Gardeners Go Europe

As we woke up at 5 o´ clock we already heard the danish rain falling down on our wooden terrace. We knew that there is going to be some rain for a time but after starting to drive to our companies the intensity and frequency of the hammering rain began to increase...

The company i am working is Elmerhøj south of Aalborg and about 42 minutes away from our Novasol House.
On monday the employee Christian an I started to complete the garage driveway of an older couple. The material is concrete plaster taken from the old driveway. It is the first time I layed concrete plaster just on a bed of compacted sand. Will this construction hold for another decade?! We will see...

Back to today— because we were three workers at the site Christian had to drive by himself. I had to drive the small but agile Toyota Pickup transporting sand for our plasterbed. While singing in the rain we cleaned the used plasters and leveled the ground. Until 8:40 everything was fine but shortly afterwards the intensity of the rain once again rose so we started our breakfast a bit earlier.
While eating some Huober pretzel sticks we joked around saying that its like Waterworld with Kevin Costner and he drives down the road with his ship... because it rained like cats n dogs. We checked the weather after a while but the sandy plasterbed was completely under water. At 10 o´ Clock we decided to go back to the company. Our clothes were soaking wet.
Luckily Amelie, who is driving evry morning to the company, too came 10 minutes later. A short, cold, wet day was finished at 11 AM.
At our home we firstly had to tumble dry the clothes.... tomorrow i willl get some wood for our metal stove so that we can heat up the house up to a cozy temperature. The sauna is on temperature and ready to use. Could be worse i guess...
Tonight we will eat rice with thaicurry and maybe play some cards, read or just chillax and heat up.

Approximately one month has now passed since my internship in the beautiful country of Denmark came to an end, and the wonderful memories of my time there still stick with me.

It is important for me to keep these memories alive and to now try and integrate what I have learnt during my time in Denmark into both my personal and working life. The friendliness of the Danes and their attitude in general is so good, that I now believe the claims to be true, that Denmark is the happiest country in Europe, and possibly even the world.

Before my internship experience, I believed that being satisfied with one's career and work must have meant being less productive. Taking things a bit easier etc. But I now know this not to be true. For me, being satisfied with one's work gives you more energy to last longer and helps you to keep up with difficult and sometimes exhausting projects.


In my German workplace, if I took a break to eat a McDonald´s, this would often be rushed. I would feel under pressure to get back to work quickly. Feeling such pressure and stress must surely affect the way staff treat customers. I am sure that staff would treat the public in a much friendlier manner if the staff themselves were happier in the workplace and had good peace of mind.

In Germany, I think the population would benefit from trying to learn how to add more 'hygge' to their lives.
This Danish word can be explained as 'an atmosphere of warmth, well-being and cosiness'. 'Being at peace and able to enjoy simple pleasures whilst living in the moment'.


When I arrived back in Germany, one of the first things I did was to buy some candles in readiness for the cold autumn months ahead. As the bad weather draws in, I will light the candles and wrap myself in a blanket, read some good books and try myself to 'live in the moment'.

I am very happy overall with my internship experience, and I must thank 'Erasmus plus' for arranging everything for me. I would also like to offer great thanks to Mr. Schrader and Mrs. Mangold, who had great energy and organized everything from beginning to end.
I am also very thankful towards Randers Regnskov and all the staff who work there, especially Department Manager Sergio Pacinotti, who was extremely patient with me and always walked about with a constant smile on his face. Last but not least, I thank my host family very much for taking care of me and for giving me a nice place to stay.
Life is so much easier and much more pleasurable when you have nice, lovely and caring people around you.

I am now two weeks back in Germany and I had time to reflect on my time in Denmark.

First of all I have to say how grateful I am for the chance I got to work abroad.
Erasmus+ is a great program and I want to thank our teachers in Germany Mrs. Mangold and Mr. Schrader for organizing everything so our stay in Denmark could go by so smoothly.
In Denmark our contact person Finn Slaikjer helped us with setting up at the Sporthojskole and he showed us interesting places.



And I really need to thank all the nice colleagues at Buus&Co for treating us as colleagues and showing us the differences in danish gardening.
I hope you had as much fun as I did and thank you for showing me Denmark and the danish lifestyle.
I also want to thank Martin Linneman for giving us the chance to work at Buus&Co, I had a really great time at the company and I learned a lot.

I got to meet new people, from the colleagues and the people all around Denmark to the other participants of the Erasmus+ program. Thank you all for the great time.



I learned a lot about the use of plants in gardens and about gardening in general and it was a great experience.

Now I´m back in Germany for one week and had the opportunity to think about my stay in Denmark.
I´m so gratefull that I had the opportunity to stay for three weeks in Denmark. I really enjoyed my stay and the work in Aalborg. I came back home with many beautiful memories and I gained many experiences.
I`ve learned so much and I met so many friendly people.



