Tag Archives: Denmark

Week with the flu

It’s been warm this week and I don’t have to use my winter boots anymore. That means only one thing: spring is here! And so is flu…

This week I was at work from monday to wednesday and painted some walls. I also did heart shaped funeral decoration with my bosses help. Apparently they use those kinds of decorations a lot in Denmark and there are different kinds of them: round, cross and even cars etc. I also learned that here even though many people are cremated that doesn’ t mean that there would be less flowers in funerals. In Finland it feels like cremation has reduced the use of funeral decorations and that’s shame

The rest of the week I’ve been feeling sick and resting in my room, watching netflix . On saturday I got sick of staying at same place and I decided to visit a city Aalborg. It is about hour train ride away from Aarhus. I had little hard time to figure out how ticket machine at railwaystation worked but after I got tickets I went to an adventure. So I spent nice sunny day walking around, shopping little and eating.  For next week I just hope that I wouldn’t be sick anymore.

Even shops have brought flowers outside

Bouquets and citytours


I had little different week last week. On monday my boss had arranged so that I have school day at florist school that shops other practicer goes. At school we did round bridal boquets to oasis handle. I have only done bridal bouquet to flowers own stems so this was good opportunity try and learn new things. Also at school when we had made first bouquet we used flowers fromnother students first bouquets to second one.

I have also done much planting and potflower decorations. On friday I also got to do funeral bouquets and went to take them to church.

On the weekend I went to copenhagen to explore what Denmarks capital looks like. City is really big and there are many things to see and one weekend isn’t enough for all of them. But I had fun just walking around city and feel what copenhagen is like. I was also so excited that I forgot to take pictures.

Sunshine and rain

Sunny work days

My second week in Denmark has gone so fast that I didn’t even notice it was already Sunday. At work I have had many things to do and I like to work at Violen so days go quickly there. This week I have cleaned flowers, made boquets, cleaned store, planted and l made some wreath bases from salal leaves. The technique was different from what I have done at school, but I got hang of it pretty quickly. At school we have pinned leaves to straw base but in Violen I used iron wire and rolled it around base so that leaves would stay put.

But rainy weekends

At weekend I didn’t really do much. On saturday it was sunny and I walked around Beder. On Sunday I went for a long walk and destination was moesgaard museum. The distance to museum didn’t feel long because I had time and I wanted to explore surroundings (which you can’t do from bus so well). It rained when I walked back from museum even though my phones weather forecast predicted otherwise. Maybe weather is very changing here or I should get a new weather app.

Moesgaard museum

Paving in Denmark

Study trip 14.11.-25.11.2016 in Denmark, Beder

We made 2 weeks’ study trip to Denmark with 8 students and teacher Jari Järvenranta. Our destination was Jordbrugets UddannelsesCenter Århus in Beder.

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Purpose of this trip was how to make paving and to use right stones to different places.
We accommodated in dormitory. There were twin rooms with showers and also comfortable shared kitchen and living room.

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First week we were working with Danish students in big hall. Floor area was filled with thick sandbed (like sandbox). We were separated in groups with two Danish and two Finnish students. Danish students teached us from step to step. It was really instructive way to learn paving. They had 12 weeks’ experience about paving, but we didn´t have any experience for that and all was new for us. Mostly we used different kind of natural stones.

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We made different kind of practices; example how to build the wall, arch with natural stone and also concrete paving.

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We also cut stones with stone chisel and used laser for measurement

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Teachers were experts and friendly, and they gave us very good advices. One of the teachers has world quiness record in paving. After we finished the first paving project we had a barbeque party

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On second week we practiced how to make concrete stone paving. It was more easier that using natural stones.

One day we visited in Hoffman, Unique Garden Design and local Stark. Hoffman is a big landscape company, and they use much more equipment’s in paving work than companies in Finland. They showed us how to use paving machine .

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Unique Garden Design is only company in Denmark who makes special design gardening. Quality is very high, but you have to pay for it. For example they ordered customs granite stones from China as a bespoke.

