After learning about an opportunity through Southwestern University, assistant choir director Zach Zeman was accepted as an English Teaching Assistant for the Fullbright program in Bamberg, Germany. Zeman was one of many to apply for the grant, and he was required to have a college degree and be able to speak the German language to do so.

“[Applying] was a really long process,” Zeman said. “I had to write two essays, each one page, single spaced.  One of them was a biography of sorts.  The other was a ‘statement of grant purpose,’ basically why we wanted to go.  It was super tough to fit ‘yourself’ on a one page.”

When Zeman completed the essay portion of the application process, he submitted his essays to a panel at his university for review. The university then gave him feedback and he edited them according to the university’s recommendations for them to be sent to New York. Next the Institute of International Education reviewed them. They were approved and Zeman to move forward in the acceptance process. He was then required to translate the essays into German for them to be reviewed in Germany. After officially being accepted into the program, Zeman started searching for a roommate.

“I sent probably 30-40 emails to different people looking for one,” Zeman said. “ I had a few interviews on Skype that went okay.  Then I got an email back from one of the people I had emailed.  She was super enthusiastic and felt like I would be a perfect fit in their “Wohngemeinschaft,” [or] “living partnership,” but we pretty much shared an apartment. “

Zeman said he was thankful for the amount of acceptance his roommates and other people in Germany offered him. He did a variety of things while working in the English classes in Bamberg, working with grades six through thirteen.

“I worked at an all girls “Gymnasium,” Zeman said.  “You have to attend a Gymnasium to attend college in Germany.  I also worked at two vocational schools.  One of them was a ‘business school’ [that] prepared students for jobs in offices and banks.  I prepared lessons about American culture, current events, and pretty much everything in between.”

Though Zeman went to Germany to teach, he traveled on his days off, ending up in Denmark, Sweden, France, Monaco, Italy, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Poland in the course of a year.

“I got to take some great trips,” Zeman said. “A couple of my friends from high school came [to Germany] and we took an eastern European road-trip.  It was an epic adventure.  We drove my 21-year-old car about 2000 miles all through Europe and it never let us down, aside from its lack of A/C.  There were times on our trip when it was 100 degrees in the car.  It was miserable, but I never think back on it without laughing.”

Zeman said the culture in Germany is similar to the United States in a lot of ways.

“Germans probably love American music more that we do,” Zeman said. “Germany is also a very orderly place.  Everything has a procedure and an office that administers it. Germany loves bureaucracy and rules.  In spite of this, they’re very friendly people.  I feel like people have this image of Germans as being rigid rule followers that never have any fun.  I found this to be totally false.  I feel like anyone that feels this way should get a chance to go to a German beer garden and just watch.  Germans love to hang out there with friends.  They sing songs, tell stories, and, obviously, drink lots of beer.  There are few better ways to pass a Sunday.”

Zeman stays in contact with many of the friends he made in Germany, and he said coming back to Amarillo has been “an odd transition.”

“Amarillo is where I’m from, and it will always be home,” Zeman said. “But I have to admit it’s not the most exciting place in the world.  It was kind of cool last year knowing that I could hop on a train and in four hours be in one of my favorite places in the world, Berlin.  Now, I can hop in my car and in four hours arrive Abilene.  That being said, it’s nice to be home where I know how everything works and don’t have to ask a thousand questions to buy a cell phone or open a bank account.”

Zeman said he appreciates that his trip to Germany helped him get out of his comfort zone and gave him a chance as a teacher to try something new.

“This may come off as sounding sappy, but we’re all so [alike],” Zeman said. “Everywhere you go in the world, people are still people.  I made great friends and got to experience how someone else lives. It really was an adventure and an incredibly fun one.  I’ll probably never stop talking about the fun I had till the day I die.  It was just plain fun.”