Amanda Fenske will have the chance to reconnect with her roots, thanks to a generous scholarship to study in Germany.

The scholarship, awarded through the Study Internship Program, will allow the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh junior to study at Fachhochschule Osnabrück in Osnabrück, Germany, for one semester and then intern at a company in Germany the following semester.

“I think an international internship will be a great experience and a good thing to put on my resume,” Fenske said. “It will give me a new view on culture and the world.”

Fenske, a marketing major and German minor from Slinger, has been to Germany twice before, including a trip to Fulda last summer to study marketing.

“I’m really excited to go back. I have family in southern Germany, so it kind of feels like home,” said Fenske, whose grandfather came to the United States from Möslberg, Germany, in 1957. Her grandmother emigrated from Kasberg, Germany, in 1958.

The scholarship will cover housing, transportation and other costs while she attends classes during the first six weeks. The paid internship will cover her costs for the rest of the trip.

While Fenske does not yet know where she will intern, she plans to search for a position in the marketing field.

Flavio De Luca, a junior at UW Oshkosh currently studying in Germany with the Study Internship Program, is an intern with Daimler AG in Stuttgart, one of the largest producers of premium cars in the world, including Mercedes-Benz.

De Luca said it was very difficult to get an internship, so he recommends Fenske start looking as soon as possible.

“Finding an internship in this country has been by far the greatest challenge I have overcome,” he said. “I applied to at least 40 different companies, from big to small, and received a lot of ‘absagen’ (noes) and only five ‘zusagen’ (yeses).”

De Luca said he experienced a bit of culture shock when he arrived in Germany.

“At first I thought it would not be that much different than the German-American culture we have back in Wisconsin,” said De Luca, adding that he was surprised by the emphasis on punctuality, rules and manners in Germany.

Fenske is an intermediate German speaker, but she plans to leave before the semester starts in late August so that she can take a three-week language immersion course. De Luca said Fenske’s prior knowledge of German should help her greatly.

Despite being a little nervous, Fenske is eager to embrace this opportunity of a lifetime.

• For more information on studying abroad, visit www.uwosh.edu/oie.