Eurovision 2011

 This year, Eurovision was held in Dusseldorf, in Germany, because Germany won the contest last year with their song 'Satellite'. Next year, it will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Wow, people have lots of singing talent! Eurovision was awesome, and the songs were all super awesome! There were a lot of participating countries, 43 in total. Iceland's song was pretty good, I liked it. Sweden's was really popular and the funny thing is that the song was called Popular and I really really liked it! My favourites were Denmark, Estonia, and Sweden, but I also liked Poland and Lithuania!  Eurovision seemed really cool, maybe I'll have a chance to see it sometime...

This is the list of my top ten:


1. Denmark (New Tomorrow by 'A Friend in London', they got in 5th place :D)
2. Sweden (Popular by 'Eric Vaade', they got in third)
3. Estonia (Rockefeller Street, they got 25th)
4. FYC Macedonia (THEY DIDN'T QUALIFY FOR THE FINALS D:)
5. Lithuania (C'est ma vie, They got in 19th)
6. Armenia  
7. Albania
8. Iceland (They got in 20th)
9. Norway (Haba haba, they didn't qualify either)
10. Poland (They didn't qualify either...)

Azerbaijan won this year, and they're song was pretty cool.

Denmark's was awesome... :)

 NEW TOMORROW

In this crazy, crazy world
You’re the diamonds, you’re the pearls
Let’s make a new tomorrow, today

Wake up, slow down
Do nothing right now
Breathe in, breathe out
Did we forget how to live, to dream
And what it all means
It’s like we don’t care

Who’s hot, who’s not
Who’s got the right upside down
Tonight, tomorrow
You’re out of time
Upstyle, you are back in the line
A race to nowhere

Come on boys, come on girls
In this crazy, crazy world
You’re the diamonds, you’re the pearls
Let’s make a new tomorrow

Come on girls, come on boys
It’s your future, it’s your choice
And your weapon is your voice
Let’s make a new tomorrow, today

Turn left, turn right
Don’t make up your mind
Your way to fame is all in vain
You get in the spot
Then you run out of luck
You’re going nowhere
We can change it all today

Come on boys, come on girls

In this crazy, crazy world
You’re the diamonds, you’re the pearls
Let’s make a new tomorrow

Come on girls, come on boys
It’s your future, it’s your choice
And your weapon is your voice
Let’s make a new tomorrow, today

Come on boys
Let’s make a new tomorrow

Come on boys, come on girls
In this crazy, crazy world
You’re the diamonds, you’re the pearls
Let’s make a new tomorrow

Come on girls, come on boys
It’s your future, it’s your choice
And your weapon is your voice
Let’s make a new tomorrow, today

Switzerland's Recycling Habits

I've heard that Switzerland has got really good recycling habits, and that they do a lot of things to help protect the environment.

For garbage bags, you have to stick a sticker on the garbage bag and leave it out in front of your house. One of the little stickers cost around one Canadian dollar, so basically the less you have to throw out, the less money you have to pay. If the garbage men come by and notice that there is not a sticker on the bag, they will just leave it out to rot in front of your house. I, personally, think this is a really AWESOME idea, congratulations for the Swiss!

Also, the Swiss are really organized, and at a lot of parks, in stores and in banks there will be a place where you have to divide your garbage into different slots. There are even different slots for different colours of  glass! You have to separate your garbage into white, brown or green glass. After a while, garbage men come to pick up the garbage to recycle it.

All the non-recyclable stuff is sent to a landfill or incinerated, but the technology is so advanced that when burning the garbage, it barely makes any pollution, thus resulting in Switzerland being one of the cleanest countries in the world!

Go Switzerland! I also love Swiss cheese and chocolate, it rivals that of Belgium. :)

Iceland?

How? How can you think Iceland is not worth visiting? Unless you think nature is boring, I guess its not the place for you. I LOVE IT, THOUGH, so I don't care if other people don't like it, I will always treasure it. I can't treasure it in my heart, though, because it stole my heart and the only way I'm getting it back is if I go to Iceland...

Norwegian Fjords

Norwegian fjords might be the most beautiful scenery I have seen in my entire life (along with Iceland, that is.). They are just so gorgeous, I would LOVE to see them in person. For now, all I can do is stare at my computer, dreaming away. If I'm able to convince my parents to go there, we are going to go. I know it's quite expensive in Oslo, but whatever! It looks like it would be well worth the money... (not my photos)

Beautiful fjords... Norway's fjords are simply gorgeous. If I could just grab my mom's camera, jump into the photo of that boat and just set sail for a few months, I totally would.