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Breakfast, lunch and dinner were eaten in school canteen. The food was delicious and excellent, and special meals were noticed well. The food was just like in 5 star hotel with cheese plates, lots of different salads, fruits and fresh bread/rolls. Kitchen staff was making also morning porridge just for us. When we left the canteen, we had difficulties to put the chairs up . Also in class rooms there were same rules. In our school there is not that kind of rules. It was quite funny when the chef gave a permission to take a food, and all Danish students RUN and picked the food from the buffet table.
We had leisure time also .
Most of us visited in Aros art museum, botanical garden and Moesgård museum.

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Walking on the beach was relaxing after the paving days. We also visited Århus many times with busses, because it took only 20 minutes by bus to the city. We also walked in great school area and in small Beder village. We noticed that Danish invest must more to gardening and paving that we in Finland.

Last week in Denmark

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Den Gamle By

There is a fantastic area in the middle of Århus called Den Gamle By – The Old Town. It is a national open air museum of urban history and culture. The attraction has been awarded three Michelin stars. It is a living experience of what it was like to live and work in a Danish market town, as it was in the old days.

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This is the house where H.C. Andersen visited as a child in the 1800’s.

There is also the gardener’s cottage. (photos under)

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After the weekned

We continued our work in the churchyard.

We put some soil around the stone edge to keep stones in their position tightly. We also added installation sand on the top of the stones and vibrated the stones  more tightly to the ground.

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That was the end of my training period here in Denmark.

I am very grateful to Birthe and Arne for their hospitality ( I was even allowed to use one of the company cars during this period). And of course Jens, Rasmus, Mille, Helle, Nicole and Kristin, thank you for your kindness and everything you taught me. See you – Vi ses!

A little bit of history, twenty tons of stones

A little bit of history…

 

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Rosenholm Castle is Denmark’s oldest family-owned castle. It is one of the best-preserved castles  from the golden age of the manor houses.  It was founded in 1559 by the Danish nobleman Jörgen Rosenkrantz. His family is among the oldest and most famous in Danish history.

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I was very impressed by the library of the castle. There were books that Martti Luther had given to Jörgen Rosenkrantz after the Protestant Reformation (reformation started about 1517).  I had to touch them even if I shouldn’t.

Twenty tons of stones…

On Monday we started with a new project and it will last at least next two weeks. We build a stone edge around the church in village called Fruering. The edge is going to be 80 cm wide. The slope must be 10 cm.

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Jens and Rasmus had excavated the land around the church a few weeks ago. So we just put the sand replacement. After that we added  installation sand.

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After pressing the sand we started with the installation of the stones. Afterwards we added the sand between the stones.

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We worked on it all week and the job will continue…

 

 

Greetings from Legoland and the second work week

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Greetings from Legoland and the second work week

 

It was nice to visit in Legoland. The previous time was about twenty years ago. Things haven’t changed a lot there. Many of  the figures were exactly  the same as before.

 

Second working week

We continued where we finished last week. We planted rest of the plants in that private garden. Pretty nice, isn’t it?

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The following job

We seeded grass. I did it with Rasmus and it took two work days. The area was about four hundred square meters. First we softened that area by excavator.  (photos under)

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Then we collected all stones away and spread new soil. (photos under)

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Finally we straightened the area by harrow.  I sowed the seeds by a
machine. The machine scatters and presses the seeds to the ground. (photos under)

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It was nice that Rasmus allowed me to use those machines by myself. We were happy with the end result!

Rest of the week

Hedge cutting continued…

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Welcome to Denmark – Velkommen til Danmark

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VELKOMMEN TIL DANMARK!

The start wasn’t perfect. My flight to Billund was cancelled. After three hours waiting I and about hundred children (they were going to go to Legoland with their family) were ready to try again. Yes, we did managed but my luggage didn’t. It arrived next day.

 

Let’s cut hedges!

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I started my practical training in Arne Skyum’s landscaping company. It is that time of the year that Danish people take care of their hedges. The First day was physically very hard to me; I couldn’t even move my arms in the evening.

 

Many kind of jobs during the week…

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Above: weeding out weeds from the private garden. Pictures before and after.

Under: burning out grass between the stones in the playground. Having a lunch break.
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Welcome to the jungle!

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This house is on sale. The garden was like a jungle so we cleaned it up.

There were lots of snails called Spanish killer.

 

Thank God it’s Friday!

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On Friday we planted different kind of plants in private garden which was designed by a famous Danish architect. Last photo is about our Friday cake!