#29 Be able to list every country in the world on sporcle.com

02 May 2011 2 Comments

by allison302 in 101 in 1001 Days Tags: 29, completed

So I know I don’t normally post about goals in individual posts, but this one I decided to. It was a completion that I felt deserved attention now, not 30 days later. Ever since Freshman Year, when my friend Amelia introduced me to Sporcle, I have been determined to learn the all the countries of the world. Well I tried a lot the summer after Freshman year, but then I put it on the back burner, tried again Sophomore year and got around 150 or so and then kind of forgot about it. But this semester, especially in the past few weeks, I started trying to do it again. There were several times when I got close (I forgot Tuvalu and Taiwan), but no cigar.

So tonight, May 1 (well technically May 2 since it’s 1:30 am) I decided to try again before I went to bed. And I did it! My strategy was always the same. Start in North America (there are 23 countries), move down to South America (12) which makes 35. Then I shifted to Europe and if I didn’t mess up and accidentally type some that were in Asia or Africa, I should have 82. Then I moved to Asia, Oceania, and finished in Africa. I was going fine until I got to Oceania, like always, but I was determined not to move on until I got them all. Finally number 14 came to me and I began on Africa. I knocked it out pretty quick, but then I noticed I was still at 194. I knew I had all the ones in Africa and Oceania, so I figured I must have missed one in Asia. The time ticked down faster than normal, but I couldn’t figure it out. As I started reading over the ones I had, and even retyping some I knew I answered, I realized I forgot Bhutan, a small Asian nation north of India, with a population of 810,000 (I honestly didn’t know anything about this country so I just looked it up).

So there you go. Another goal accomplished. I’m not making any promises that I can successfully do it again, but I finished, even with 2:19 to spare. I am now a part of the 7.6% of Sporcle quiz takers who have scored 100% on this quiz. I feel honored.

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