About Russia

I've been wondering. Russia is in Europe, isn't it? The capital, Moscow, is in Europe and they look more European than Asian, like the Chinese. Anyways, that's besides the point. Actually, I don't know what the point it... Well. During a day at school I saw a cardboard box on a shelf. Upon further inspection, I saw that it read... VODKA. I laughed so hard I almost peed in my pants. Don't ask why I though it was so funny, I just was.

I have a Russian ballet teacher and she is really awesome, plus she's teaching me a tiny bit of Russian. After a bit of research, I think I have fallen for the beautiful country of Russia, too... (These photos are not mine...)

All I have to say is that that building is the coolest looking building ever. It's colourful and the roofs are really uniquely made... It looks really cool!

That's a really pretty bridge, da? And that castle looks really cool. I would really like just strolling along that bridge in the evening, it would be so relaxing...

Look at the pretty fountain!!!

Russia has nice architecture, the buildings are really nice to look at. Maybe I will go there one day, and maybe I should consider asking my Russian ballet teacher about Russia and touring it...

Iceland for Summer of 2012

 I've fell in love with the country of Iceland and want to go there really badly... It feels like a little part of my heart is missing because I haven't had a chance to go there yet. Heck, I think Iceland stole my whole heart away. I'm going to try to convince my parents to let me go there next summer.

This is an answer from one of my Yahoo Answers that I wrote:

"I also want to go to Iceland really badly, here is a bit of advice from myself. (The prices are in Canadian dollars)

It is not overly expensive there, but the transport is quite a lot of money. When renting a car, expect to pay over 80$ and public transit, for one bus ticket, I think would be around 2-3$. Their currency is the Icelandic Krona, which is around 117 Canadian Dollars. You can exchange money to Icelandic Krona in most banks and the airport. In big cities, such as their capital, you can also use Euros.

For attractions, Iceland is a very scenic country with active volcanoes and icebergs at the same time. There are many gorgeous waterfalls and natural parks, along with a few historical sites. Some popular activities and places to visit are:

The Blue Lagoon, which is a huge geothermal hot spring that has special healing abilities, apparently very healthy for your skin. The cool thing is that if you go to the Blue Lagoon in the wintertime you can relax in a huge hot-tub like thing while staring at snow-covered mountains... It's really awesome.

The Golden Circle tour includes Iceland's most famous waterfall, Gullfoss. You can see the rainbow sometimes and it looks really nice. If you Google Search it, there are some really nice snapshots of the waterfall.

Animals like Icelandic horsies are REALLY CUTE and you can go horseback riding on them. There's this stable where you can rent a horse for a day and ride it around Iceland to tour! There are also these really cute puffins that you can see flying around sometimes.

In the capital of Reykjavik, there are nice shops for clothing and also concerts and restaurants. They have an interesting menu of foods, but I suggest you don't ask what the food is and eat it first, because they have food such as fermented shark and singed ram's head. They also have skyr, which is like a yoghurt cheese ice cream thing that looks really yummy.

They also have really pretty fjords that you should search up. The Eastern fjords look really pretty and you could probably just spend the whole day staring at them and snapping some photos.

As for weather, its around 15 degrees Celsius during the summertime and -5 in the winters. During the summer, they have 22 hours of daylight and during the winter 4 hours of daylight, which is pretty unique."

All of that is true, at least I think it is, and YES I really want to go to Iceland in the summer of 2012.  

I love Europe

I know by tourism rankings, that Sweden is the most toured Nordic country, then Denmark, Norway, Finland and last, but definitely not least, Iceland. I'm not sure if these statistics are true or not, but I was kind of expecting results like this. The Nordics aren't toured very much compared to other European countries... BUT WHY?! I know they're a bit more expensive... but still! They're totally worth it, in my opinion! The Nordics needs more love. So... I've decided to write a documentary (yes, a huge report) on the Nordics. I will convince my parents to take me there... then I'll get to tour the most beautiful places in Europe!!! (And possibly, the entire world)

Germany isn't on my top 10 tourism list, but it's actually ranked 11th, and depending on what kind of mood I'm in, either 8th or 7th. I love the German language and am attempting to learn German through my good friend the Internet. Plus, I've always wanted to try a schnitzel...

