Awesome. I am about to become European.

Juni 12th, 2010 • Allgemein

Over the last couple of weeks I once again found out why it is cool to be European.

As you might know I have moved from Frankfurt, Germany, to Amsterdam, the Netherlands to start my new job at Blast Radius. One week before my move I travelled to Madrid to hold a lecture at IED – Istituto Europeo di Design about the social revolution that is still in progress.

Yes, I am both, pretty excited and exhausted. But no matter what is going to happen, it is a privilege to get to know so many new people and find out about different cultural perspectives that I did not have by now. Becoming an expat in a city such as Amsterdam is a great thing. And my new agency offers a lot to ease the repatriation pain. But unfortunately too few Dutch colleagues. I will have to practice Dutch on the streets of Amsterdam. Since pretty much everyone around me comes from a different part of the world.

So why am I happy to be European?

Simply because right at the moment my own knowledge is challenged culturally as a European. Living in a more culturally open environment such as Amsterdam made me realize that the rest of Europe really is more into that web-thing than Germany (sorry, that is the truth). A trip to Spain made me understand that young Spaniards are some of the most social savvy people I have met so far. Nevertheless their generation struggles with the state’s high debts, unemployment and a painful depression. Something my country of origin, Germany, did not have to suffer from in that intensity.

Europe is a continent with many similar countries. But they are far from being identical. And that indeed is something which is nothing but a strength. I am now learning a similar language to Dutch and interact continuously with Europeans and non-Europeans who part of the new worldwide nation that is Expatria.

I am still stunned by the fact that so much can be different even though you are just 200 miles away from ‘home’. My degree in International Politics made me understand Europe functionally. But I had to leave Germany to become a convinced European. To cut a long story short: It is inspiring to move into another country. And the more similar these countries to your country of origin seem, the more you can reflect yourself as a citizen of Germany, Holland, UK or whereever. And if there is one read I would like to recommend now, it is an article by Peter Bihr about the Nuances of European Social Media and a related post on ‘We are Social’s blog with a lot of really great perspectives on a more social continent.

Europe is ahead of the US in terms of the consumer usage of social media, and yet little attention is often given to the nuances of what is on one hand is the world’s largest economy and on the other a collection of 48 countries with very different cultures. (…) It is a complex and varied continent, and it’s no surprise to find that its social media landscape matches this.

What else can I add. I am turning from German to European. And that’s fucking awesome.

Tags: Europe, Experimental, Germany, Underway, World

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