I met Pastora Soler!

(maybe I should reveal myself someday... maybe not. for now, here's the "proof" of the meeting. but then again I might have gotten these via mail... but no. we actually met)

As a decent eurofan with the favourite ESC country being Spain, I watch every year the spanish selection. Well ok, not every year. 2011 was the first time. 2011 was also the first time I saw Pastora (not in person of course). 11/2/2011 when she performed "La Mala Costumbre" in the semi-final of the spanish preselection. That's when I became a fan, a few months later I wrote this post (I have linked you back to this too many times) then in December 2011 TVE announces that Pastora will represent them in ESC 2012 and here we are, 24th May 2013 (yeah 25th at this moment). I met Pastora! One thing left now (even though meeting her was the biggest dream), watch her performing live. Someday...

So, how it all happened? I can't go into details but somewhere around last September or October I saw a post by Tony Sanchez Ohlsson that they'll be recording new songs with Pastora in Madrid, Milan and Stockholm. Stockholm! They came to Stockholm on Wednesday and I made a flash trip today and I met them. We talked for about 15 minutes and then they left for the studio. She's exactly as I thought she'd be. Extremely friendly and nice! I asked her if she'll ever come back to Eurovision. She said no. She loved the experience but she wouldn't do it again. Of course she said "you never know" (I mean she was also saying no before but she did it!) but for now she doesn't want to do it again. I don't blame her... 18th in the televoting, 5th in the juries, 10th place overall. The juries saved her. Only the juries...

Anyway, these recordings here in Stockholm are the last ones and then the album is complete. Release date, September 17th according to them. The date might change but that's what they told me today.

Strange, I'm reading the text again and I seem too calm. Well I am right now. But for about 3 hours before I met them I was so freakin' nervous! Couldn't eat, couldn't do anything. But as I said Pastora, Tony and Chelu (her brother) were (are!) so friendly so I forgot about everything when I saw them. Took photos, she signed the promo and the album and I asked her to record a message for a friend in Greece who wants to meet her. Stupid me. I gave the green light to Pastora before the camera started recording and I missed the "Hola Lina" -.- meh. I couldn't ask her to do it again so...

Yeah, I met Pastora Soler! :D Really really really happy but also tired (that's why there are no crazy and extatic lines).

A HUGE THANKS to Tony!! He knows... :)

Malmö, Alcazar and Eurovision!

The best weekend since I moved to Sweden! Maybe the best weekend of my life! Left Linköping at 8am. Had only slept for about 4,5 hours the previous night and I wasn't supposed to get any sleep the entire weekend. Hadn't booked any rooms in Malmö. Anyway I arrived in Malmö at 11:00. Went around the city for a while and then went to the arena. Saw some of the greek OGAE members and then went back to the center. There was no chance I'd meet the artists in the arena. All Eurovision related locations are near the central station (including the hotels ;)) so I began walking toward the Eurovillage. As I was walking I saw some people across the street with accreditation tags and there was one woman who seemed so familiar. I was too far, she had sunglasses on but I could swear it was Hannah Mancini from Slovenia. So I said to myself "go closer, you have nothing to lose". I went there and yup! It was Hannah! I took a photo (of course) and I chatted with her for a while. She's amazing and extremely friendly!

I went to the Eurovillage after that. Klapa s Mora from Croatia, Zlata Ognevich from Ukraine and Hannah would perform there. After that they'd all give an interview to Andreas Lundstedt. Apart from the gig with Alcazar he'll be all week in Malmö interviewing the artists. You can watch the interviews here.

Andreas interviewing Hannah

After the interviews I met both Klapa s Mora and Zlata. I also saw Hannah and we talked again. I asked her about the fb pages. If both of them are official because both are getting updated. She said one was created especially for Eurovision and probably it will stop being updated after the ESC. She joked and said "just like both of them" hahaha. I already had. We said goodbye and Hannah said "see you". I mean which artist says "see you"? They usually say "nice meeting you, bye"... Really liked that "see you". It's like she wants to keep contact with the fans! Pretty great!

Anyway, I went to grab something to eat and then walked around the city for a while. Went back to Eurovillage and Andreas was in the "Super-studio" with Tess and Lina. An Alcazar interview!

