my life where I’d like to be at 27 but… However there are possibilities, good options even in Finland but I just haven’t made up my mind yet. Somehow moving to a new Finnish city not knowing much people or having a job, scares me more than what moving to Montréal did. Weird eh?

Otherwise haven’t had much difficulty with settling in back to my old routines if you don’t take into account that I still keep adding tax to all the prices I see in the groceries, cafes, restaurants etc and that I find myself repeating ‘how are you?’ or ‘have a nice day’ to total strangers which is not the most common thing in here. I also have a strong desire to do so in French. Apparently I’ve picked up on some of the local ways of Montréal. Also some of the news that were just distant headlines in Québec are happening If not right here but pretty damn close anyways, across the eastern border. Scary eh?

Lahti

My québcoise journey had a bit of extension, if that is the right word for it, when a friend of mine from Montréal made a stop in Finland on her travel through Nordic Countries. Four days we did almost non-stop sightseeing in three Finnish cities and I gotta admit it was a quite eyes opening experience for me as well. After the year being abroad my perspective has definitely changed and I look at my country and culture differently. I appreciate the smallest things the most.

There is a change going on in my home town which seems to be noticeable only to my eyes. But still for my comfort the most important things are never changing like friends, family, the lake and ice cream section at the local groceries. People have been welcoming and it's been nice to see that I wasn't forgotten. 

So for four days I fed my friend with traditional Finnish delicacies like salty liquorice, different ice cream flavours, blueberry cider and more or less fascinating facts about the Finnish history and society. Good trip overall! Merci Annick and I’ll see you in UK!

A medieval castle in Turku

Through my studies I also took part of the ArtSaturday which is a day version of La Nuit Blanche which I told you about last spring. Clearly way smaller over here and the reason why the night version was changed into this new day version is because people got too drunk. This is Finland for you! Anyways it was a blast this year, bigger and wider program of different activities than ever before in the city center.

Shame on you, Lahti folks who missed it for some crappy excuse! I was positively surprised by the entire project, the people organizing it and the experience itself. Good networking it was, met cool people. I wouldn’t have imagined that there are people in this town who care about this city enough to make such efforts for better Lahti happen.  I wanna do it again next year! If I’ll be here.

So this what I’ve been up to after my québecoise experience which seems like a dream that happened only in my mind at this point. I can’t believe it, a year ago I was just beginning my dream, searching for trainee job and building up my new life. I miss the city, endless amount of possibilities whether it was about a job, social life or any free time activity you were looking for. Couchsurfing community and the friends I made.

Even thou I’ve been totally broke and I don't know if I'm ever gonna see any of the people I met in Montréal… Some might say that it was total waste of time.. But I still don’t regret a thing about the year I spent there. However I have a feeling that I might not be returning to Montréal anytime soon. Unless something super-surprising happens to me. But so far it looks like I’m gonna stick with Europe. UK and Spain attract me the most. But now as it feels it might not be a bad idea to live in Finland either. Feels kind of nice actually for a change. 

UMK top 3 worst and best stagings (recent years)

All Eurovision fans out there know that the staging is half of the performance and it can either kill you or raise you. 

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu has had a track record of producing both over the recent years. Here are my top three for each category. The performances do not appear in my favourite order! 

TOP3 THE BEST UMK STAGINGS that have managed to elevate the songs : 

The Rasmus - Jezebel (2022 UMK winner)

Despite of being the biggest favourite when going in to UMK last year The Rasmus’ song didn’t quite reach the hights as a studio cut. However, the playful and colourful live performance elevated this one for me

Akseli Kankaanranta - Looking back (2020 winner) 

Akseli pushed through passed the fan favourite Cicciolina back in 2020 with his well balanced and stylish live performance! 

NormaJohn - Blackbird (UMK 2017 winner) 

Back in 2017 Blackbird left many people cold with its studio cut but when performed live.... the emotion was real and very atmospheric! 

TOP3 THE WORST UMK STAGINGS that have ruined the song’s success in the contest : 

Bess - Ram pam pam (UMK 2022)

Bess Ram Pam Pam eventually became the biggest hit in Finland last year but her UMK staging ended up being messy, confusing and not meeting the hype of the song before going in to the UMK live. 

Erika Vikman - Cicciolina (UMK 2020)

Can someone explain me what those bears and forest do on the same stage with sinful Cicciolina? This performance made no sense to me at all. Not then or not now. 

Saara Aalto - Monsters (winning song in 2018) 

Despite of winning the entry ticket to Lisbon’s Eurovision back in 2018 Monsters live performance was complex to start with. I liked the beginning with the cape and all but they ended up adding here too many elements (this got worse in Lisbon). 

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu Final takes place tomorrow February 25th on Yle Areena at 9pm (FIN time zone)! Let’s see how the seven acts will do and if fan favourites are able to keep their positions!

Visited my hometown with a friend and a camera. This is what I got in black and white.

17 things that change forever when you live abroad

If you've ever lived abroad ortraveled for a long time, you probably know what these 17 things are all about.

Simply divine piece of text, which every word is true! 

Randomly Lisboa! 

Estonian doors..