The work was so much fun and we had really friendly colleagues. You had the feeling that you are a part of the company. They treated us like real colleagues.
It was interesting to see how companys in an other country are working. There are some differences but some things are slightly the same. It was great to see that our collegues are as interested in the way of working in Germany like we were in the danish way.
Apart from the work, we have seen so many beautiful places like Skagen where the North- and the Eastsea are coming togehter. I also enjoyed our trip to Randers Regnskov and Aarhus where we met the other two students of our group.
I had a really great and intresting stay in Denmark and I definetly have to come back!

I would like to thank all the people who made it possible that I could live and work for three weeks in Denmark.
First of all, I want to thank my German teachers Mrs. Mangold and Mr. Schrader for the great organization and the support! Also I want to say thank you to the Danish teacher Finn Slaikjer who has made a great organization too. We had a great last day in Denmark! It was really great that Finn has showed us around in the Agri college, the Rhododendron park and the beach in Blokhus.



Thanks to my mates that have stayed with me in Denmark, it was nice getting to know you!
Many thanks to my danish company OKNygaard! I had a really great time and a lot of fun while working in your company. Thanks to all colleagues, you treated us like real colleagues and I had the feeling that I was a part of your team! It was great fun working with you and I gained many experiences. We were assigned to the maintenance team and it was great that I had the chance to do some `rullegræs` and a lot of planting. I liked it! Especially, i would like to thank Peter,it was a pleasure working with you. Most of the time we were working with Peter and he took care of that everything was good and told us what we were going to do and showed us the persons, who were working with us.



Thank you for having us! I definetly have to come back and maybe I can work at your company again!
And last bust not least, many thanks to my german company `Link - Garten- und Landschaftsbau` that gave me this great possibility to make this experience in Denmark and that supports me.

Greetings
Maren

Ups, we missed the street


What a beautiful place!


We will be back!

As Lea and Christoph already wrote, we visited the Agricollege on our last day and Finn showed us the pracitce areas of the school as well as all of the different types of animals that live in the college.
From speaking birds to snakes to the "normal" farm animals like cows and pigs, everyone has its home there.



The students at the Agricollege get a lot of practical education in school e.g. driving a tractor or paving stones. We all were amazed by the hugeness of those areas.



After seeing over 50 different Rododendron types in the park we drove to Blokhus at the North Sea coast. Though the weather was already very cloudy and windy, we had fun watching all of the stuff the waves deposed on the beach. But with the time the weather got worse so we decidet to leave the beautiful village.



Still wet from the rain, I had to say Goodbye to Denmark. Goodbye to all the nice people I met, goodbye to the tasty buffet in the Sportshøjskole, the constant LTE Internet, the appropriate traffic light settings... I could continue like this for a long time I think ;)

I will miss a lot of things and people here.

Hello again!
My last week in Denmark is now over and it was really sad to leave. I had such a good time there! On Monday of my last week, in the evening, I went to Aalborg's football stadium to watch a soccer match and have some beer with my bosses from Elmerhoj. I think there is nothing better you can do when you have finished your daily work :) On Tuesday the weather was great and we got to finish some parking places at work. After that we went for a short trip with the long boards (which you can borrow from the sports college we are staying at!) and enjoyed a beer and the sunset near the harbor. On Thursday we were working at a lovely place out in the forest, where some people want to pimp up there summer house. After midday our bosses surprised us with a barbecue with all our colleagues at Elmerhoj. That was very, very nice and we are so happy to got to spend this three weeks at Elmerhoj. But Lea and I had to say goodbye to our colleges, that was less cool and we feel really sad about it. On Friday we got a guided tour through the Agri college in Aalborg, from Finn Slaikjer the man who organized the Erasmus Stuff in Aalborg. It was very interesting.
Starting the Trip home at 12 am we were back home 14 hours later.
Everything was great! Nice greetings Christoph
(Some more pictures will follow soon.)

The very nice stadium in Aalborg:


I still have some of my lovely Berg beer:


A really smart system to move heavy labs :

Sitting in the car back home, enjoying the green landscape and thinking about such beautiful weeks in Denmark.
In Elmerhøj we continued our project at the car dealerhip which was a lot of interesting and for me new experiences. We also built gabions and had a fantastic quiet working place near a lake in the nowhere.



At our last weekend we hiked in the national park at the westcoast and visited the historical bunkers there.
In Lindholm høje we saw the old graves of the wikings which impressed a lot. Such a nice day we finished with an breathtaking sundowner.



Our last day in Aalborg we spent with Finn Slaikjer the Agricollege teacher. He showed us a park full of beautiful Rhododendron.
After eating the best Bøfsandwich we are driving back home to reality.