Watched them while they were being interviewed. They also sang "Stay The Night" a capella. When they were done I met Tess and Lina. We talked for a few minutes and they left. I stayed there until Andreas was done and I met him after he finished. Talked with him for a while as well. The gig at WONK club would be at 2:30am and it was around 22:00. As I said I wasn't supposed to get any sleep while I was in Malmö but I was too tired. So I was lucky to find a hotel with free rooms with a good price. Slept for about an hour and a half and then went to the club. Saw them performing and then I got to meet them. Backstage... Here they are!

I was too tired but really happy. Hadn't seen them all three at the same time since August 2011! Went back to the hotel at around 4am. The sun was rising!

Slept for 5 hours, had breakfast, checked out and went back to the Eurovillage to spend the last day in Malmö. Estonia had a party there. Tanel Padar and Ott Lepland started singing. Then PeR got on stage and then Birgit. Krista Siegfrids was supposed to sing as well but she didn't come. I don't know why. Missed the chance to meet her. Met Ott, PeR and Birgit though. After the party Switzerland, Montenegro, Lithuania, Austria and Greece would perform at the Eurovillage. Met Natália Kelly, Takasa and Koza Mostra & Agathon. I also got a Austria's and Greece's promos. And a chocolate from Estonia with Birgit's face on it. Is this their promo this year? lol

I also saw the boys and Nina from Montenegro along with Andrius Pojavis from Lithuania but didn't take a photo. The lead singer of Dorians was also walking around at the Eurovillage wearing a hood and sunglasses. It was like he didn't want people to recognize him. lol Later I met Lozano & Esma from FYROM. There were two girls there, no older than 20, who literally got crazy when they saw Esma! They almost fainted! They were like "oh my God! Esma! I can't believe it! oh my God!". I mean, Esma? Seriously? o.O

Later in the afternoon I saw Andreas again. I asked him if he'd be interviewing any artists and he said he would. Takasa, Zlata and Margaret Berger. When I asked him he didn't remember which artists were coming for an interview so he looked at his schedule and he saw Margaret's name. He told me about her interview in a "look what I got for you ;)" way because when I met him after the gig we talked a bit about our favourite songs this year. And of course I told him Norway is my winner. I met Margaret after her interview and she was the last artist I met. On Sunday was the opening party so all the artists were there.

Looked at my watch two hours before my train was leaving and I got depressed. Didn't want to leave! But stupid money and stupid uni (just for these two ESC weeks)! :( But seriously if Eurovision takes place near me next year I'm going! With accreditation and everything! I don't know how, but I'm going!

It sucks...

This! Except it's not only for "today"... I moved out (again) and at my new place I have no internet! It's been 3 days now and I don't know for how long it's gonna be like this. I can't blog, I can't follow the NFs! I am getting depressed! That thing they say... "laptop only works if there's internet connection" is kinda true! I don't know what else to do... Listen to music? I have my mp3 player. Watch movies? Yeah maybe. But I need internet!!!

The sure thing is that I will blog right after Melodifestivalen's final on Saturday. I'll be there once again so I'll have internet (in Sthlm).

I hope I find a way to get internet at my place here in Linköping. Any good programs to hack your neighbours' password? xD

"You're really good in swedish!" Seriously?!

Photo: http://talkbetweenpeople.wordpress.com

Nope, that's not an ESC related post. (We'll get to them eventually. Too busy right now) This is a personal one. Apparently, everyone (well let's say 98% of them) in Sweden that I talk to seems so surprised by me. Especially when they hear that I'm in Sweden since September 2010. They go like "wow", "amazing", "you're really good in swedish" etc. I mean really? Looks like everyone thinks that. Everyone BUT me. :S I still think it's the accent that misleads them. And damn I'm not using my real accent! When I'm alone, reading a text out loud I sound like a real Swede and I mean a real Swede. Don't know what happens to that real accent when I'm talking with someone. I guess it's a childhood trauma...

When I was 7 I started learning english. And before I even begin the lessons I knew (don't know how...) that it was "engliSH" and not "englis". And I remember the first day where we had to read a text (please note that the rest of the kids in class were one or two years older than me), I read it with (american, always american!) accent. So the teacher was like "oooh look at you! with accent!" while laughing but not at me. That was it! I never used the accent again. Only when I had an oral exam coz I knew it had to be perfect! Of course nowadays it's different. I'm using my accent both in english and swedish but as I said not 100%. But I'll reach 100% eventually.