Not my photo, but doesn't that schnitzel look so yummy?! :)

One more thing...

I know that if you've actually read all the way down to here on this blog post, I love you, because I never get any views. Ever. And when I was bored and looking through my blog stats, I found 2 views from Germany, 1 view from Norway and 1 view from Finland. You have no idea how much I screamed in happiness. If you're from Europe and you're reading this, PLEASE leave a comment or something, I would totally love any comments! I love you guys!

Happy Birthday, Finland!

 Dear Suomi,

Happy birthday! Hyvaa Syntimapaivaa! I sang your anthem at school today while I was waving the Finnish flag all around the playground :)  Have a great birthday! I love your country, it's plain beautiful! Have you started decorating for Christmas yet?I was also considering visiting you in the summertime next year. Any places you think I should visit? Give Hanatamago a hug for me, and one again, happy birthday!

With love and greetings from Canada,
Alice

Touring countries... in Europe!!!

Truthfully, I've actually only been to Canada (I live there), The United States and China (I'm Chinese-Canadian) before. I know, I've never been to Oceania, South America or Europe. There are, of course, many countries that I want to visit. Usually, I take a liking towards things that most people don't like as much (including video game characters and countries). This is a list of some countries I want to visit and why.

Norway

Continent: Europe
Capital: Oslo
Official language(s):Norwegian

Population: 4, 885, 000

People/km2: 12.5
Rank in HDI (2011): 1


I've researched a bit and learned that Norway is the most developed country in the world, at least for 2011, and I've seen a few picture of its fjords. All I can say is WOW. They're just stunning. Here are some pictures of the fjords I took of the Internet, THEY DON'T BELONG TO ME:

 

You know what I mean? Those pictures were all taken in fjords located in Norway, and they are just breathtakingly beautiful. I would really enjoy seeing these in real life, breathing Norwegian air, it would be so amazing. Norway is famous for its fjords, am I right? 

Iceland

Continent: Europe
Capital: Reykjavik
Official language(s): Icelandic, but English is taught as a mandatory third or second language
Population: 317, 000

People/km2: 3

Rank in HDI (2011): 15

Yes, I know that Iceland is not a very popular vacation spot, although I don't understand why. It's simply gorgeous. It's hat springs, waterfalls, and scenery in total is just so breathtakingly beautiful that I would give up my iPod, my Wii and my 3DS just to visit there for a week! I'm serious! It's becoming more and more popular with tourists, though, which is good. Also, I know that the population of Iceland is tiny, (smaller than that of most normal cities), but who cares? It's so pretty there!

Anyways, here are some images of Iceland's waterfalls (again, all of these images are from the Internet):

Aren't they just so pretty? And awesome? That's kind of why I want to go there, plus there are icebergs and horses and puffins and hot springs to relax in. It's just so awesome, I need to go there this summer :) Oh, but I'm a bit worried to eat some of the food there... *cough cough fermented shark cough cough*

Finland


Continent: Europe
Capital: Helsinki

Official language(s): Finnish

Population: 5, 364, 000
People/km2:16
Rank in HDI (2011): 15

It looks and seems like a wonderful place to grow up in. It's so beautiful and I could spend a whole day just staring at the scenery, watching clouds go by and maybe take a few photos... I love Finland. It's a beautiful country... Here are some photos (not mine):

 

Seems like a charming country, no? It's cute and cozy, I really would like to live there or move there when I'm older ^^

That's not all, but I don't feel like writing about all 10 of the countries that I want to go to in Europe, and stuff. Here's the list of countries, though:

1. Iceland

2. Finland

3. Norway

4. Switzerland

5. France

6. Sweden

7. Italy

8. Spain

9. Denmark

10. UK

Thanks for reading, and I hope to go to some of the Scandinavian countries in 2011 Summer! That would be so awesome...

Other Nordic Chibis

Here are the other 4 Nordics that I made into paper chibis.

 Yeah, hope you like them, people! :) I will probably make some for the Baltics, Prussia and Poland next, then the Allies and then the Axis. These are really fun to make, too! I might post a tutorial on how to draw or make one, after a while.

Hetalia Paper Chibi: Finland

This is something  I decided to make, because I though it was really cute. :) It's for Finland's birthday, which is on December 6th, and I even made a card for him :D

I'll also be making one for the other Nordics, and some other characters as well.
Happy birthday Finny!!!