Faxe, Kolding, Århus, Randers, & Odense

Last night I returned to Copenhagen after a three day study tour to Western Denmark with my European Business Strategy class. Denmark is comprised of the Jutland Peninsula (the land that juts out of northern Germany) and 406 islands, the two largest being Zealand (home to Copenhagen, just west of Sweden) and Funen (right between Jutland and Zealand).

Map of Denmark  www.worldtravels.com

(Køge, where I live with my host family, is on the coast of the Baltic Sea just east of the ‘e’ in ‘Roskilde’.)

Our first stop was Royal Unibrew, a Danish beverage company. It is the second largest supplier of soft drinks and beer in Denmark (Carlsberg is the largest) and holds exclusive licensing rights for Pepsi and Heineken in Denmark. Royal Unibrew also supplies international markets; they maintain a significant market share for beer and soft drinks in many European countries and for malt beverages in African and Caribbean nations.

On Thursday morning we got a tour of the Royal Unibrew facilities in Faxe, on the south eastern end of Zealand. We got to walk through the brewery and see the bottling process and the product warehouse. After the tour, Royal Unibrew’s Head of Mergers and Acquisitions gave us a presentation on international market segmentation and branding.

visiting Royal Unibrew

bottling at Royal Unibrew

After our visit to Royal Unibrew we had a three hour bus ride to Kolding, a town on the Jutland Peninsula. There we visited Kolding Hus, the last remaining ancient Danish royal castle. The castle was founded in 1268, but the oldest remaining portion dates to 1441. To be honest the castle was not very impressive, nothing like the extravagant castles in Copenhagen, but its historical significance made it special. Today, the restored castle functions as a museum. Our visit just happened to coincide with the opening of a Beatles exhibit, so after the castle tour we had a chance to explore the exhibit.

at Kolding Hus

After some time at Kolding Hus we departed for Århus, another town on the Jutland Peninsula. We went out to dinner and then to a bar before retiring to the hostel. That was my first time staying in a hostel, and, though it wasn’t as bad as I had imagined, it was certainly was not very spacious or clean.

On Friday morning we visited Vestas, a Danish alternative energy company. Vestas manufactures, sells, installs, and services wind turbines, and it is the world’s largest wind energy company. We met with the Business Development Manager of Vestas, and he spoke to us about the company’s new business strategy as they are experiencing a changing global market and increasing international competition.

at Vestas

a wind turbine

After our visit to Vestas we stopped at Den Gamle By for lunch and sightseeing. Den Gamle By (English translation: The Old City) is a preserved market town that is now an outdoor museum containing homes, shops, workshops, gardens, and more. The visit was a fun opportunity to see traditional Danish residential architecture and get a taste of what life used to be like in Denmark.

Den Gamle By

Den Gamle By

Next we visited the ARoS Museum, an art museum in Århus. In addition to the permanent exhibits, we toured the museum’s new exhibit, “I Love You”, which was an exhibit of obsure modern art depicting love and sex. The exhibit was quite a lesson on the European perspective of sex and nudity.

When our tour of the museum was over we drove to Randers, another town on the Jutland Peninsula. We spent Friday night in a hostel in Randers, and had plenty of time to check out the town’s night life after dinner. We decided that the town had too many bars and not enough people to fill them.

On Saturday morning we toured Randers Regnskov (English translation: Randers Rainforest), a tropical zoo simulating the environments and climates of rainforests in South America, Africa, and Asia. We got to see a variety of tropical animals up close, and I even got to hold a tiger python!

Randers Regnskov

holding a tiger python at Randers Regnskov

After our trip to Randers Regnskov we began the long drive back to Copenhagen. We made a stop for lunch, and in the afternoon we stopped in Odense, a town on the island of Funen, to play paintball. I have never played paintball and was pretty nervous, but I gave it a try anyway. It was scary, but also lots of fun. We were given camouflage jumpsuits (not padded, as I had hoped) and masks that covered our faces. I took a couple of good hits, most notably one to the head that covered my hair in oily orange paint. The game was really intense, and my heart was beating quickly while I hid behind bunkers. Paintball was a lot of fun, and I’m glad I tried it.

ready to play paintball!

When our game was over we finished the drive back to Copenhagen. Once we were back in the city, I stopped for dinner with some friends before I had to catch my train. We ordered Shawarma, a Middle Eastern fast food sandwich that is extremely popular in Copenhagen. Beef is stacked on a spike and grilled and when you order your sandwich they shave some beef off of the stack and stuff it in a pita. It sounds gross, and it doesn’t look much better, but it tastes pretty good.

shawarma

After dinner I caught the train to Køge. The three day study tour was a blast – it was fun to visit some of Denmark’s most notable international companies and to experience Danish culture outside of Copenhagen – but it was nice to finally get a good night sleep in my own room.

bye for now,

Allie