Anyway the point of the post is that on Friday I will have to make an oral presentation. I had one in spring but I did it in english (the teachers were fine with that). Today I went to ask a few questions to our communication teacher (that's where I had those "wow" reactions about my swedish and made me blog about it) and one of the questions was if I could make my presentation in english. She said "no". She'll be there to evaluate our skills in communication (in swedish of course). But she also told me that I could make the presentation in english in the second part of the course (I'm so doing this in english!!). So here I am! "Ready" to speak swedish for the first time since May 2010! Yeah I speak swedish every day but this time I will have to stand there, speaking swedish in front of about 10 people and then answer their questions! Now that I think about it, this is worse than May 2010! Back then I had to sit in front of a lady (who told me she'd be looking down not to freak me out) and talk to a recorder for 15 minutes (15 minutes? ok maybe that was worse coz on Friday I'll need only 4-5 min). Of course I used only 10 minutes so only God knows how I passed that (yeah ESC and Mello saved me once again! huhu).

Oh well, I need to make a PowerPoint presentation and write my manuscript in swedish! Nah! I'll do it the Ifi-way (yeah like no one else does that). First in english, then translate it to swedish and we're good to go! Wish me luck!

ESC 25.05.2002 - 25.05.2012

Photo: SVT

Today's my birthday! Well not my real birthday. My real birthday is on Monday (yeah I was born in the ESC month! :D). Today I become a 10-year-old eurofan!! And the ladies in the photo are probably the main reason! My lovely Afro-Dite gave me my all time favourite swedish entry, "Never Let It Go"! I've said this so many times so I'm sure you know it's my favourite!

Wow 10 years! Here you can read more about how it all began. Damn I need to fix that text a bit. The way it looks now is a bit scary! I mean it's a big text! I doubt if anyone will sit and read that! hehe

Anyway Happy ESC Birthday to me!!! :D xD

I officially can speak swedish now

Well the title is just a sentence. Or you'd better focus on the word "officially" because in real life it's not (so) true. In my case 4th time's the charm! I took the TISUS test for the first time in November 2009. I failed in all three parts. I took the test again in May 2010 and I passed the reading and the oral parts. I took the test again (only the writing part) in November 2010 and I failed. I had one more chance to take just the writing part. If I'd fail on this one I would have to take all three parts again. And here we are in May 2011 (well June 2nd). On 10th May 2011 I took the test for the 4th and apparently last time because I PASSED! I passed! And I am DONE with this! Finally! F I N A L L Y ! ! And to get back to my first two sentences, the fun part is that I still can't speak swedish! (I hope those at the uni don't read this!) At least I can't speak swedish in the level of TISUS. How did I pass? God knows that! Well I guess it's because it's different when you write and when you have the time to think what you're gonna say. But since I now live in Sweden I'll get better.

And now some notes!

So bottom line is that I should ALWAYS include ESC and/or Melodifestivalen every time I take a test! May 2010 my oral part of TISUS was music-eurovision-melodifestivalen! I can talk about ESC and MF for hours! May 2011 my essay topic was about internet-illegal downloads and stuff. So in 2010 AND 2011 we didn't get ANY DVDs of MF so I downloaded all the semis and the final illegal! Not my fault! It's SVT's fault! ‎(oh and I mentioned that in my oral part last year!). So I had what to write and what to talk about! Not to mention that in 2010 in my oral part I said that Sweden voted for the wrong song (no matter how much I like "This Is My Life") and there you go! 2 weeks later Sweden failed to make it to the final! And then people tell me I am obsessed with ESC and Mello! Well I know what I'm doing! 8-)

And well...the test this year was on May 10th! The date of the 1st semi-final! Oh Eurovision! <3 

Bottom line 2! November is not my month! :P May on the other hand was and will always be my month! It's the ESC month, it's my birthday month, it's the 5th month and 5 is my lucky number! In 2005 Greece won. In May. With 230 points. 2+3=5... It was the 50th ESC... Ok I'm getting this too far but you got my point! :P Hahahaha

Oh well! What else can I say?

