Landen's weeklong trip to Santander, Spain

This past May, Landen embarked on a weeklong trip to Santander, Spain for the Cantabria Research Program in Coastal Engineering. Landen had been abroad a few times, so he wasn’t too surprised by the culture. One thing that did surprise him was the differences between Spanish Engineers and American Engineers in the way they communicate and present themselves. He was also surprised to see the focus on such a specific area of engineering, since his experience at Virginia Tech involved a very wide variety of exposure. Overall, his favorite memory on this trip was a group visit to a sandbar to see the erosion, and he really liked the ferry trip to get there.

Landen highly suggests studying abroad to other engineering students because it helps you to broaden your horizons. More specifically, he discussed how he really enjoyed seeing the different design styles used in Spain and how he could use inspiration from that in the future. His suggestion to students traveling in the future is to be open to all new experiences while you’re abroad, it’s okay to be homesick, but the whole point of being there is to deepen your understanding of the world and to learn as much as possible.