It was the biggest adjustment the Otago Nuggets centre had to make during his stint in Estonia.
He returned to Dunedin last week, having spent two months playing for TLU/Kalev in the Estonia-Latvia league.
On court he averaged 10.7 points and 9.7 rebounds in what was his second professional contract, having also playing for the Franklin Bulls in last year’s NBL Showdown.
They were numbers that improved across his six games — about half his games were cancelled due to Covid-19.
But it was getting comfortable in his new role that he felt made the biggest difference.
"Being on my own in a country that I don’t speak the main language, there’s no-one at all around," Timmins (23) said.
"In college at least everyone spoke English and it was someone’s job to make sure I was all good. Whereas there it felt like I was on my own.
"So it took time to get adjusted to not having that support network I’ve got accustomed to.
"Where I’m seen as the young guy and everyone has to make sure I’m all good and looked after, whereas I’m the import now and no-one sees the import as a kid."
It was also a mindset that would help him coming back to the Nuggets.
At the University of Washington and in other teams he has had a role to focus on.
Being one of the stars required a different mindset, but it was something being an import had helped him develop.
That mindset also switched the feeling of playing at home for the Nuggets from pressure to exciting.
It was something his fellow imports in Estonia had given him new perspective on.
"I talked to the imports in Estonia and told them I was going back and going to play for my home team.
"They were like ‘Man, you’re going to be playing for your home team and playing home games in front of fans in the city you come from’?
"They were blown away. A lot of players around the world don’t get to do that, because either the home town doesn’t have a team, they weren’t able to make the team, there’s a variety of reasons.
"I already appreciated the opportunity, but it really increased my appreciation."
Timmins came back to New Zealand early due to the Covid-19 situation.
Estonia had been in lockdown the majority of his time there, and just after he left it moved into an equivalent of Alert Level 4.
Alongside basketball, Timmins has made a foray into music.
He said he has loved music, particularly rap, since he was a child.
Creating his own music was something he had always enjoyed, and he released his first song 4BIDDN FRUIT last month, with the help of friend and Dunedin rapper TiMMy.