I PASSED!!!!!!!!

Now the next step is getting accepted in uni! Fingers crossed for that! For now I am relieved and I'm going to enjoy the next few weeks.

Kvällen Är Din - Being in the audience

Well that was cool! Really cool! Now I know (...yes it's here I belong... oops! sorry! too much Sanna yesterday! hahaha) it's a lot funnier being in the audience than watching the show at home! And that's because that they have to record every act over and over again if there's even a tiny mistake! And Martin Stenmarck made quite a few of them. He was really nervous but he has a great sense of humor and I laughed a lot every time he couldn't remember his words!

Well the main reason for which I went to the show was Sanna Nielsen. I saw on her facebook page that she would perform on the show and that we could be in the audience. No way I'm gonna miss that! Well I don't know if I'm allowed to give any details since the show hasn't been aired yet so I'll just tell you that Sanna sang two songs and she had to perform them both twice due to some minor mistakes. That's why I loved being there! All of you (well the Swedes and some of you) will watch her performing them once but I got to see her twice! Hahaha 

I'm ready to do it again! Even if there's no one famous artist there (well Martin will always be there since he's the host). This was pure fun!

And here's a photo of Sanna and Martin.

 

PS Of course I took a photo with both of them and I did the en till, en till again! They both laughed! ;) hahahaha

En till, en till!

I speak swedish. Not fluently and I understand more than I can say. But whatever I do, wherever I go here in Sweden I speak swedish. Except for when I meet famous people. That's where I have to speak english because they don't have all day for me. So when I meet them (sometimes) I am quite nervous so I can't try to speak swedish. I have to be fast because there are people waiting to meet them. Plus, it's a good thing to show them that they have fans outside Sweden. So we have our conversations in english. And then comes the time for a photo! In 90% of those meetings I am alone so I have to ask someone else to take the photo. So we take the first photo and then I say to that person "en till, en till!" (one more, one more!) and for some reason whoever I'm taking the photo with, repeats that and laughs (not at me!). I did this twice! Once with Andreas Lundstedt and once with Linda Bengtzing! They both repeated "en till, en till" and they both laughed! I know it's not wise to say everyone does that coz I did it only twice but hey, I've got 2/2! I should try this again but this time with not-so-crazy artists. Both Andreas and Linda are crazy (in a good way!) so...

But seriously is it so funny? Or I guess they're thinking "she doesn't speak swedish but she knows how to ask for a second photo!" hahaha. Oh I don't know...

Sweden - My Love!

The original post was made in October 2010. This is why the time frame is inconsistent with the new post date.

I am writing this blog entry because everyone asks me why I love Sweden so much and how my love began etc etc. So from now on when someone asks me about it, my answer will be the link to this blog entry.

Ever since I was a baby I loved snow. Every time someone said the word “Finland” I immediately brought to my mind (and I still do) one picture. A forest of pine trees and a lot of snow! I knew Finland was a different country and that it was north. Of course I had no idea what “north” meant but I knew it was north. Now about Sweden? Well, it all began when I was 5-6 years old. Subconsciously (please keep that in mind until I reach to the year 2005). My dad had a record player and I was listening to ABBA. There was a record that on A-side was “Waterloo” and on B-side was “SOS”. A single! Haha I didn't like “Waterloo” back then so I was only listening to “SOS”. MANY TIMES A DAY! But I didn't know that this song was an ABBA song and I had no idea that ABBA was Swedish. I was listening to this record every day until one day I broke the record player (it was an accident!!)! That was it! I listened to ABBA again about six years later when I was 11. We had a second record player (we still have it but it's in the basement) and I found dad's records so I started listening to ABBA again. But for only a few months because we had to move it to the basement (as I said). Eurovision 2001 and Greece sends Antique with “Die For You”. Antique, as I’m sure most of you know, consisted of two Greek singers that were born and raised in Sweden (Helena Paparizou and Nikos Panagiotidis). They brought us the 3^rd place and the song became a huge hit in Greece. Until then I had no idea what Eurovision was, how often was the contest being held or even if they show it on TV! 2002 and I accidentally watch the ESC. There was one song that stuck to my mind that night and for weeks! It was the Swedish entry called “Never Let It Go” by Afro-Dite. I fell in love with that song and I wanted Sweden to win (just for the record they finished 8^th). Eurovision 2003 and I also like the Swedish song but not as much as Afro-Dite's. It was Fame's “Give Me Your Love” (5^th place). Eurovision 2004 and the Swedes sent Lena Philipsson with “It Hurts” (5^th place). Another song that I liked but my mind that year was in the Greek entry (Sakis Rouvas - “Shake It” - 3^rd place). Summer 2004 and I was watching MAD (something like MTV). They were showing all day a song called “This Is The World We Live In” by Alcazar (hmm I think with this blog entry you'll understand, apart from my love to Sweden, my love to Alcazar as well). But at first, every time the song began I was changing the channel until one day I decided to listen to the song! I loved it!! I even bought a CD with the summer hits just because I wanted this song! So in December Alcazar performed “TITWWLI” at a Greek talent show called Fame Story. I could watch tv on my pc so I recorded their performance. Please note that until that time I didn't know Alcazar was Swedish!! And here we go! 2005!! We choose to send Helena Paparizou to represent us in the ESC of 2005. Surprise surprise Helena was born and raised in Sweden as you all know! So these days there was “a lot of Sweden” on our TVs. They brought a new Greek commentator from Sweden (I won't comment the fact that they kicked out my favourite commentator in the history of Eurovision – Daphne Bokota) called Alexandra Pascalidou. They brought her from Sweden so that she helps us get votes from the Scnadinavian countries.