Thanks to Mrs Mangold, Mr Schrader and Finn Slaikjer who organized the Erasmus for us and makes it possible to stay in Aalborg.
Thanks to my company ,,Albrecht Bühler-Baum und Garten“ for discharging me from work this time.
Thank you so much Elmerhøj it was so much fun to work with you in the gray part.
For sure we will see once again.



Tak!

Lea

Today I had one of those days on which you are constantly eating... I really love the food here. Robin already wrote something about the Bøfsandwich, so now I will tell you something about the other, very tasty specialities Denmark brings to the table.
Because it was our last day working at BUUS&Co, our wonderful co-worker bought us a ghost cake and after trying a lot of sweet stuff here I have to say that the denish people definitly know best how to make desserts... I mean, look at this cute cake, it tasted as sweet as it looks :)



After this (very delicious) break we continued work until the boss of our company wanted to have a short meeting at the Salling Rooftop to see us of. It is a beautiful restaurant with plants the company planted and maintains. We enjoyed the food and the view, you have an amazing sight over the whole city.
Next we had a short but very fun sightseeing tour, for example, we saw the the smallest street of Aalborg or drunk a hot Cacao in the famous merchant house “Vinhandel”... its a beautiful building with hidden rooms and mysterious corridors.



The work day ended way too soon and it was really sad to say goodbye to our colleges. Special thanks to Mia and Martin for enduring us all of the three weeks, it was a pleasure to work with you.

We completed the day with Hot dogs, followed by instant noodles, so we had the entire spectrum of the the taste of Denmark.



I will come back here for sure, not only because of the food :)

There is one thing Denmark is famous for: it's bicycles. Hardly no one doesn't have a bike. It seems like half of all danish people are riding a bike to work in the morning. In all big cities are bicycle lanes, in every street and there are special traffic regulations to prevent accidents. If you turn left or right you always have to look out for cyclists because they always can drive first. They even have special routes through the land only for bikes that are marked with blue signs with a withe bicycle and a number.
Now that we are in the land of bicycles we thought we definitely have to go on a tour. So we searched for some place we could rent a bike. The secretary of the Sportshøjskole did recommend the donkey bikes a kind of city-bike you can rent for a day or for a week. You can find them all over the city at special stations and unlock them with the 'donkey republic' app. Every bike has a special name so when we got them, our group was expanded by Peter, Miles, Bessi and Elvis.



Unfortunately only the king of Rock 'n roll had working gears so we couldn't complete our trip to Nibe (a beautiful village at the coast). But we drove around the little villages near Aalborg and made a stop by the fjord. It was a short but nevertheless a wonderful trip and we took lots of photos.

Seagulls shout, wind blows and I smell a whiff of sea.
Like this I was welcomed in Aalborg. Early in the morning after a night in the train I arrived. With a cup of coffee at the small homely caffee house I enjoyed the morning atmosphere to the full.

Back to reality we started working in a small and friendly firm called Elmerhøj. We were welcomed very warmly and started working in the grey part of the company. The firm is selected in a grey and a green part what means that they have a section with GaLaBau and care.

Together with our collegues we are constructing the outer space of a car dealership.
Last week we've placed the parking area out of sawn cement stones. We had a lot of fun cutting the stones with the angular grinder around the cores. A lot of times we drove the wheel loader which was a lot of fun.
In order to do sports in the afterwork hours we are driving with the longboards around the harbour and into the city. This makes you feel like being a part of the city because Aalborg is the most sportive city I've ever seen.
Upon the recommendations of our collegues at the weekend we've been together at the northern point of Denmark where the seas are going together. In the rain we were fascinated of the spectacle and the historical background of Skagen.

We’ve also been in Hals an old fishing village with a fantastic harbour at the sea on the east coast.
Lea

Everything has an end, just the sausage has two! (German saying)

Everything has to end and even our stay here in Denmark is nearing its ending.

I had 2 great weeks here in Denmark where I got to visit remarkable landscapes, amazing sights and beautiful towns. Because of a recommendation of one of my colleagues at Buus&Co we ate a "Bøfsandwich" on Sunday and now I know why the Danes are always so happy.

Apart from our leisure it is really nice working in Denmark, I learned new things at the company here and I learned to appreciate new tools. I am really grateful for the nice colleagues at Buus&Co who integrated us right from the start.
It is always nice to talk with them and we have really interesting working sites, one day I got to use the "HeatWeed" for weed control. The "HeatWeed" heats water to nearly boiling temperature. The hot water kills the cells inside of the plants and can destroy the roots of plants, so even plants that regrow from their root, like Taraxacum sect. ruderale, die and won't grow back. It is great way for weed control in driveways, because it is without chemicals and without open flames.



I am really looking forward to see what the last week in Denmark brings for us.
But the biggest problem is, like a colleagues always says: "Time flies by when you are having fun!" and so my time in Denmark is fleeting fast.

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.