FINLAND: Part 3

Suuunday~! Unfortunately this was my last proper day in Helsinki! I really wish I could have stayed til the Monday! Technically I could have done since all the shit happened with my job, but at the time of booking I was still "allowed" there so :( FAIL! Anyways, after packing and checking out, I went back to Monica and Ingvild's hotel to do my hair and make-up. Lol I arrived at 11:30 and we didn't leave til 15:00! Monica did my hair again and gave me a whole lesson, and proclaimed us hair twins! <3

At Monica & Ingvild's hotel

Outfit and hair for the day

We met Keikk again and went back to Gloria after eating in MacDonalds (3rd time lol!) for the Shibuya Heat Wave gig. The doors were supposed to open at 4, but we ended up shivering and getting rained on until nearly 5pm! suuucks. I really thought I was going to miss the concert as my flight was at 21:15 and I had to leave by 18:30 the latest to go back to my hotel to pick up my suitcase and go to the airport! However, the doors finally opened and I did see the gig lol. Although it was an enjoyable experience, I have to say I wasn't as impressed as I thought I was going to be and I felt let down as the girls just mimed to their songs! A couple of times, the guy doing the mixing would turn their mics up and I think they were least expecting it and they kind of "sang" over the music, but apart from those moment, the rest was just miming :( They had remixed some songs together, so I think they only played like 2 or maybe 3 of their songs in full. I don't think they had a proper, full sound check or run through as a bit in one song came up and Aina was supposed to open her mouth and didn't so the track played her voice but she didn't actually move her lips...eek!

They played "Agepoyo" with the girls singing the whole song (as I doubt Crown Records would pay for all the 12+ (or however many it is) "Shibuya Gals" to fly to Finland just for one song. It was...kind of awful. Sorry, but Aina REALLY shouldn't give up her day job... They also played their new song "White Lover" which was an XMas son and I think the song they filmed their PV for in Finland. They asked if anyone had a birthday this month (ME!) and gave out postcards featuring the girls in different outfits and one or two of them on the beach on their recent New Caledonia trip, and also threw posters to girls who could catch! Ingvild wanted a poster so bad so she like nearly fought some girl and got it! ACE!!! :D

The postcard I got! Scanner gave it weird lines :z

At the end of it all, Yuma cried! When they cleared out the hall (REALLY promptly with some blonde woman like screaming at people to gtfo) all the foreign gals got whisked upstairs to meet the girls and take photos and do a big group interview for Fuji TV. The girls gave everyone hugs and Yuma came up to me and personally thanked me for the special puri I had given her and she looked like she was going to cry again! She's so sweeeeeet!!! I FORGOT how to talk at this point, and said "uh.....daijoubu desu/that's okay" when I SHOULD have said "douitashimashite/you're welcome" and Yuma just looked at me and said "...daijoubu desu?" and I said "uh..hai!" and I think she was like wtf lol but she still smiled and gave me a hug all the same lol! I said we were twins in our outfits and she was like YES! D.I.A.!!!! lol! Koi-chan took a photo of us hugging :p The TV crew asked us if there was anything we wanted to tell the girls and a few people inc. me said that we were so happy for them to come to Finland and that they are inspirations and role models etc and the girls were like "we're not role models!" but they are!! They know they are :D

They had to choose 3 girls to take a photo with for egg but apparently it was too difficult to decide so they picked like 6 people, me, Pin, Viivi, Rebecca and some other girls. I think they chose more girls as after I had my pic done, it was 18:30 (on the dot!) and I had to rush away and I saw more girls going in to take their picture. Yuma slammed the door so noone culd get in lol and people kept trying to open the door and she kept hitting it back! Koi-chan's camera kept going funny and Yuma said "what's up?!!!!!" LOL she's so funny. I was really worrying about how I was going to get a cab back to my hotel as there are no ranks and I had no number so I asked a guy in a convenience store if he knew where the nearest one was and he directed me, but I said "considering that this is my first ever time to Helsinki!" and he said "or I can just order you one :D" and he did! Omg so fucking kind! One of the nicest strangers i've ever met! Especially as I had huge mad hair and tiny shorts on! I gt my flight okay and on time and arrived at the hotel early as there was no traffic :D

The Fuji TV thing we were all given to fill out. Paul never took it so I still have it lol!

The answers were from Saturday, and I didn't know how to describe my look so I just said "rokku gal" lol!

I will definitely be going back to Helsinki! I had such an awesome weekend, it's unreal! My next trip will be to Norway in February 2011 to visit Monica! I was due to go to Paris next weekend but that's also the weekend of my birthday so I can't make it anymore :( sucks! I want to do a globe tour of gals!!!

