Gardeners Go Europe

Hello everybody,

now, we are already 2 weeks here in Denmark and we saw so many beautiful things.



Apart from all the wonderful places, that we visited, the astonishing landscape and the good working environment, there is one thing I liked most. This one thing is meeting new wonderful people.
Our time here in Denmark is coming to an end and we have met so many nice people.
There are the other students, who are staying with me in Denmark. I didn't know all of them before, but they are friendly, kind and it was nice getting to know them.
Now we are a funny little group of young gardeners that are staying together in Denmark, visiting different cities and places and having a lot of fun together. It´s nice to hear what they are doing at work and how they like the time here. We are staying in contact with the two that are staying in Randers as well. Last weekend they visited us and yesterday we visited them at their workplace Randers Regnskov. It is such a beautiful and unique place. Also we went to Aarhus – a beautiful city. After we had done a little city trip and some shopping, we went to the botanical garden in Aarhus. The entrance is for free and a visit of the garden and its greenhouses is defentitly worth it. It was a very nice trip and we had a lot of fun.



Today we drove to Lindholn Høje, which isn´t far away from Aalborg. It is also a good place to visit and you learn a lot about the Vikings.
Tomorrow starts our last week here in Denmark. I´m looking forward to work another 4 days at OKNygaard.
Unfortunately those are my last days in this company...
We have very friendly colleagues and the work makes lots of fun. Everyone wants to know how we like the time in Denmark and what we have visited while we are here. They are also interested in our work and company in Germany. They ask us many questions and we also ask them a lot about their working processes.
On Friday they invited us to their small company party – it was really nice, thank you for that beautiful day, we had a lot of fun!
We are so grateful to stay here in Denmark and we're going home with many beautiful memories and gained many experience.

Hello to everybody. I hope you enjoy reading our blog. At first I 
would like to say thank you to everybody who made this Exchange possible (Garten Moser, Erasmus+, and our teachers). I am very lucky to be here in Denmark. The danish people are 
so lovely - most of all my colleagues Steen, Christian and our boss, Jesper, from the company "elmerhoj" I am working for.
Working in Denmark is very interesting and I am learning a lot. I 
recognized that there are many similarities but also differences in landscape gardening between Germany and Denmark. Different are, for example, the materials that are used for building the fundament below an area built out of stones. So working here is very cool, just the weather could be a little bit better. However, our Boss is so Kind and equipped us with extra rain clothes.Aalborg, the place where we are staying, is a nice city with many places for having a beer, doing some sports activities or simply enjoying the weather. I enjoy all of it! Today we are going to do some tourist stuff at the west cost of Denmark.
I am really looking forward to the next days!

Here a few pictures of our work in Denmark:

Better than a hedge?!


What a great underground :)


Creating some nice parking places!





Nice greetings.Christoph

I have been working at Randers Reignskov tropical zoo now for one and a half weeks and I am still amazed everyday in a new way.
Before arriving at Randers Regniskov, I thought, I would work in a "normal" zoo, as they exist in almost every bigger city in the world.
Sometimes they are connected to a botanical garden as well. So, flora and fauna can be shown in an almost scientifical way.
Surprisingly, RR has a very different and almost unique concept.

A whole biotop is growing under huge domes - three of them. Each dome represents a different continent, "Africa", "Asia" and "South America".
There, all innocuous and non-venomous plants and animals live and grow together in a hot and misty atmosphere. It is like having a "rainforest in the middle of Danish town".
It is a pleasure, to work within this man-made biotop.
Just planting a tree here can be a very exciting task.
Whilst I was digging a hole for a tree, a blue feathered, knee high bird joined me without any fear and waited for worms and insects to appear from the freshly dug soil.

Sometimes, some of the birds look you straight in the eye, and I can swear, at that moment, they are trying to communicate with you. ;)
After finishing the dig, I took a little tree and placed it in the freshly dug hole. This action stirred a monkey's interest. It came down from a nearby tree and sat down on a branch right next to my head. Like the bird, it appeared to observe my every action.


In these moments, you just have to stop your work momentarily, look at all the plants and animals around you and gaze at it all in wonder. Nature is so precious.

When my time here comes to an end, I will miss working in such a beautiful lively place.

Only an hour drive away from Aalborg you can find the little village Skagen. At first there is nothing special about it. It is a nice little fishing village with red brick roofs and white windows. But Skagen is a special place. Only a some minutes away up the coast you can find a place called Grenen, it's the northernmost corner of Denmark. It has a beautiful coastline and here you can witness a great spectacle of nature. This is the place were North and East Sea meet or like they say in Denmark Kattegat and Skagerak . If you ever wanted to say you stood in two seas at the same time you have to come here. You can witness both seas meeting each other by the stirred water when the waves clash together.

