Amalias Blog

This week, I combined my knowledge of country names and locations to practise in a super fun way. Instead of simply taking quizzes, I got to play a game! The game is called Globle. There is a secret country and you have to guess it. You enter the name of a country and the colour it lights up will show you how close or far it is the the actual secret country. For example, if their secret country is Spain and you guess Russia, Russia will light up on the map a white-ish colour. If you guess France, France will light up on the globe dark red. So, you can see why it helps to have a good knowledge of countries names and places!

Here’s what a game looks like:

I guessed

• Ukraine
• Italy
• Algeria
• Germany
• Albania (was adjacent to the correct answer, so I guess Bosnia, because I thought they bordered each other)
• Bosnia
• North Macedonia (Here, I thought of what else actually borders Albania)
• Greece!

I remember playing his game last summer with my friend, when I had far less understanding of the world map. I was so naive, I really thought that my little knowledge was impressive, LOL!. I would absolutely crush my past self in a game of Globle. 

Likes and Dislikes

There aren’t very many dislikes this week –shocking, I know. Its a very fun game that is only enhanced by my learning of the world map. This game is definitely more fun when are not stuck on Oceania because you don’t know the names of the islands (happened to me last summer). This game really will choose any country as its secret country. It’s NOT only restricted to the countries that ARE ACTUALLY VISIBLE ON A MAP. 

Did it help me learn?

Yes, it did. I had to recall my knowledge of which countries were adjacent to each other. Although it is a fun game, I was still testing and expanding upon my knowledge. It wasn’t just a little vacation week for me. 

Would I recommend it to others?

Yes, I would definitely recommend this game to others. It was the perfect third resource to add into my goal of learning the whole world map. Although it would be better to do what I did and set out to learn the names and locations first, I can see someone being able to learn a significant amount from this game alone. It got really fun as I got better at the game, as I got the secret country correct in fewer and fewer guess. This is because I started to become aware of which countries border each other. It’s one thing to know generally where they are, but it’s another to keep track of which countries actually share a border. Your guesses would only show up that super dark red colour if it was actually touching the secret country. 

My rating out of 5 for this game: 4.5 stars

I wonder, would you ever try this game? If so, how do you think you would do?

I found this game from word of mouth, have you heard of it before?

Last week, I learned the names of every country in the world. This week, my goal was to be able to point them all out out a map. Did I succeed? Keep reading to find out.

What I did

This week, I used this geography game to learn the locations of every country in the world. For last week’s game, I typed the names of every country in the world and it would light up on the map (very helpful), but this one is different. It gives you a blank world map and the name of a country, and you have to click  where that country is on the map.

For example, if it says “Kazakhstan”,  I have to locate Kazakhstan on the world map and click it accurately.  if I am wrong, my guess will light up yellow and I’ll get a few more tries before it tells me the correct answer. if I get it right on the first try, the country glows white on the map and it moves on.

(My own screenshot from this week’s game)

Last week’s game helped me to learn the names but it simultaneously helped me become familiar with locations, since it showed the country after I typed it. This made this week’s challenge much easier, but it wasn’t ideal for learning the exact locations (especially because there are so many micro countries that are barely visible on a map).

This week’s game helped me perfect that skill. I couldn’t just guess the general region anymore, but I had to know the country’s exact shapes, borders, location. it definitely made me realize how much I still had to learn.

Hard vs. Easy

Some regions seem to be consistently hard for me… Oceania and Africa. I don’t know why!!! Maybe because there are so many countries? Maybe the islands confuse me?  I also struggled a bit with Europe, again,  because of the micro countries and everything seems so cramped together. 

How did I do?

I would say I am 80-90% there. I can accurately label almost every country now,  but the countries that still throw me off are Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechia, Croatia, and the islands in Oceania.  With more practice however, I think I will be able to get it 100% down pat. I believe I’m definitely on my way to my goal, which is being able to draw the world map from memory… but lets leave it at that, because I don’t wanna get cocky at this point LOL.

Pros and Cons of this week’s resource

This game has its pros and cons. I love that its free and its easy. Those are two really huge pluses. Its biggest con is that the game only lets you play 58 countries per round!! What is that? Out of 196 countries? Thats a joke, LOL. I have no idea why it’s structured like that. I tried to change the settings, but I could not figure out how to change it. The game just cuts off after you have guessed 58 countries. 

Would I recommend this game for someone completing a similar challenge?

Its a fun, free game, but I would not recommend it to someone looking to complete the same challenge as me, because its not comprehensive enough. If you’re serious about learning your countries, you need a game that will test your knowledge on all 196! Not 58. I found another game that is quite similar, but you can change the settings to include all 196 countries. I would recommend this game instead.

You could also break it up by continent and play a label-the-map type game for only Africa or only Europe. That might make things much more manageable and easier to master. All you have to do is google “label every country in (insert continent here)” and you should be able to find those games. 

Side note: I think I will use this game for learning my flags: 

Im curious, how well do you know where each country is? How many countries do you think the average Canadians can accurately point to on a map?

This week, I used Countries of the World Quiz to help me learn the names of every country in the world. Was I successful? Let’s find out.

I initially took the quiz to test the knowledge that I would be going into this challenge with. There are 196 countries in the world and I could only name less than half of them.

I was surprised to see how easy it was to improve, though. After days of progress, I worked my way up to being able to name all the countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia! I still struggled with Oceania and Africa, though. There are so many little countries here. 

By the end of the week, I could name every single country in the world. I was super proud of myself. 

