Hello Everyone!
Today on my blog; I would like to share with you my recent experience of taking part in an international beauty pageant called Miss Europe Continental. This post will be rather long, as I would like to describe you here all the good and not so great things that you might expect from taking part in this beauty competition based in Naples, Italy.
 |
| Miss Malta, Miss Scotland, Miss Armenia, Miss Slovenia, Miss Algeria, Miss California |
Let's start from the general impressions: it was a terrific experience to have the possibility to meet 55 (there were 56 of us in this edition of the competition) gorgeous women from literally all around the world (from countries like: Japan, United States, Colombia, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Armenia, and many European countries like: Slovenia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Ireland etc.). We were all trying to support each other and act friendly towards each other, because we all were aware of the fact that we are in a foreign country and it is better to just stick together.
It was also really amazing to see a bit of Naples - it is an icredibly beautiful city (but I might create later on another post showing you more of Naples from a tourist's point of view, as I had the possibility to stay there two days longer, after the competition, in Naples, at my friend's dad's house and to try some local food, which was obviously delicious plus I had my private tour guide (my friend's friend), who showed me all the most incredible places!).
Now let's begin with how it all happened that I have landed there. I was contacted via Instagram by one of the miss Europe Continental organization headhunters, who portrayed me this amazing opportunity to take part in an international beauty pageant, because I was chosen as a perfect delegate of my country. I wanted to represent my home country - Poland, however I was informed that Poland was already 'taken' this year, and as I am a resident in Scotland, I can represent Scotland. So I agreed to this offer, and I asked about the conditions of the application. And I was informed that the entrance fee is a bit over a thousand pounds (spread into 4 installments). At this point I started to think really hard, whether I should invest so much money into something like that. I have a previous modelling and beauty pageants exerience, so I was really surprised about the cost of this fee. I also started to browse through the Internet to find some relevant information about this whole contest. And I found some good, and some bad things online: the good part was the fact that is is a legitimate company in Italy, and they have been organizing this contest for around 5 years now, or maybe more? And you can find the previous editions on their YouTube channel and their social media - Instagram, Facebook etc. However; the bad things were the interviews with the former contestants, where they were describing that the staff was not nice to them, that the food was rather terrible (I'll get back to the food part later on) and there was even apparently some kind of abuse going on there in one of the previous boot camps.
Therefore; I was quite full of doubts, and did not know really what to do at this point. After a few weeks of thinking it through, I decided that I'll give it a shot, encouraged by some positive things I saw online about this pageant, and I signed the contract which looked legitimate.
As the time went by, it turned out that the contest was postponed (it was supposed to take place in November, 2021) to Spring 2022 (officially because of covid pandemic), and not one, but SIX different editions were supposed to take place this year. I was a bit shocked, however I thought that maybe because of the pandemic, the previous editions in 2020 also did not take place, and they already had the contestants lined up. And therefore; six editions of the contest were planned: European Edition, World Edition, Global Edition, International Edition, Planet Edition, and the last one which I took part in: Multinational Edition. The first edition - European Edition lasted a bit longer than all the next ones and the candidates had a few more attractions planned - for example had their nails done, and the final gala took place in a different venue (prettier and bigger, more in a city centre) than all the other ones, however the price they paid to participate was the same and there was no way to choose in which edition you want to take part.
Let me explain you now how our schedule looked like for those 3 full days and the morning of the fourth day (this was the duration of the competition, even though first of all it was supposed to last for seven days) We have arrived at Naples International Airport on May, 3rd ( I arrived around 11:30 and one of the shuttle buses to the hotel was already gone, so I needed to wait with some other girls for the next one):
 |
| with Miss Indonesia - Marie - such a sweet person! |
 |
| with Miss Indonesia, Miss Ireland, Miss Andorra and Miss Greenland |
 |
| with Miss Spain, Miss Australia, Miss Macedonia, Miss Puerto Rico, and Miss Colombia (who won the crown!) |
 |
| with Miss Ireland - Kristina |
 |
| La Lanterna hotel |
When we arrived at the hotel, we were provided a very small and simple salad without any meat or fish, just lettuce and a few pieces of carrots (mind you, many of us had been in transit for several hours prior, I got up before 4 am for example):
And we were advised to prepare ourselves for the official photoshoot in a long gown (at this point no hairdressers or make-up artists were there):
The final effect photo uploaded to Miss Europe Continental Facebook page:
After the photoshoot and video recordings outside of the hotel, we were advised to change the clothes to something also nice, but not so elegant, and to participate in a meeting with the patron of this beauty pageant, afterwards we could walk around the terrains surrounding the hotel.
 |
| with my Slovenian beauty - Sylvia |
And suddenly it was quite late already, so we were all taken to a restaurant quite far away (on a bus) and we were served some Italian gnocchi.
