geoguessr

            i know that i already have a shrine dedicated to places i've found on google maps, but i swear that this is different!
geoguessr has had a massive surge in popularity in the last year or two and it has been great. it's been around since 2013 and i distinctly remember playing it during this week in 2015 that i was miserably sick (it was over my birthday too!) so, not to say i was there before it was cool but i kinda was lol. i mostly forgot about it for a few years, but in late 2020 i got into watching other people play, and then in january 2021 while i was having to quarantine in a hotel all alone for 2 weeks after coming back into the country, it became my entire life. it was such a fun mix of my geography and language interests, as well as just being a chance to see some cool places! in 99% of things in life, i am not competitive, but i become a worse person while playing this lmao. now that my classes are no longer online, i dont play as much and so i'm a bit out of practice, but i still love this game so so much and i think about it every day
            there is just something so satisfying and exciting about starting to recognise the landscapes and architecture of different places, and on the more minute level, to have that same level of recognition with telephone poles, lane dividers, and grocery chains. also, i am not above the meta hints and absolutely use the shape and colour of the google maps car and the different camera qualities/quirks to help figure out where i am and i am not sorry.

things that help (me) play

not all of these are 100% going to work (i.e. hungarian telephone pole can be seen in a couple of other places, but i generally find it in hungary, so that's why it's here)

some screenshots from rounds