I focused by efforts moving left to right on the map. So, I started really trying to learn the Americas. This was definitely the easiest for me, because it is the closest to where I live geographically and I already has some prior knowledge on this region from high school, because I was very interested in Latino cultures. The hardest for me to learn were the very tiny countries that you barely see on a map, like St. Lucia, St. Vincent and St. Kitts. 

When taking the quizzes, I also sometimes referenced a labelled map when I didn’t know any more countries. Doing this repeatedly helped me memorize those countries, to the point that I no longer needed a map. 

I came up with little connections to a bunch of countries that helped me memorize them. They could be song lyrics, youtube videos, people I have met, simply the way the word looks, famous people from that country, or some type of memory or connection that I have to that country. Here is a list of some of those connection I made, to help me remembers countries:

El Salvador – Went from being the dangerous country in the western world to the safest.
Panama – where the main characters of Prison Break escaped to

Antigua and Barbuda – sounds like “Antique” and “Bermuda triangle”
Bahamas – Where I visited in grade 8
Barbados – where Rihanna is from
Cuba – Fidel Castro, where my dad likes to visit, I visited twice
Dominica – Sounds like Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic – Where Romeo Santos is from. I like their accents.
Jamaica – Where the YouTuber HeyParis is from
Saint Lucia – I saw a guy on Instagram talking about being raised in Saint Lucia
Argentina – Some Nazis went here after WWII
Bolivia – Sounds like the name Olivia
Colombia – Where Sofia Vergara is from
Ecuador – Sounds like the word “equator”
Suriname – sounds like the word “Surname”
Albania – There was a guy in my homeroom in highschool from Albania
Andorra – I didn’t know that there was a country between Spain and France. Its pretty cool.
Armenia – Where the Kardashian’s father is from
Austria – where Hitler is from
Azerbaijan – My friend visited this country after Christmas 2024. 
Belgium – I mix up their flag with the german flag
Bosnia and Herzegovina – where my best friend in high school was from
Bulgaria – In season 2 of the TV show, Rise of Empires Ottomon, there was a spy that claimed to be from bulgaria, but she was really from Romania
Croatia – I knew a girl in high school from Croatia
Cyprus – The image on their flag reminds me of a pork-chop
Estonia – I didnt know this country existed until I started this challenge. Their flag is very unique.
Georgia – My great-grandparents lived here before they moved to Canada. They have really cool dances and hats.
Greece – Many people from my high school were from here. Greek mythology
Hungary – Sounds like the word “hungry”
Iceland – Its called Iceland, but its green. The opposite of Greenland.
Ireland – Connor McGreggor
Italy – pizza and pasta
Liechtenstein – very small country that I didnt know existed until I started this challenge
Malta – When I studied abroad in the UAE, I met a girl from here. They have a very interesting culture, because they speak a mixture of Italian and Arabic
Moldova – Andrei from 90 Day Fiance is from this country
Monaco – this video. LOL

Montenegro – I played an app that is like a kids-version of Among Us and it had voice chat. There was someone on the game from Montenegro

North Macedonia – Alexander the Great was Macedonian

Portugal – This is where Ronaldo is from
Romania – this is where Vlad the Impaler is from and this is where Andrew Tate lives
San Marino – a very small country inside of Italy where rich people go

Vatican – Where the pope lives. A micro-nation inside of italy

Afghanistan – They recently changed their government and their flag
Bahrain – the only shia-majority gulf country
Cambodia – My mom visited this place when she was in the army
Indonesia – where my friend is from. I met her during my time abroad in the UAE and she worked at the international exchange office. I would love to visit
Iraq – where one of my closest friends is from
Jordan – Petra. My dad visited this place when I was in highschool. We planned to take a trip here after I graduated high school, but I graduated in 2020, so we couldnt travel due to COVID
Kuwait – Probably the hottest country in the world. I met some kuwaitis in the UAE and they said it was even too hot for locals
Lebanon – I’ve heard that the people from this country are very beautiful
Malaysia – similar to indonesia
Maldives – A beautiful vacation spot that many people in Dubai visit, because it is close
Mongolia – Ghengis Khan!!
Oman – I went here on a field trip with my class when I studied abroad in the UAE. I loved it. I would definitely go again

Philippines – My friend is from here. Karaoke is common in their culture.
Qatar – where the 2022 world cup
Saudi Arabia – where mecca and medina are. I have also been here and would definitely go again
Singapore – “No, im singaporean”

Sri Lanka – they have a cool flag
Syria – where some of my friends are from. They recently beat their old oppressive government. I am very happy for them.
Taiwan – I lived here when I was a kid
United Arab Emirates – Where I studied abroad!
Uzbekistan – met some people from here in Dubai
Marshall Islands – My friend’s last name is Marshall
Burkina Faso – sounds like the word “bikini”
Egypt – pyramids
Guinea – my friend Khadijah is from this country. Also reminds me of the animal Guinea Pig
Madagascar – the movie
Mali – its in my name A(mali)a
Mauritania – people travel here to learn the quran
Seychelles – sounds like the word “seashells”
Sierra Leone – diamonds. Also, my grandma’s husband once got a phone-call out of sierra leone. My grandma saw it, got angry, and said “who is sierra and why is she calling you???”.  

Somalia – rhymes with my name

I wonder, readers, how many countries do you think you could name if you took this quiz right now? If you took the quiz, what was your score? How much do you think you would improve in 1 week?

Keep up with my next blog to see how I progress!