Despite identifying as a Hungarian-American, senior Thomas Oltman said this past summer transformed Germany into his home away from home. 

During his 20-day-long stay, he went to schule (school), ate dinner with his German host mutter (mother) and vatter (father) and slept in the native bett (bed). 

“In such a short period of time, I started a new life in Berlin,” Oltman said. “It was like I lived there all my life.”

But, this trip wasn’t any vacation — it came from his merit. 

After winning three consecutive gold medal awards on the National German Exam in his freshman, sophomore and junior years, Oltman was one of 37 students across the nation granted a summer study trip to Germany. 

LEARNING A NEU (NEW) LANGUAGE

Although he had never spoken the language before, Oltman said he first took German 1 at Sunny Hills as a freshman because of his interest. 

“I wanted to take [the class] so that I could use German throughout Europe, and my family is from Hungary, so I spend a lot of time there,” he said. “I am also considering going to school in Europe, [and] I had a really good experience because I felt that the German teacher was very hands-on and actually connected with students, making the class very interactive and fun, while still teaching the language very well.” 

German teacher Sergey Artemyev said he recognized Oltman’s talent when he saw him in his class freshman year.  

“In my experience, one of the most important contributing factors to my students’ success is motivating them to want to do well and believe they can do well,” Artemyev said. “From the very first day I met Thomas, I recognized his potential and saw him as my next ‘big project.’ 

“Now, as my AP [Advanced Placement] German student and the president of the National German Honor Society, he is strengthened to accomplish more great things and achieve another significant success before he graduates.”

Oltman said every German student at Sunny Hills is required to take the National German Exam hosted by the American Association of Teachers of German [AATG] on campus. 

According to the AATG website, the National German Exam is an online exam that provides individual diagnostic feedback for students and their teachers with the following format: 

• Four levels (Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 or Level 4) 
• 100 multiple-choice questions divided into two parts — listening/viewing and reading 
• Listening and viewing is 40 minutes, contains a series of short audio and video segments 
• Reading is 40 minutes with print texts 
• Students are awarded either a gold, silver or bronze medal based on their score percentile 

For his first-level test on German 1, the senior placed in the 90th percentile. 

Because of his decile, Oltman said he was awarded a gold medal, but he could not apply for the summer study scholarship as he had not taken two years of the language. 

“I was still getting to learn the language, so I didn’t feel bummed out or anything,” he said. “I just wanted to study hard the next year to apply and get in.” 

After his first year taking German, the senior said he wanted to continue to higher-level language classes partly because he wanted more in-depth knowledge and partly because of his teacher. 

“I wanted to take four years of the language to be able to actually gain real-world skills like speaking and understanding casual conversations,” he said. “I also fell in love with the way the German teacher teaches in a hands-on way, and I became very close friends with many of the students through the class.” 

The then-sophomore took German 2 with Artemyev and placed in the 93rd percentile on the Level 2 test, qualifying himself for another gold medal. 

After receiving his score, Oltman said he received a scholarship offer to travel to Germany for 20 days. To win the scholarship, he had to take multiple steps: 

• Step 1: Fill out an application form explaining why he wants to participate in the trip
• Step 2: Partake in a Zoom interview with a German teacher, speaking purely in the language 
• Step 3: Take a test for casual German skills 

During his sophomore year, however, he did not surpass the interview stage. 

“I guess I was pretty bummed out,” the senior said. “But that also just meant I wasn’t ready at the time to live in Germany by myself, so I decided to study more.” 

DRITTE (THIRD) TIME’S THE CHARM 

In his junior year, Oltman said he wanted to continue pursuing German and signed up for the German 3 Honors class. 

He took the Level 3 National German Exam and won his third gold medal by placing in the 96th percentile. The then-junior was nominated for the day trip to Germany once more. 

“I felt very happy to win my third gold medal because it meant that I was continuing to stay on the same level in German throughout the years,” he said. “I was definitely more motivated my junior year because I knew that it was possible for me to make it in the program because another student did the previous year, and because I had gotten so close the previous year.” 