Maybe because this is a special place of nature or it's the air around, you definitely have a special feeling of admiration while strolling along the coast. Many guides talk about the special light this place has and it truly is a beautiful place where you can take lots of photos.
Make sure to always take a rain-cape with you otherwise you could be surprised by the rain. The weather changes a lot in Denmark because the sea is all around it so even at a sunny place like Skagen you can suddenly get drenched if you are not careful enough.
It was a wonderful weekend we spend all together and Louise and Jakob who are staying in Randers joined us as well. I'm definitely looking forward to the next weekend where we can get together again.

Two of us, Louise and me, are staying in Randers with host familys.
Randers is the 6th biggest "town" in Denmark and like an hour car drive away from Aalborg, where the rest of us stays.
One of the greatest tourist attractions there is "Randers Regnskov", a zoological botanical garden.
The lush, green environment there is home to everything from tiny, industrious leaf-cutter ants to the majestic jaguar, whisking you in the blink of an eye from the cool temperatures of northern Europe into a tropical wonderland...
And thats our working place for the next three weeks.
After er were shown around on monday we could finally start working the next day.
Our task was to cut all the greens grown over and through the fence wich isolates the property of Randers Regnskov. It is important for protecting the fence, otherwise the trees would destroy it with their strong growth.
Some of the limbs we cut were given to the goats, pigs and cows and it was a pleasure to see how happy they were nibbling the leaves and the bark.
After a whole day of cutting we were exhausted but happy.
Everyone at Randers Regnskov is very nice and helpful.
For myself i had little troubles with the english language but i am here to improve that and think it will get better within the next three weeks.
I am really looking forward for the next days.

Jakob Wilhelm

After three days of work I am getting used to live in this new environment, from Aalborg to Denmark you can see differences to Germany but also many similarities.
Our welcome at Buus&Co on Monday was warmly and we got a tour around the company, so we wouldn't get lost. The company recently moved to a newer and bigger location and so it is hard to navigate for newcomers.
I was put in the maintenance part of the company and so I got to trim hedges, mow lawn and to clear beds of weed.

My colleagues Martin and Morten told me quite a lot about working in Denmark and what places I should visit in my leisure. I am really looking forward to those.
What amazed me most was how different the gardens look in Denmark, but if you look close you can still see the same plants everywhere.
'Lonicera nitida' as ground-cover plants, 'Fagus sylvatica' as hedges and even the same weeds torture the Danish landscapers ('Elymus repens' just grows everywhere).
And no matter if you call it "slåen" or "Schlehdorn" as landscaper we call it 'Prunus spinosa' and so everyone can talk about the same plant.

After a long trip with one stop in Hamburg, we arrived in Aalborg yesterday.
It`s our first time in Denmark, so everything is new and exciting.
Soon after we arrived, we met Finn, he showed us around at Sportshøjskole and gave us the important details about our stay here in Aalborg.
In the evening we walked around in the city and visited the harbour.
After a long day we finally got to bed and slept like a log. ...

... Early with the sunrise our first workday began.
Isabelle and I are working together at OKNygaard and arrived there at 7 o`clock and we enjoyed a warm welcome.
We were assigned to the maintenance team and planted many Symphoricarpus x chenaultii `Hancock`(It`s a plant we definitely know!) in Frederikshavn in front of an apartment complex.

It was really interesting to see the differences between planting in Germany and Denmark. There are not many but some things are slightly different.
It was a great first day and we had a lot of fun.



We are looking forward to the next days and hope we will experience many difference things.

Good night! Godnat! And sleep well. :)


P.S.: It doesn`t matter where you are, you will always meet a "Schwabe".
We had a nice encounter with a man who lived in Ludwigsburg many years ago and he still knows how to speak "schwäbisch".

After one week back at home I had enough time to
think about my trip in Denmark.
I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to spend
three weeks in a foreign country for living and
working there.
It was a great experience to see how other companies
are working.
I could find out many differences, for example that
they use other materials or different tools.
I promised my Danish colleagues that If I come back
some time, I will bring them an original German shovel ;)
There was also enough free time to discover the city of
Aalborg and the beautiful landscape around.
Moreover the trips to the sea on the weekends were
great, especially the trip to Skagen, where East-and
Northsea come together.

