Ringkøbing & Skanderborg Western Denmark Study Tour

I just arrived back from a 4-day Western Denmark study tour with my International Business Core Class. The purpose of the trip was to gain first-hand insight and a better understanding of business strategies using visits to 3 companies and to experience various aspects of Danish culture outside of Copenhagen.

Wednesday September 10:

Visit to the NASDAQ OMX Nordic Exchange in Copenhagen - we were given a presentation by their Communications Manager who explained how the NASDAQ OMX Group Inc., serves as a central gateway to the Nordic and Baltic financial markets.

Outside of the stock exchange

Thursday September 11:

A: Copenhagen   B: Silkeborg Art Museum 

C: Jyske Bank A/S   D: Ringkøbing

Thursday we left Copenhagen at 9:00 via bus and head towards Jutland (the large land-mass to the west of Copenhagen). Our first stop was the Silkeborg Museum of Art in Silkeborg. The museum has a large collection of art from both Danish artists and a selection of artists from Eastern and Western-Europe. We were fed lunch in the museum cafe and then given a short tour, followed by some time to explore the museum on our own.

Artwork

Sculpture

After visiting the art museum we headed 15 minutes west to the Jyske Bank Headquarters in Silkeborg. The bank started in 1967 when 4 local banks in Central Jutland merged to gain a competitive edge within the banking sector and formed Jyske Bank. Today they operate 119 Danish branches, making it the second largest independent Danish bank. We were given a presentation and tour. In 2006, Jyske Bank introduced a complete remodel of their banks (basically made every bank look like an Apple store). They are trying to break away from the typical "boring" bank and make their banks more of an experience by incorporating a free coffee and tea area, a small library, and they eliminated the counter found at most banks and installed modular tables).

Jyske Bank

Headquarters

Awww. The Trading Floor (my dream)

Inside the branch (notice the modular banking counters)

Notice how it looks like an Apple store

After the Jyske Bank presentation and tour we got back on the bus and went to the Danhostel Ringkøbing. We had dinner as a group at the Hotel Ringkøbing, where we enjoyed a traditional danish meal: herring, shrimp, pan-fried meat balls, brie and crackers and for desert we had amazing waffle cakes.

Hotel Ringkøbing -- Dinner

Ringkøbing Harbor

Statue

Friday September 12:

A: Ringkøbing   B: Vestas Wind Systems

C: North Sea   D: Skanderborg   E: Århus Theater

We began the day by visiting Vestas Wind Systems A/S, which is the world-leader in wind power with over 20 years experience. They currently hold 23% market share and have installed more than 35,500 wind turbines in 63 countries on 5 continents. In fact, their windmills generate more than 60 million MWh of energy a year. 

A few more interesting facts:

* 1 of their windmills can produce enough energy for the lifetime of one household in 2 hours.

* Each year a Vestas windmill produces the same amount of electricity as 7,598 million barrels of oil.

* Every 4 hours, Vestas installs a new windmill

We were treated like royalty at Vestas with a presentation by their CFO, a factory tour, lunch, and given a recruitment speech (they plan on hiring 28,000 new employees in the next 5 years and are building new facilities in China, Cananda and the US (Colorado)). Overall, we had a great visit to Vestas Wind Systems.

Vestas Wind Systems, Ringkøbing

Presentation

Factory Tour

The Nacelle (Holds the turbine, generator & blades)

Standing in front of the Nacelle

Tour of a local Vestas wind farm

After touring the windfarm, we made a quick stop at the North Sea or "Vesterhavet" where we were able to dip our toes in the frigid water! We even saw the remains of barracks from the 2nd World War.

Kartik and Yours Truly

Barrack from WWII

After a great day at Vestas and the North Sea, we drove 3 hours East to the second largest city in Denmark, Århus, where we had tickets to "The Beach Boys in the Wild Wild West." And yes it was awesome! Click on the link and you'll see some video footage of the performance. Just think, beach boys meets the wild wild west with Danish humor. It was very bizarre, but so different and unique. I loved it.

Teaterkoncert!

Århus Theater

After the theater performance we headed back to Skanderborg, where we had a bondfire at the hostel. 

Skanderborg Hostel (felt like a summer camp)

The lake that the hostel was located on

Saturday September 13:

A: Skanderborg  B: Odense

C: Copenhagen

Our last day of the study tour was the cultural day, so we stopped in Odense to visit the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen, who is a worldwide acclaimed poet and writer of fairytales (including the little mermaid). The city was essentially a tourist trap! 

Church where H.C. Andersen was baptized

The house where H.C. Andersen Was born

Statue of H.C. Andersen

Tour guide explaining one of the fairy tales

The Ugly Duckling -- Lunch

Typical Street

After spending the afternoon in Odense, we departed for Copenhagen. I had a great time on the study tour and definitely learned and saw a lot! This will be the same group of people that I will be traveling to London/Brussels with in 3 weeks! I am really looking forward to that trip, as it will be a week long and include many company and cultural visits.

I have classes all this week, with a morning study tour to Tivoli on Wednesday for my Creative Industries class. Then on friday I leave for the island of Bornholm for the weekend.