Recent SLLC Graduate Returns to German as CBYX Participant

Kai Dambach will gain language and work experience abroad.

Kai Dambach (Journalism and Germanic Studies, ’13) will gain language and work experience abroad, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for his dream career in sports broadcasting.

Kai Dambach, 22, began studying German language when he came to UMD, attracted to the language by the culture, and his favorite sport––soccer. When asked how his double-degree in Journalism and Germanic Studies now inspires his future, Dambach says, “My dream moment would be broadcasting Germany winning a World Cup, live on television or radio.”

For Dambach, that may be sooner than he thought.

Earlier this month, Dambach was one of about 75 students accepted to the 2014-2015 Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange (CBYX) program.  The program has been sending between 50 and 75 students to Germany since 1983 and is a way for young people to get both language and work experience in Germany.  The program launches with eight weeks of intensive language training, followed by four months of study at a German university.  After that, the participants are placed at an internship for the remainder of the program.  Like many other prestigious cultural immersion programs available to students and recent graduates, CBYX is fully funded and covers all basic costs of participants’ living.   

Dambach says he’s not quite sure what German city he will be placed in, but having formerly studied in Germany, he has a few ideas of where he’d like to go.  “I have a few cities in mind,” he says.  “Luneburg, I fell in love with the city.  It’s perfect.  Not too small, not too big.”  Dambach also said he’d be happy in the capital.  “I’m also thinking about Berlin. Those would be my two favorites.”

Dambach, who graduated in December 2013, is looking forward to his year abroad as a learning experience, one that will give him the opportunity to improve his German, work in sports, and of course, travel. 

“I really wanted to move to Germany for my career after college,” Dambach says. “So I figured [CBYX] would be a great opportunity to get my feet wet, start meeting some people and already get some experience working in Germany.”

Since graduation, Dambach has been gaining experience related to both of his degrees.  “I’ve been up to a few things,” he says.  “I’m doing an internship with Deutschewelle. I’m also a board operator for Sirius XM, and I’m a reporter and photographer for Soccer Wire.” 

While in Germany, Dambach is also hoping to intern with a sports magazine, something that would put him one step closer to his dream in sports broadcasting—a dream that doesn’t look so far away after all.

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Cate Kinlein ('14 Russian Studies and Journalism)
SLLC Public Relations & Media Intern
catiekinlein@gmail.com