Then we were all taken back to the hotel, and we just simply went to bed, because we needed to wake up at 6 am the next day to go to Naples city centre for some shooting and sightseeing activities. For breakfast (and all the 3 remaining breakfasts) we would always get one croissant, and coffee from the automated coffee machine. But this day was actually fun! We had some nice pictures taken in Galeria Umberto, we saw the marina, and a castle from afar. We could take some more pictures and videos ourselves, and it all turned out pretty cool.
 |
| with Miss Slovenia - my beautiful friend Sylvia |
 |
| Miss Sweden - Emely (landed as 2nd Runner-up!) and Miss Kazakhstan (in Top5!) - Dinara - such sweet girls! |
 |
| with the Armenian beauty - Tatev and Slovenian beauty - Sylvia |
Then we went to the theatre to start the rehearsals before the gala that was taking place the next day, and we spent at this theatre several hours (including some packed lunch eaten at the spot), before we were finally taken to eat some dinner very late in the night (around 23:00). But this time we got something more to eat luckily - some pasta for the starter, then the sausage with some salad, and a beautiful pizza in a heart shape.
 |
| Miss Colorado - Danielle - a very nice girl!, Miss Mexico, Miss Slovenia, Miss Armenia, Miss Congo, Miss Scotland, Miss Malta (sweetie!), Miss Indonesia, Miss Argentina |
And the next day was the last full day, and of course started with a croissant, it was a no make-up day, as we all needed to have a fresh face and clean hair to be styled later on for the grand gala in the evening. However; it was a long time left until the gala, and a lot of rehearsals at the theatre ahead of us. There was some packed lunch again, and I believe it was supposed to be safe for all the contestants (people have differet food intolerances and allergies), so it was rather plain and simple (I had couscous for example). After the lunch, there were some more rehearsals, and the general rehearsal which was recorded by the tv production to see how it all looks like. Later on; we headed to the tent with hairdressers and make-up artists. Each of them had their 'misses' assigned to them, and luckily for me - I got a very sweet person to work with me - a hairstylist named Tiziano. Then I had my make-up done by the make-up artist and again - my hair styled to be ready for the gala. I loved my hairstyle, and Tizi was definitely one of the nicest and most professional people I have met there! The make-up artist did not speak English at all, so I had some troubles to communicate with her, therefore; she just created on my face what she thought would look good, and I just matched the dress to it afterwards (I had two dresses to choose from taken with me).
 |
| Luigi the photographer at the back and Tiziano right handside |
 |
| with the make-up artist |
 |
| with Tiziano the hairstylist |
 |
| with Sylwia - Miss Illinois and Tori - Miss Belarus - Polish-speaking squad! |
And the evening of the grand gala was finally there, so we were all glammed up and looking absolutely gorgeous! The gala went on, it was all recorded and will be published and broadcasted on Miss Europe Continental YouTube channel and on NCG online television, so we all cannot wait to see the final effects of our hard work on rehearsals. Here are some snaps and videos from this amazing evening:
 |
| with my Armenian beauty -Tatev! |
 |
| theatre of the final gala - S'antaniello |
 |
| Top20 |
After the gala, we received some packed salad (it was already 1 am in the morning when we were back at the hotel!), we went to sleep, and the next day there was the final croissant for breakfast, and some girls went for the shuttle to the airport. I was taken to my friend's dad's house, so I was really the lucky one, as I was being treated like a queen there for the next two days and I ate much better and amazing food that during the contest days.
What are my final thoughts? I definitely do not regret taking part in this beauty pageant, as it was something completely different than what my life looks like on a regular basis. Even though I already had a lot of experience in modelling, photoshoots, and some beauty pageants, I have never had a chance to travel to a different country for an international beauty competition, meet so many beautiful inside and out people, and feel special. Therefore; if anyone, reading that post is considering whether to take or not to take part in the next editions of Miss Europe Continental - please give it a thought, what you would like to take from it for yourselves. I will definitely never forget the girls, the beautiful landscapes, all the fun we had there, smiles, dancing on the bus, people waving at us on the streets of Naples, and friedly staff like the photographers - Luigi and Ciro. Great memories!
