So close to home and yet such a special trip! Taylor trip ’21 set out on a road trip through Denmark, Sweden, and Germany with an amazing group of 28 fun people! With  a total of six different stops with lots of things to see and do, the trip was filled with activities and plenty of fun.

Copenhagen

Copenhagen was our first stop where we had plenty of hygge (fun)! We explored the city while also enjoying the occasional Danish beers on terraces and even in some clubs, as it was possible to responsibly enjoy clubbing despite Covid in Denmark! Our first visit took place here, which was actually a university, namely the DTU (Danmarks Tekniske Universitet). Here we saw how the study of Mechanical Engineering can be taught a bit differently from what we are used to.

Lund and Malmö

At the second location which was Lund and Malmö, the planning was to have a refreshing dive in an old quarry. Unfortunately, this couldn’t go through due to bad weather ☹. The frustration thanks to the bad weather could luckily be used to have a huge laser-game battle! Luckily, we still left as friends despite being shot (a lot) by each other. Despite the rain our luxurious hotel offered a sauna which was well deserved. Our second day in Lund was dedicated to the visit of two companies, namely Haldex and Saab Kockums (the submarine manufacturer) where we learned about the difficulties of brakes and suspensions of trucks, and got a briefing about Saab’s submarines and how they are roughly built. We even got a small insight into the Dutch Submarine programme.

Gothenburg

Gothenburg housed a Volvo trucks factory that we visited. At Volvo we were greeted by the Dutch flag which was especially hoisted for us next to the Swedish flags! After a train ride through the factory in a small Volvo truck and learning how the truck fabrication still needs a lot of (wo)man-power, we went to the city centre of Gothenburg.

In Gothenburg we could again enjoy some nice bars in the evening but needed to be fit to visit two companies the next day, namely SKF and TMC. At SKF we learned a lot about the manufacturing process of a bearing and about the new business plan of SKF. We even got a tour through the highly automated factory and got some real SKF merch! Before going to TMC we enjoyed a business lunch while still fully suited up and then got insight into what it means to be a technical consultant.

Mullsjö

Mullsjö offered beautiful Swedish nature which was relaxing after all the time spent in cities. We thus went to a cabin in the woods for three days where we could all relax a bit with some swimming, hiking, and a high-altitude course with some ziplining as well! We also had our very own “furry” evening organized by the fresh Taylor board concluded by a big party!

Aarhus

Aarhus was reached after an early rise and ferry-ride. On the way there we went to visit the company incubator NOVI to meet some small start-ups from the nearby university in Aalborg. Enlightened by the inspiration to start our own companies we went to the centre of Aarhus where the university introduction week was in full swing. Student filled bars resulted in a very lively and fun evening.

The next day was quite full with a tight schedule during a visit to the Aarhus university and the iNano faculty where we got insight into yet another way of teaching mechanical engineering as the university not only taught engineering studies, but also natural sciences and even law! After a lunch at the university canteen, we went to Hamburg where we could again explore a new city while guided by our very own Hamburger Florian!

Hamburg

Hamburg, seen from the water side is quite a sight to be seen, especially the huge container vessels in the nearby port. Since we needed to go out with a bang, we concluded the trip with a Pub crawl through Hamburg which we all finished in the same bar. And since the night life unfortunately had to close at 11 in Hamburg, we concluded the evening with our own Taylor Trip party in the hostel.

We would like to thank the FAST University Fund for making this trip possible

Take a look at our awesome photos below!