Meet the ESCXTRA team! Part 24 – DOMINIK

This summer, we are running a series of feature articles that is slightly different to the norm. We think this is the perfect time for you (and us!) to find out more about the ESCXTRA team! What is our personal Eurovision story? Why did we want to be a part of this website? What are our favourite Eurovision songs of all-time? How can you get in touch with us on social media? Read on to find out!

DOMINIK RÖSSING

What’s up, everyone? 🙂 I’m 25 years old, from Hanover, which is located in northern Germany. Currently I’m working in the IT section and I joined ESCXTRA in June 2017. Feel free to follow me everywhere 😉
Twitter: @EurovisionDude
Instagram: @just.domi

My first Eurovision memory?

Back in 2003 with the age of 11 my parents decided to show me the Eurovision Song Contest, because I was fascinated by lights my whole life and they wanted to show me the big Eurovision stage. I still remember, that it was a warm day in May and I was excited the whole day to watch Eurovision.
Looking back, I don’t remember why I was excited. I never heard of Eurovision before and I didn’t knew what to expect. I ended up not just being amazed by the lights, but from the whole contest, the show, the songs, the countries, the flags, let’s just say everything.
It was love at first sight and as soon as Birgitta opened the show for Iceland I knew this is just fantastic! Thank god we recored the whole show and I ended up watching it over and over again the whole year. This one night back in May 2003 changed my life and I’m forever thankful!

Your Eurovision journey?

While watching the 2003 contest again and again I was eagerly waiting for the 2004 contest to come up. That year I was totally amazed by Deen and his disco anthem, which became my summer jam of the year. I was super happy, that I found the CDs of my two first contests on eBay. Everywhere I was, I was talking about Eurovision 24/7, which was probably kinda annoying sometimes, but I had to talk about Eurovision and what is happening in the ESC world at the moment and soon everybody knew you can only get me together with Eurovision.
After I fell in love with Sweden in 2005, I started watching my first international
national selection in 2006. It was, of course, Melodifestivalen and I was blown away
by the quality. Till 2007 I could hold myself back from listening to every entry before the actual contest, but I just wanted to find out which amazing entries everybody send. Like Spain in 2007. Still one of my favorites.

From year to year my love for Eurovision got even bigger and bigger and I watched more and more national finals. Due to my slow internet I always turned off everything that could interrupt me while watching the national selections. I always asked everyone in the building to not use the internet during that time. Still doing that, as the internet in my village is still the slowest in the world.

First time being at Eurovision

My goal was to go to Eurovision from the time I start to earn money. Thanks to Lena in 2010, I don’t had to travel too far in 2011. Even though I was very happy she won, I won’t forget the moment, when Sweden didn’t qualified in 2010. This is still unbelieveable. Look at this masterpiece.

When I went to my first Eurovision in 2011 I went there alone. I think I was alone for the first hours, but I soon realized, you will never be alone at Eurovision. Being at Eurovision was everything I ever wanted and I won’t forget any moment that happened there. Seeing everyone and meeting artists for the first time was the most unbelieveable and at the same time the most surreal moment ever.

After 2011 I was able to go to every Eurovision Song Contest except for 2012. I’m thankful for every moment and for every person I met so far. At the same time I can’t wait to make more amazing Eurovision memories. In 2013 I was able to go, for the first time, to the German national final, as it was in me hometown that year.

I think everybody started to declare that I’m crazy in 2016. I went to an evening school from 2013 till 2016. Everytime, everything was more or less great with the timing of the exams around Eurovision. In 2016, my very last oral exam was on the Wednesday in the Eurovision week. I was very reliefed, that my parents supported me with the decision to go the whole 8 days to Eurovision as planned and to fly back to Germany on Wednesday morning to take the oral exam and then fly back to Stockholm the same evening. That day was quite a ride and I’m thankful, that the public transport was on time that day, otherwise I had to go to the school one more year. It was so worth it and I got quite a story out of it 😉

2017 I expand my yearly Eurovision events with attending the final of Melodifestivalen and Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam for the first time. Both such amazing events I still can’t believe happened! Meeting artists and get to know them makes Eurovision even more intense and emotional, ‘cos you know what amazing persons they are off the stage. Eurovision in Kyiv had sooo many wonderful artists. For example Robin from Sweden, Nathan from Austria and Brendan from Ireland! While I was happy for Robin and Nathan to go to the final, I was sad for Brendan as he deserved so much more. His voice is unique and outstanding and his personality is just full of positivity and love. He will go his way. I’m proud of all the artists ♥

Why is Eurovision special to you?

Eurovision is the only way, that connects so many countries at the same moment. Everyone is super friendly. I will never forget, when I was standing outside the arena in 2011 after the semi-final, wrapped in my Swedish flag and many people came up to me from all kind of countries to congratulate me, that Sweden made it to the final. Eurovision also made me very proud of Europe as a unity. It helped me to realize, what amazing countries and cultures we have. It’s also wonderful to always discover new artists in the contest or national finals and to start following and supporting these artists from that point on.

What attracted you to ESCXTRA?

I always loved to talk and write about Eurovision all the time. For the past years I was always so busy, that I couldn’t give 100%. After I finished my evening school last year, I had the feeling, that I was ready to join a team, but I don’t wanted to just join any Eurovision page. I’ve been on ESCXTRA for years, but due to my bad internet I never watched their live stream. This year I started to watch it during their London coverage and I kept watching, even though the video was buffering half of the time. I knew right away, this would be the perfect team.
When they were looking for new team members I had to apply. It probably took me equally as long as writing this, as you wanna present something, that is worth reading and shows what kind of a person you are.
I was suprised, that everything went kinda fast and in June 2017 I joined the team of ESCXTRA. Can’t wait to work with this team and already look forward to the next ESC season. I always love to be surrounded by people who love Eurovision just as much. #BringItOn

And finally, your top 5 Eurovision songs of all-time?

This is more than impossible as I could easily name more than 50 songs, who have a
special place in my heart. But let’s try this 😀
5. Martin Stenmarck – Las Vegas (Sweden 2005)

4. Carola – Invincible (Sweden 2006)

3. t.A.T.u. – Ne Ver’, Ne Boysia (Russia 2003)

2. Sergey Lazarev – You Are The Only One (Russia 2016)

1. Måns Zelmerlöw – Heroes (Sweden 2015)

You probably won’t believe me, but I tried to keep most of the stuff as short as possible, as I already knew there is sooo much to write about. Feel free to come up to me when you see me somewhere. Love to meet new people and to talk about Eurovision 😀
Stay tuned for the next part in our Meet the ESCXTRA team series. Tomorrow we will meet Angelos! Remember you can share your Eurovision stories with us in the comments section below or via the comments sections on our Facebook page @ESCXTRA. We would love to hear them!