After his interview on Zoom, Oltman felt positive that he had passed this time. 

“I definitely felt more confident because the interview my sophomore year was mostly in English, and I still didn’t move on,” he said. “However, the junior year interview was all in German, but I was still able to express myself pretty well.” 

Just as he had anticipated, the senior said he passed the interview stage and moved forward to an exam that assessed his communication skills. He said it tested his listening, reading and speaking skills that would help him get around Germany. 

On March 25, Oltman said he was notified through an email from the AATG that he had been awarded the summer study trip. 

“I was really happy and excited because it’s essentially an opportunity to travel to a whole new country for free,” the senior said. 

Artemyev said he was confident that Oltman would win the scholarship. 

“I didn’t have doubts about that because, according to the NGE [National German Exam] score, he was No. 1 in California,” the teacher said. 

HALLO (HELLO), GERMANY 

On June 10, Oltman said he departed for a village called Bremerhaven, located inside a city named Bremen, alone. 

“I was honestly very excited to travel alone,” he said. “I have traveled a lot already because of my trips to Hungary, but it was always with my family.

“This gave me the confidence I needed to get around airports and figure out what I needed to do and where I needed to go; traveling alone was a very novel experience, and I found it fun to be completely independent for that time.” 

After arriving, he said he traveled to his host family’s house located in Bremerhaven with another student, as part of the trip. 

The senior said the family greeted him with warmth, and he was able to adjust quickly to his new environment. 

“My host family showed us the way around the city, they spoke slowly and clearly and gave us lots of time to ourselves,” he said. “They picked us up from the train station and took us to their beautiful, clean home with food already on the table.” 

The day after he arrived in Berlin, he said he attended an exchange program at Lloyd Gymnasium school in Bremerhaven, as school ends later in Germany. 

The senior noticed that the school life in Germany was different from what he had experienced at Sunny Hills. He said the campus was all indoors with multiple stories, with a smaller student body of about 1150 students from 5th to 13th grade. He also pointed out that there was less school spirit and no school sports. 

“It was different from Sunny Hills, so it was a new experience for me, and I enjoyed that,” he said. “The weather was also pretty nice because it was a lot chillier, but I also grew to appreciate California weather because it rained a lot there.”  

In addition, he found that the lifestyle in general was vastly distinct because of the cultural differences. 

“I experienced that with the people, such as their punctuality or directness,” Oltman said. “And I remember it was easier to get around the city, unlike Fullerton, because there was good public transportation and everything was connected, so I found that very comfortable.” 

Besides going to school, the senior said his host family also took him to other cities such as Hamburg and Berlin. 

“We did laser tag, water skiing, went to the museum and a music festival and just spent a lot of time walking around the cities,” he said. “I was grateful that they spent their time helping me go around Germany.” 

After spending three weeks in the country, Oltman said he was sad to depart from his newly made family. 

“I got really close to all the new people I met, from my host family to the exchange group students,” he said. “It was really depressing the day I had to leave because I just started getting comfortable around the country.” 

PROST (CHEERS)! TO HIS EUROPEAN DREAM

The senior said he hopes that this short trip does not mark the end of his journey in Europe. Since he has Hungarian citizenship, Oltman is qualified to apply to European colleges. 

“My dream college is Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich because of its location in Southern Germany, being pretty close to lots of family, but also because it is a very good STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] school,” he said.

Even if he doesn’t get accepted into a college abroad, he said he wants to work in Germany in the future. 

“I could see myself pursuing a career in Europe revolving around STEM, but I am not 100% certain what exactly I would do,” he said. 

Reflecting on his experiences, the senior said the trip also helped him gain personal qualities that he hopes to bring back to Sunny Hills. 

“I think this 20-day trip really taught me how to communicate with people who might otherwise be very different from me, in terms of culture, beliefs and of course, language,” Oltman said. “It also taught me how to be independent in very novel situations, after all, the best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your own arm.”