L-R:

Keikk, Monica, Me, Ingvild

Taken from Keikk's blog! In all the SLR and good cameras I look like a draq queen LOL! This picture probably more so as you can see my affair with blusher and my awkward hand placement could lead to all kinds of random comments....oh well :D

FINLAND: Part 2

Saturday; Tsukicon day 1! I didn't sleep all night, bar maybe 40 minutes at 5am! :( Also, the adaptors I brought with me didn't fit any of the plugs in my room, or the hotel! So I had to go to an electrical store (which was opposite my hotel) and buy some new ones. But at last I had power! Luckily my phone pulled through the night!

I made use of my included breakfast and ended up having fruit and a really nice sponge cake (lol) with whole fruit inside. There was porridge and meats and bread but cake is obviously awesome! I had my make-up done but not my hair and there was a huge troupe of cheerleaders all eating in the restaurant and running in and out of the lifts - I think for some event as I saw more at Monica's hotel - and they were all staring like wth that girl can't be bothered to do her hair lol. I took a cab to Monica and Ingvild's hotel to do my hair. It was great to see Monica again! Even though it was only the second time we've met, I feel like we've known her for years! Ingvild is so nice too! She's awesome at hair! Puts me to shame :( It was such a pleasure to hang out with them. I was a bit worried as I cam alone and only really knew Monica properly as i've only spoken a little to or only read the blogs of the other girls that were going, but everyone was fantastic so I felt so much better! Monica did my hair for me! She's awesome!! I can't wait to practise!

Of course, I went to Finland to see Aina & Yuma, but also to see other gals. From the hotel, we took the tram into the centre of Helsinki to pick up our Tsukicon tickets. We met up with Katherine/Keikk who took us to the ticket office. She's gorgeous! I thought she was American at first as she has such an American accent but she was like "no im from Finland!" haha. Just before we met Keikk, we went into Gina Tricot - i've been spying on the website and Caryn and Monica always praise it - and bought a really cute leopard print jumper (in size L or something lol!) and a cute zebra print dress that was reduced to like EUR10! NICE.

After getting our tickets we checked the time and realised we were going to miss the start of the Q&A session, and we weren't really that near to the venue so we rushed to the tram and got to the main venue, Gloria. Keikk was saying that Gloria was rather small for holding such an event as Tsukicon, and it was! There was a huge line outside and even though the majority, if not all, had tickets, they were being really strict and only letting say, 4 people in at once :z The Q&A had already started and it was weird and kind of unreal to see Aina & Yuma sitting on the stage in front of us! Even though i've met them before, I was still quite nervous! I have to admit...Aina looked so bored to be there..and kind of dry! Her fashion and style has changed so much in the past year and now she just looks kind of boring. To be honest I was a bit disappointed. When we met in January she was so like, spunky and really energetic, and on the stage and stuff she just acted like she had better things to do :(

My friend Gen from Fuji TV says that Aina is going to leave egg quite soon. I mean, she appears less and less, there are not really any Pora Pora (polaroid photos at the back of egg) or funny photos of her anymore (minus egg Dec '10 - there's a pora pic of her) and she is apparently more focused and set on becoming a successful singer. She says she's always wanted to be a singer but does enjoy being a model. However, it has been her dream and she would prefer to sing as opposed to have her picture taken all the time, advertising all th time etc. As a popular magazine model, she has a shooting everyday. This could be for egg, promoting a brand, shooting for tv etc, and this generally applies with other popular personalities such as Tsubasa or Sakurina, and I can kind of understand that after a while she might not enjoy doing that anymore. A little known fact: Aina was spotted by the editor of egg in Shibuya and was asked if she wanted to be a model! I guess it can happen to anyone, so make sure you always look fab!

Another reason she will leave is because while she is popular and young, there are newer and younger "models"; quite literally; coming in all the time. For example, Nemoyayo and Kimori Jun are EXTREMELY popular right now. Aina is only 21! She's still young...but she's maturing, nd I guess if she is trying to land a more serious job in singing or even acting, that's why she's toning her image down more and more and not working so much for egg, which lets face it, isn't all that serious lol! ANYWAY sidetracked.

Aina & Yuma also did a handshake and autograph signing for 30 people who entered a competition online, and I was lucky enough to be one of the 30! I used this opportunity to give them presents of the purikura we took in January: as I had a spare set.

And also to give Yuma a special purikura that she asked me for too! I was also super excited to see my other guy from Fuji TV! He didn't get a chance to meet up with us in Tokyo in Oct so I was really surprised and mega happy to see him! At the signing, the girls recognised me virtually straight away and were in fits of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA and SUUUUUUUUUGOIIIIIIIIII and needless to say, Yuma was pretty much ecstatic that she had her own special puri! We weren't allowed to take any photos or videos on our own cameras or phones so I have to wait until the pics are out! I bumped into Koi-chan (manager) just before the signing and he recognised me as soon as I said hello! He said "AH! Eilish-chan!!!" and went straight into conversation! I was so pleased!! He took photos of us while we waited for the signing to start~ We ate in Macdonalds afterwards and then went back for the fashion show!