Now it is time to say thank you to all who realized this
amazing project .
Thank you to my Danish company Buus & Co.
which treated us like real colleagues.
Especially thanks to Per for his great engagement and
hospitality.
Thanks to Marc, our cool guide in Aarhus.
Furthermore thanks to our German teachers
Mrs. Mangold and Mr. Schrader and to the Danish
teacher Finn for their great organization and support.
Thanks to my German mates who spent this time
with me.
Last but not least thank you to my company at home
“ Park und Garten Stefan Kelch” that supports me
at any time.

Greetings
Sonja

Now my third day of work in Germany again is over and I'm writing this blog to past my time (3 weeks) in Aalborg/ Denmark. It was such a great trip I can't describe with words. I met so many nice peoples there and learned a lot about there life in Denmark. I'm spechless about the hospitality of the most danish people. I also really enjoyed the nature especially the beach. Furthermore I learned a lot about the different ways to work in Germany and in Denmark like using other tools and materials. Now our trip is over and it's time to say thank you to all those people who were responsible for this foreign internship. First I want to thank my boss Richard Messerle who gave me the chance to go there. Then I want thank all those teachers who where responsible for the trip especially Finn Rassmussen. We enjoyed the day with you. Furthermore I want to thank Martin Linnemann the head of the company Buus & Co. who gave us the possibillity to work in Denmark. You have a good organized company with a very nice climate. In the company Buus & Co. I want to thank also Per Kjaer who showed us his amazing garden (park) and gave us a private guide through one of the biggest nature reserves in Denmark after making some barbeque together. Last but not least I want to thank my workmates Sonja, Patrick, Max, Dan, Jonas, Fee and Felix for the nice time together. To sum it up it was a great and instructive time. Thank you! Greetings Dominik

After a long an exhausting journey home, I can allready say, that I will miss Denmark, Aalborg and its people a lot - especially the people of Buus & Co, where i could work, laugh and learn a lot about the work as a gardener, Denmark and the Danish language. It was a nice trip and nothing negative to say at all (except the long tour in my old and trusty VW Golf III).


With this post, I will express my thank to everyone, who made it possible, that such a nice experience could happen. Thanks to Dan, Max, Sonja, Dominik and Patrick as my colleagues, co-drivers and roomates. Thanks Felix and Fee for your visit, it was a nice evening. It was a great pleasure to travel with you.


Thanks to Buus & Co and its employes, where we always felt welcome and almost home. Especially I want to say thank you to Per for his private tours and for showing us his garden-garden in his and our free time and all the stuff he did for us. Thanks Leo for keeping my Golf fuelled all the times. Thank you Martin and Inga for having us in the company. Not to forget Jens, Eivan, Ellen and the other workers of Buus. Kalle, thank you for the belt :-P.


Thanks to Mrs Mangold, Mr Schrader, Mr Jepsen and Mr Thybo for making it possible for us to visit Denmark at all. Especial thank goes to Mr Rasmussen Slaikjer for the organisation of our housing, the visit at the Agri College and the tour through and around Aalborg.

Thanks to my own Company, Mr Sauter and Mr Brachmann as well for borrowing me to our colleagues in Denmark.

I will never forget, what I saw, felt and learned in Denmark and I am looking forward to maybe seeing it again sometimes.

Greetings
Jonas

Today we were working in aalborg at a patio we layed down some plates and leveled every single plate because we used a special system to attach them.

But like all good things our trip here to denmark has an end too and yeah its today:( We are all sad that we have to leave because it was a great time here and I enjoyed every minute here in aalborg I never met as much friendly and hospitable pepole than I did here in 3 weeks.
Now it´s time to say goodbye and I want to say a big thank you to the Company where we were invited to work Buus &co it was a great time with you guys i will miss it!
Iam looking forward to see you guys again.


Greetings Dan

On sunday I made use of the sunny weather to make a bike tour towards Nibe which is
20 kilometrers west of Aalborg.

Denmark is perfekt for hobby – ciclists like me because most of the routes are flat and well signposted.
My trail led along the water which is passing Aalborg and ends in the North- and Eastsea.
I really enjoyed the beautiful landscape with its fields where some cows and horses grazed
and in the backround the water.
Also interesting were the small villages along the way because of their nice typical danish
buildings.
Just a short rain shower made me take a half-hour forced break under a canopy.