A few weeks before we choose the song to send to the ESC I found Alcazar's website and I saw they were Swedish! I also found out in their forum that they are competing in Melodifestivalen with a song called “Alcastar”. So the night we chose the Greek entry, to my surprise, Alcazar was there (as Sweden) to perform a medley with their songs. They were not allowed to sing “Alcastar” because Melodifestivalen was not over and Sweden hadn't chosen the song to represent them. I really don't know why Alcazar came to Greece and not another artist but I guess they came to promote their work... After that performance I bought my first Alcazar CD!

Back to the Greek National Final. We had 3 songs. “My Number One”, “OK” and “Let's Get Wild”. Guess which one I loved! Yup it was “Let's Get Wild” written by the Swede Douglas Carr! This was and is my favourite song of that night. If I had to choose again one of these songs, I'd pick “Let's Get Wild”. Even if I KNEW that with “My Number One” we would win the ESC, I'd still vote for “Let's Get Wild”!

It's May 21^st, the final of Eurovision 2005 and we get 12 points from Sweden! How can you not love that country after giving you 12 points? Hahaha You know the rest... We won!

But Eurovision wasn't over for the year 2005. In October we had Congratulations, 50 Years Of The Eurovision Song Contest, a show held in Copenhagen, Denmark to celebrate the 50 years of the contest. For a few months there was an online voting and the 14 songs with the most votes would compete in Denmark. Among the 14 songs was ABBA's “Waterloo” and Helena's “My Number One”. This is where I began learning the history of the contest. The winning songs/countries, how the rules have changed, the artists etc. That night we listened to the 14 songs and we voted for the winner. But before we listen to a song, an artist who competed in Eurovision got on stage and gave us some info about the song. The first artist who came on stage was Carola! We watched a small video about her. She brought to Sweden the 3^rd place in 1983 with “Främling” and the 1^st place in 1991 with “Fångad Av En Stormvind”. During the video about Carola and her career we were listening to her song from 1991. I liked it a lot!! She later performed “Främling” and that's when my interest to her songs began.

The winner of the night? ABBA with “Waterloo” which by the way I voted for! That was the first time I voted! Of course some votes went also to Celine Dion and our Helena (we were able to vote for our country that day). But I was extremely happy that ABBA won and especially when I saw Helena waving the Swedish flag, singing “Waterloo” and dancing with Carola and the rest Swedes! In automn 2005 I found out that Alcazar split up! I won’t comment anything here coz it will take a lot of time and writing! hehe

A few months later I found out that Carola was competing in Melodifestivalen  2006 with a song called “Evighet”. Magnus Carlsson from Alcazar was also competing with “Lev Livet”. Carola won and she came to Athens to represent Sweden in the ESC. Right after I found out that she won Melodifestivalen (I was already in love with the song!) I said: “This is the song I am supporting this year!”. And I guess that's where my real interest began for Sweden. In the ESC of 2006 Andreas Lundstedt from Alcazar was also competing but for Switzerland! In spring 2006 I bought my Swedish flag with which I was wrapped during the semi-final and final of the ESC, and around the same period I bought a book with Swedish dialogs and some grammar. That's when I began learning Swedish alone (well not intensively. Let’s say twice a month! Haha). I already knew how to read swedish (well not perfectly) because I was singing to Swedish ESC songs!

