Randers Regnskov (rainforest)

An hour or so North of Aarhus in Randers you can be experience tropical rainforests from the world’s three large rainforest continents.

 

The three glass domes are home to a variety of tropical plants and exotic animals from Africa, Asia and South America.

 

 

Walking into the first dome, I didn't really know what to expect. As I pushed through the plastic stripes at the door I was hit with the heat, humidity and smell of what I can only imagine a real rainforest smell like.

 

 

The illusion of a real rainforest is created with the real plants, ponds and a 10 metre high waterfall, but the best part about Randers Ragnskov has to be the free roaming animals.

 

While walking around, Alice and I literally had to dodge flying fruit bats, avoid touching ants marching along the hand rails of bridges and stay clear of a monkey with seemingly no fear of humans.

 

As an animal lover this was so much fun to take part in such an interactive, real environment, plus look how close I got to that sloth! If you can't make it to a Africa or Asian rainforest visit Randers Regnskov and you'll think you're there.

Aarhus Botanical Gardens and Den Gamle By

 

When you live in a new place, it is important to visit all the touristy areas, for two reasons, one so you yourself can be a tourist and learn about the city you are in and two so you have somewhere to take people when they come to visit you.

 

 

Our first stop was the Botanical Gardens. Originally these gardens were started as an experimental place for growing useful plants and fruit trees in 1873. After its success it became a gardening society with the idea of hard work leading to healthy plants and products

 

We saw many examples of this hard work as we walk around the gardens, especially in the tropical houses where such care has been taken to maintain the right temperatures and humidity (at one point we actually had to leave because we could barely breathe!) in order to grow tropical plants from all around the world.

 

 

Within the Botanical Gardens there is a famous place called Den Gamle By which literally translates to 'The Old Town'.

 

Den Gamle By is an open-air museum of Danish historical buildings depicting a small town. All 75 half-timbered structures are original buildings from all over Denmark, later moved to Aarhus to create this authentic town culture. We were able to go inside most of the buildings.

There was an old school, post office and even a functioning bakery where we tried some Danish pastries. The idea is to create the feeling Den Gamle By is a living town, there for a number of small shops as well as the bakery are kept open for business, there are also horse and trap rides available and all workers are dressed in old fashioned Danish clothes. I would highly recommend a visit to this village if you are visiting Aarhus!

ARoS Art Museum

Class trips are always fun, better than sitting in a lecture hall listening to someone anyway. Our class took a trip to the ARoS art museum which has become a symbol of Aarhus with a rainbow panorama walkway on top of the building.









Ron Mueck's 'Boy' is probably the most famous piece of work in ARoS which is a chilling lifelike model of a boy (when crouching measures 4.5 meters) and seems somewhat out of place in the tall glass foyer of the museum.

After looking at and experiencing a variety of the multisensory exhibits we climbed up to this panorama that paints the city in a spectrum of colour. It is also great for taking cool photos!

.

ERASMUS+ in Aarhus, Denmark begins

After what seemed like months of preparation, filling out forms, finally being accepted, which was followed by more forms, we have made it to Aarhus, the second largest city in Denmark.

With two delayed flights and 15 cases between us (not including handbags) we were very glad to eventually make it to our new home for the next 4 months. Myself and 4 other girls from Stranmillis are taking part in the ERASMUS study abroad programme. As well as Danish language classes and two placements in local schools, we are studying a course called Nature, Health and Democracy whish focuses on -

'How children, youth and adults can benefit from exploring and experiencing nature and the physical surroundings and heighten their body awareness, pleasure in activity, performance and health, as well as acquire skills for democratic participation and understanding'     ~VIA University

I am in a class of 25 other international students from all over the world such as Belgium, Romania, Norway and the Philippines. Thankfully all of the students and teachers speak English very well and the classes will be taught in English.

I am excited about what the next 4 months will bring, meeting new people, living in a new country and having great opportunities to travel.