At this point I want to say thank you to my excange company Buus & Co. from where I could
borrow a bike for my stay in Denmark.
Especially to Martin, the boss of the company.
When I asked him in the first week, if I could
rent a bike, he answered: ''No renting, for free“.
Mange tak.
Sonja

After having a really nice Weekend in Aalborg with our
horticulture mates, the last week had been started.
After having short night, we begun our morning Routine
in the Regnskov. Was sweaping the floor and cleaning up
the trerrariums. After i entered the snake temple i got horrible
attacked by a Butterfly.



No it was nice.
So we had some different Tasks for the day.
After the breakfast, we started to mulch the ground in the three
greenhouses. After we finished, we cut different types of tropicel plants.
So the whole day we were staying in the greenhouses and sweated a lot.
The day was actually a typical monday but a danish monday.
Everybody was laughing and talking some Weekend jokes again.
I wished to understand the jokes it seemed that it was really really funny.
So it was a very good start into the last week.

In our second week here in Aalborg the company we are working for Buus & Co invited us to see one of their biggest projects they're really proud of.
It is located in the middle of Arrhus on the top of a big shopping mall called salling.
Its a really impressiv place where you can sit down to drink a coffe or eat somethig while you got one of the best views nearly over the whole city of aarhus!

We met up with marc the foreman of this project. After we arrived in Aarhus we were really impressed because he's just 22 years old and he had to manage a project like this. While we were walking arround he showed us everyting and answered all of our questions.

We want to say thank you for this great oppertunity to see Aarhus and a project as big as this, we really enjoyed it! We are looking forward to see more of this lovely country, every day we spendt here in denmark was great and we were really suprised how friendly and hospitable the danish pepole are, we love it!


Dan

After the first week, where we were very fortunate with the weather, the second week brought some rain. Nevertheless we had a great time thanks to the hospitality of the people here.

During the work, Sonja, Dominik, Dan and I could take part in the last bits of work that had to be done to finish the parking space and the pavement of a newly built supermarket.



Not only at work we had a great time with the people from Buus & Co, but also in the evening we had some nice experiences, when Per Kjær showed us his private garden and Vildmose, a swamp near Kongerslev. On Thursday we got a guided tour through Arhus by Marc, a young foreman at Buus & Co, which was very interesting as well.

On Friday Finn Rasmussen Slaikjer showed us around at Agri College, Aalborg itself, the surounding area and Rold Skov a forest, a Danish national park.





Not only during those partially official occasions we met the Danish people as very nice, open-minded and very nice folks, but also in the party street of Aalborg - Jomfru Ane Gade, where it was as if Aalborg was not only a big city, but also a huge village, where anybody knows anybody.

On the second saturday we got up at half past 9. Then we had breakfast together. After breakfast we took some time to clean our rooms and played some table tennis together. At 12 o'clock we drove with our car to a beach at the east side called Hals. It looked more like a wild beach with many fishes, plants and a forest nearby. At the beach were just a few other people what makes a nice private atmosphere. First we took a hike and discovered the area than some of us went swimming on a good place. The rest of the afternoon we sat on the sand and chilled out until we drove home again. In Aalborg we had some nice pizza in a restaurant. It was relaxed but good day.

Yesterday we went on a nice trip with our exchange teacher Finn. We met us at the Agri College at half past 8. First Finn showed us the hole Agri College and we talked about differents in Denmark and Germany. After the trip the coffee was brewed so we had some breakfast together. Next we visited a nice park in the city of Aalborg. Then we walked to the harbour where he showed us some plantings, special stoneworks and well- known buildings. A park where we had a great view over Aalborg and the landscape was the next step. Then we discovered a special kind of forest where many different kinds of trees from all over the world are planted. Last but not least we visited an well- known wild national park of Denmark. There we had some hikes and Finn told us the story of the national park. When this interesting trip was over we said goodbye to Finn and drove back home. We want to say one more time thank you Finn for the great and instructive day.

When we arrived on the first day there was some
confusing about the time to start working.
So we were one and half hour to late. But when we
finally arrived at the Regnskov in Randers there was
a warm welcome. Everyone was really friendly
and telling a lot of jokes. So they gave us a
wonderful first impression.
After a little talk with the Boss of the gardeners Sergio
we had a small breakfast with some cereals we met
the right hand of Sergio. A Young danish woman. She
gave us a overview and a trip through the Regnskov.
She told us all the different tasks we have to do for the
next three weeks.



After the tour and a great lunch, we did a few care in
the wildpark of the Regnskov. Just some little Tasks.
After the working day we were very excited
about what is still in this beautiful Environment.