Brandon Walker sits in the courtyard of a music festival in Stuttgart, Germany.

Name: Brandon Walker

Major: Electrical Engineering

Why did you want to study abroad?

I had taken 2 years of German at Purdue so I wanted to visit a country that spoke the language to get better at it, I had also never travelled before, even in the US, so this was a great chance to finally travel

Where did you study abroad? Why did you choose this location/program?

I studied at the University of Stuttgart in Germany through the SUPER program, I choose this one because Stuttgart is very close to the Alps, and visiting the Alps is one of the big reasons I started to learn German. The University of Stuttgart also has a bunch of research opportunities for electrical engineers in different fields.

Best experience.

My favorite experience here would either be going flying with my research supervisor, as it was my second time flying (first was on the flight to Germany), or going to Paris on Bastille Day, getting to meet a ton of people and watching the parade was amazing.

What you learned—either about yourself or the culture you’re living in.

My favorite part about German culture is that on Sundays, mostly everything is closed and there is a socially enforced quiet period all-day, called Ruhetag. It’s pretty annoying at first not having any shops open, but with a little bit of preplanning, having an entire day to just relax and go for a walk in a park is very nice

Would you suggest study abroad for other ECE students? Why?

I would definitely recommend studying abroad, it great for learning more about different parts of engineering, but I would argue that learning about other cultures and seeing how the world works in other places is the most important part about studying abroad.

Learn more about Study Abroad opportunities here.