2007 and I was interested in Melodifestivalen. Alcazar, as I said, split up in automn 2005 but Andreas and Magnus entered 2007's Melodifestivalen as solo artists. None of them won. Sweden chose the worst possible song of the year! Whatever, I still supported Sweden in ESC but the result was awful. To be honest, 2007's Eurovision was awful. At least for me. Whenever I recall 2007 I feel really strange and I don't know why. I had 2-3 songs that I liked but I don't like listening to them... Even 2007's Melodifestivalen had...something... I wish I could erase the ESC of 2007 from my mind!

Anyway, in automn 2007 I began my last year at school and that's when a friend put me into thinking and I decided to study in Sweden. I finished school in spring 2008 and I applied to a swedish course at Linköping's university. You can't study there if you don't speak Swedish. Well I wasn't accepted and in January 2009 I started taking Swedish lessons in Thessaloniki. Surprisingly my teacher was born and raised in Gothenburg but her father's hometown is Drama which happens to be my hometown and the place I live! What were the odds huh? Well in May 2009 I sat the exams for the Swedex B1 and I passed (!!). I had also applied for a second time to the Swedish course at Linköping's university but because of a misunderstanding my application was rejected again. So the only solution was TISUS (Test in Swedish for University Studies). So in November 2009 I went to Athens for the TISUS exams. Well TISUS is like the Proficiency in English so your guess was right, I failed in all 3 parts (reading, writing and speaking). The only good thing of that trip in Athens was that I went to the Swedish embassy (it was the examination center)! God I love this place! I could live in there! Swedish, Swedish, Swedish everywhere!! Hahaha The only beautiful place in Athens!! But I didn't give up on TISUS! I gave it one more shot in May 2010 and I passed the reading and the oral part!!! I still can't believe how I passed the reading part! In November I answered all the questions in the reading part and I failed. In May I didn't answer a few of them and I passed! How crazy is this?!?! As for the speaking part? Here comes the good part! I had to talk about EUROVISION AND MELODIFESTIVALEN!!! How lucky was I?!?!?! HAHAHAHA I had 15 minutes to prepare myself and I had to speak 15 minutes alone (I hate that part! I want to have a conversation not just sitting and talking to a tape recorder). So when the examiner gave me the papers with the subject I had to talk about, the key words caught my eye! They were all about music and downloading! So I immediately looked at the title of the subject and when I saw the words “Eurovision” and “Melodifestivalen” I started smiling! I didn't start thinking what I was going to say. I didn't start preparing my speech! I just sat there for a few minutes smiling and thinking “How lucky am I?” but I also thought “Oh my God! If I pass this and fail in the other 2 I'm gonna die!” and that's because if you pass the 2 parts then you have to take again only the part you failed. But if you fail in 2 or all 3 parts then you have to take the test all over again! But I passed 2 out of 3 so now I have to take again only the writing part! And here I am! Blogging from Sweden!! Surprisingly my hometown is also connected to Sweden! As I mentioned earlier, the woman who taught me Swedish was born and raised in Gothenburg but she comes from Drama and here comes the other fun part. Before we leave Greece we knew that there was a Greek taxi driver in Stockholm that was also from Drama so we called him and after a few days of being in Sweden looking for a place to stay, he called us and told us that he found something. A Greek-Swedish who also comes from Drama (!!!) gave me a place to stay without paying any rent! Call this a coincidence or however you want but I call it destiny!

So this is pretty much my story. I know there is too much Eurovision in it but it's all about music. That's what made me like this country but I also like cold weather so Sweden is my country. I like everything about this country! The music, the people, the weather (yes yes the weather!)…EVERYTHING!!

So now people, QUIT ASKING "Why Sweden?"!