My signed copies of the QUEEN and Campus Summit 2010 albums~

The fashion show was cool! Nice one girls~ I finally spoke to Paul from Fuji TV! His real name is Ikuo but he will forever be Paul to me and Dec! He did a "hisashiburi" interview with me. I invited him and 2 others with him to eat with us, and I thought it was just like a few of us but there was 21 gals! They filmed and recorded us eating and chatting and stuff so if they show that part on TV, I hope people appreciate that I asked them to come! Afterwards, me, Rebecca, Sofia and Amanda went back to Monica and Ingvild's room to get ready to go to the after party thing for Tsukicon. We went, and it was mega fail! Like 4 people dancing to Nintendo music! Lame. We just drank (EUR6.50 for one bacardi breezer wtf!!!) and chatted and had a good time! Me, Monica and Ingvild like, snuck in, so at least we didn't have to pay EUR8 to get in lol! I managed to sleep when I got back to my hotel so I was impressed! I didn' want to wake up in the morning though :( Photos!

Anyway, Sunday is coming! And if you still haven't entered my giveaway, you can do here!



FINLAND: Part 1

Hello! I have returned from Finland, and i've had the most amazing time with some pretty amazing people!
My trip was only really two full days and one evening, so i'll blog about my journey in 2 parts~

FRIDAY 12/11/10

This was the day that I actually flew to Finland. I could have got a flight on the Saturday but I would have arrived in the middle of the afternoon and then would have had to do my hair and make-up and would have been late for everything so I decided to fly the night before, to be well prepared! My plane journey wasn't bad, 2hr30 and there was no turbulence, yay! It's weird flying alone! I'm so used to travelling with other people so I think I was a little intimidated to fly by myself. People travelling alone always seem to be the ones that Airport Security follow and keep an eye on...sucks! I guess i'm a prime target; alone, young, and PINK HAIR! lol. Thankfully I wasn't stopped this time, like I was when I was going to The Netherlands! I did have to give up my cute leopard print umbrella though, as it's a big one, and it had to be checked in but I didn't know. It was cheap so I didn't mind, I said the Airport guys could have it and they were really happy haha. The only problem in being so "generous" is that there was loads of rain waiting for me in Helsinki!

I ended up meeting Viivi at the airport unexpectedly while she waited for her friend to fly in from Switzerland. I think she was shocked and maybe felt a bit awkward to see me as we have never actually spoken before, and I also had some mad appearance with my pink hair and no make-up face, and we didn't know what to say for conversation! I think because I hugged her too (again, both of us awkward) she must have been a bit like wtf lol. Sorry girl! I stayed at the awesome Holiday Inn City West OR West Ruoholahti! I can't believe I was just able to spell that without having to double check haha. It's a 4.5 star business hotel complete with Sauna (it IS Finland!) mini-gym and AWESOME restaurant food! My room was gorgeous too, which is always a plus! I was actually surprised at the price, EUR156 for two nights in a standard room with Queen size bed and breakfast included! If two people are sharing then it's really not a bad price at all! I took a photo of the lobby - kind of - this is just past reception and towards the elevators...imo looks like Airport lounge!

Sorry..bad pic!

I've not been sleeping at all for the past week, I think i'm becoming an insomniac again..great ¬_¬. ALTHOUGH I did manage to sleep last night and on Saturday night, so maybe it was short lived? I was STARVING by the time I arrived at the hotel, and luckily the restaurant was still serving for another 45 minutes so I enjoyed (and got really full from) a huge "house" burger with sweet potato fries. It was classed as a "snack" on the menu but NO WAY is it a snack! It's HUGE! Well, to me! And those sweet potato fries..mmm! First time having them and they're so good.

The salt seasoning on the outside is such a gorgeous contrast with the sweetness on the inside, and so crispy and delicious...omg I WANT THEM NOW but kind of bad luck as I can't :( Unless I make them myself at home? PLAN! They can't be too difficult..right?

Video and part 2 coming soon!

Enjoy!



Finland bound!

Hello!!

I'll shortly be on my way to the airport to fly to Helsinki! As my laptop is still away I don't know if i'll be posting any blogs until I return home. There will be computers I can use at the hotel but I feel better using my own lol! I won't be able to upload any photos either so it will be a boring post!

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, i'll be sending some stuff via my mobile phone, so keep an eye out!

See you all soon!