How Should Voting System Be Changed In Eurovision?

In May I visited Helsinki, where I lived for 2 years. Awesome new museum AmosRex and amazing new library Oodi. Check these out if you’re in town! 

What do you think? The FB page idea itself and the pic? Should I create a community page orrrr something else..Any ideas?

So sad and shocked about what happened in Sweden....

🇸🇪💔🇸🇪

Welcome to this long winter

Salut á tous! And "Cheers to a 2014 and another chance for us to get it right". 

(Celebrations at the Vieux Port of MTL, which I planned to go too..)

My first post in 2014 happens also to be the longest of my ramblings so far so make some time..

All my grand plans for my first Christmas abroad got all ruined because of the flu that ended up being the longest one of my life! From Christmas Eve untill  January 5th – 13 days!! That’s insane! Didn’t go to a doctor’s for that cause I didn’t wanna pay almost $200 up front even though I’d have got the money back from my insurance company. All the symptoms that you can have with flu - you name it I had it! Not in the same time thou. Fever, sore throat which healing took forever seriously, cough, sneezing, runny nose, even an eye infection which appears mostly on kids or something…  I also lost my voice for three days. Absolutely nothing came out.

Feels like being sick is all I’ve been doing lately.. Good thing I’m unemployed and no need to call in sick. First I had a bladder infection, then these awful muscle spasms at my neck and shoulder area and now this freaking flu… And the thing is that I’m never sick! But I’m gonna be on super-healthy-diet from now on and eat lots of fruits to prevent any future sickness’! #NewYearRevolutions

(Christmas tree decorations at Museum des Beaux Arts) 

And speaking of..had grand plans for New Year’s too but as I was sick… I did have a lovely friend visiting me though whom I wish I could have done more active stuff but.. another time. Movie watching, eating good food and relaxing isn't exactly bad thing to do on holidays either :) 

I know I kind of mentioned about the “cold” temperatures in my last post but I gotta take it back a bit. Seriously there’s a new definition for cold now. Never in my life I’ve experienced (or not that I remember of anyway) that kind of cold that the air literally HURTS you once you’ve stepped outside. And I’m from Finland after all!

(MTL in the winter time, photo from Google) 

Last week as the temperature went down to -27C ( felt like -40C thanks to wind chill) people were actually told to stay inside as much as possible! And in Toronto they actually closed highways! Totally insane! But according to what I’ve heard this isn’t exactly normal winter weather to canadians either. One of the perks of being unemployed again that I was able to stay those few days inside non-stop pretty much. The weather was another reason that changed a lot of the New Year’s plans even though it was kind of warm on December 31st only being -20C or something.

I’ve been asked a lot about if the winter here is any different from what I’m used to back home. There are a couple differences: humidity which is way higher here, the wind is a constant companion in this city – and a damn strong one too! Makes the temperatures feel immediately 10 degrees colder than what they really are.

Don’t know if this typical to Canadian/Québecois winter or not but the temperature changes are truly crazy.. I mean like last Friday it was about -25C and on Saturday it had risen almost to zero! And then a couple days later they dropped back again from +5 to -15C in one night. So those happen a lot more often than in Finland. Also Finland is slightly darker during the winter time. Even though it gets dark here too after 3pm, the sun seems to rise earlier than in back home. 

Finally made it to one of Montreal’s museums btw! Met some couchsurfers at Museum des Beaux Arts where they had this free Christmas Tree exhibition. About twenty trees decorated by local associations and cultural groups in the Montreal area. So creative! I’m definitely gonna use more imagination while decorating my tree next year! Saw some other free exhibitions and was so surprised that they had quite a lot of Finnish design there too!  

(Instead of taking pics of the art itself - they're kind of boring I think - took pics of great names of Finnish Arts and Design) 

For the last weeks I’ve been crazy about job hunting and I’m truly surprised how many Anglophone jobs there are in this city.. and especially in January when people are saving and staying in after the festivities of December. But new ones seem to come in every day. Nothing touristic I’m afraid but customer service and sales stuff mostly. Big call centers and so on. But I don’t mind. Anything that can buy me some time to stick around here longer. I’ve been invited for a few interviews too which is always positive.

(Luminotherapy, monumental animations which were all over in centre-ville and so many different kinds, from old black-and-white movie clips to cartoons like this one/ Pic from Visitez MTL)

I think I’ve mentioned the unwanted pets as being the mice in our flat. The situation was bearable as long as they stayed outside of my room but now I actually have one in my room! Saw it and heard it. The most disgusting little creature ever. I’m afraid that there’s a hole behind my closet cause that’s where I hear it most often. So I’ve been doing a lot of sleeping the lights on. I hope I'll get rid of it soon. 

(Old town/ Pic from Visitez MTL)

I’ve been thinking about a lot of going home too. Seriously, to almost to that point of booking the flights. Or planning the date when to leave. I may have been suffering some sort of winter depression with the being sick all the time or the cold preventing me to do stuff I’d like to do.. But now with being healthier and all these job opportunities, my mind is so much more positive.

Not that going home is a defeat if living here is not working out for me. Don’t wanna waste my time and I gotta admit that for school stuff it would be better to go home. I’d have more time to finish my studies cause now I’m slightly afraid that if I go back at the end of July like planned, I’m gonna have to rush things down to get them finished by the end of the year. But only a crazy person would turn down a job offer (if that will happen at all) and a chance to live in MTL only to return to Finland instead. Yeah. We’ll see. On va voir. 

Porto randomness!  

Tampere part 3. Don’t ask me how parts there are :D 

Catching the clouds in Tallinn..

18 Ways To Be a Better Traveler Rather Than Just a Tourist

A guide to being the kind of world explorer you want to be. 

The #SportySpice has come a long way! #SportysFortysWebcast - LOVE HER MUSIC with or without the #SpiceGirls

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!