Blog – Building relationships for a lifetime in Darmstadt

09 juin 2017

Quest is an international transfer program which connects Arcadians from all over the world. Quest is sponsored by the Lovinklaan Foundation. Every week we are highlighting one of the stories our employees who went on an exchange. In this blogpost we cover the Quest story of Patrick Shirley who traveled from Greenville South Carolina, USA to Darmstadt office in Germany.

Why did I apply for a Quest

The main objective of the Quest exchange for me personally was to learn about United States Department of Defense (DOD) pursuits in Europe, share lessons learned and promote collaboration between the U.S. operating companies and European operating companies.

“Learning and building relationships for a lifetime!”

Highlight of my quest experience

A few of the highlights of my experience include visiting the Darmstadt office, touring through Aschaffenburg and Darmstadt, and meeting colleagues and clients at a DOD European engineering workshop. Apart from that visiting a German engineering and construction firm and touring the Porsche museum in Stuttgart were quite memorable experiences as well.

My Quest in one word

“In one word I would summarize the Quest as a new and exciting experience.”

Learnings and experiences

I learned a lot about the mission and engineering needs of the US Department of Defense (DOD) clients in Europe and Africa.  The Quest increased my understanding of the additional challenges working for DOD clients outside the United States. I also gained a better understanding of capabilities and experiences of European operating company that will be valuable when working together with the US entities. I would recommend to others going on a Quest to go with an open mind , try to learn new languages, customs and practices. You will be surprised!

The international transfer program Quest, which connects Arcadians from all over the world, is sponsored by the Lovinklaan Foundation.

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