It’s Different Here. Sometimes.

Hi there! My name’s Ross Simpson. Yup, like the guy from ‘Friends” and the cartoon show. Fun fact, my name means “Steed” in German. So I’m a fancy horse. I’ll take it.  I’m an American currently doing his best to figure this whole German thing out. I haven’t been in Germany for more than 2 months yet after all. There is a lot to experience and fortunately for me, I am here for an entire year. I have plenty of time.

I’m a Michigander. Or maybe it’s Michiganian. I have heard both. If you’re sitting there thinking what the hell is this guy talking about? I don’t blame you. They’re both nonsensical ways of me saying that that I come from Michigan. Assuming you are not super familiar with United States geography, it’s one of the 50 states that makes up the United States of America. It’s the one right next to Canada and surrounded by big freshwater lakes. It often is thought to resemble a hand and us “Michiganders” will occasionally refer to it as “the mitten” or glove. Due to the states semi-close proximity to the features of a human hand, Michiganders, myself included, will often point to their hand to show where they live. This is such a common occurrence in fact that as a very small kid, I was under the assumption that everyone just pointed at a part of their body to show others where they’re from. For instance, Italy vaguely looks like a boot or leg so I thought Italians pointed at their leg to show their home town. Admittedly, not my smartest moment.

Some people hate Michigan, but I love my state. Yeah sure, I agree that the winters are filled with too much snow, snow, ice, cold weather, and even more snow. But the state is full of beautiful and scenic nature that will always be amazing to me. If you haven’t seen one of the great lakes, I would look it up. They. Are. Large.

I grew up playing Football or Soccer if you’re an American like me. I have watched, played, and coached for many years now and still play. I don’t have a favorite professional team because I have never felt connected to any as they were never a local team. Based on that logic, I suppose supporting Bayern FC is totally possible now. I enjoy sports in general and have fun watching and/or playing them. One of my hobbies is a sport called Powerlifting. I compete and find it to be very fun. It’s essentially just lifting as heavy a weight as you can. It’s not as big of a sport over here in Europe as it is in the United States. However, I still plan on trying to compete while I am here for a year.

In addition to sports, I also really enjoy reading, writing, and drawing. Because I like reading so much, it has been one of my goals to read lots of German books while I am here. This has proven to be an ambitious goal for me as my German is nowhere near the same reading level as my English. Naturally, this has meant that reading now takes quite some time. One of my favorite pastimes has been to sit in Munich’s English Gardens with a book or my sketchbook/journal. I can enjoy two of my favorite things at the same time. Hitting two birds with one stone as the saying goes.

The reason I came to Munich was in search for something different. Yet, I am not sure if this difference is referring to a personal change in me or just the fresh new landscape and unknown cultural setting. Whatever it may be, I am looking forward to something new. It’s exciting. Who knows how I’ll feel come the end of the summer semester or even 2 months or a week from now. I am here to take it all in.

Thanks for reading.