Written by Shloimy Goldberger, 2023-24 Latitudes Student
My Experience at Repzootic
I have spent this semester working at Repzootic, a small zoo in a town of about 300 in the rural southwest of Hungary, about an hour-long bus ride from the historical city of Pécs. I have spent much of my time in this town, as although there is surprisingly reliable public transport to Pécs, I’m only able to go on my Friday day off, as there are essentially no buses on Saturday.
So what have I been doing during my working hours (9-4/5)? Well, it’s a bit unsurprising since I’m working at an exotic animal rescue/zoo, but I’ve been mostly working with animals! While my first week involved a lot more zoo remodeling and random upkeep, due to the high amount of volunteers (11) we had at the time. Ever since then my tasks have almost always revolved around the day-to-day necessities of the animals. This includes cleaning the poop and leftover food from the animals’ enclosures, refilling their waters, preparing their food and feeding them.
All of this was done every single day, between 2-5 volunteers, for over 150 animals, as well as cleaning the food preparation area and doing the dishes afterward. While I’m making this out to be like it’s very intensive work, and to some degree it really is, it is an incredibly rewarding experience. I’ve come to know these animals better than I’ve ever known my neighbors back home. I’ve seen animals come and go, be born and die, and have come to love every single one intimately, to the point that I’m quite worried about how I’ll react when it comes time to say goodbye 😔
Challenges Faced: Adapting to New Circumstances
My main challenge this semester has been quite similar to my last semester, and that is adapting to the circumstances here. The entire organization is run by two people, the founder Sharon, who came here out of necessity after simply having too many animals back home in Belgium, and her Hungarian boyfriend András. While the toilet and shower situations are quite nice, the food situation is difficult to say the least, especially as someone who cannot consume pork or gluten, and can only consume lactose with supplementation.
Breakfasts and dinner are essentially just whatever Sharon has in her kitchen, and lunch comes from a local Hungarian kitchen that makes food for school children, with the two options being either standard or vegetarian, with both often including gluten and/or dairy. While I’m quite used to eating the same thing every day, as I meal prep at home, I had a lot of anxiety early on about how much my meals lacked nutrition. I overcame this by simply accepting that there wasn’t much I could do about it, and have since taken to eating fruit whenever I can and having better meals when I go to Pécs on my Fridays off.
Another thing I struggled adapting to was the variance in the people who have come here and left during my time here. At first, it was quite difficult with so many volunteers and students here, all of whom came in groups, and most of whom stuck to those groups. Once it shifted towards individual volunteers, it became easier, but I still had to learn not to judge people too quickly and to find and focus on the interesting aspects of their personalities, instead of the aspects of themselves that may make me annoyed or I may find disinteresting. This has led me to really appreciate the good things about people and helped me become better at talking to people from different backgrounds than mine (French, German, Belgian, Dutch, Hungarian).
Highlights of the Experience: Unforgettable Moments
My first and quickest highlight would definitely be the animals, most specifically being able to get up close and personal with many exotic animals (Emus, Boa Constrictor, and other snakes, Monkeys, Wolfdogs, and Coatis) and witnessing the first few weeks of life of newborn lambs.
My second would definitely be all of the experiences I’ve had on my days off, seeing much of what southwestern Hungary has to offer. Specifically, the Busójárás festival of Mohács, commemorating the end of winter, is one of the three specific Hungarian traditions on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It’s an incredible festival, filled with countless food, clothing, and trinket stands, tons of folk music and dancing, and a massive fire on the last day (we weren’t there for it ). The main attraction, however, is the people dressed up in sheepskins, wearing carved wooden devil masks, who go around causing mischief and making noise.
The story goes that when the Ottomans took over Mohács, the people fled to the swamps, where one day an old man appeared and told them to carve wooden weapons and scary masks and wait for a stormy night when a knight would appear and guide them into battle. When the knight appeared he ordered them to charge into battle, making as much noise as possible. The Ottomans, terrified by the storm, noises, and masks, thought they were being attacked by devils and fled Mohács. This legend is not conjoined with another, older legend, which is that the masks and noises are meant to scare away the remains of winter.
Besides the Busójárás, I’ve also really enjoyed exploring Pécs on my days off, where the Ottoman influence can still be felt in the church that turned into a mosque that turned back into a church that has been restored to a church with mosque architecture and design. Pécs also has my second favorite church I’ve ever seen, after the Vatican, and tons of interesting stone streets, filled with countless gyro and döner vendors from all over the Middle East.
Personal Growth: Learning to Thrive
I think the main way that I’ve grown in my experience here is learning how to handle and maximize a 9-5 standard work schedule and work environment. Although Repzootic is by no means a standard work environment, I think my time here has undoubtedly prepared me for one, as I’ve gained a lot in terms of being efficient and listening to directions, as well as gained the ability to handle working for 8+ hours a day, which is something that I’ve struggled with in the past.
I’ve also grown a lot from seeing Sharon and András work, and hearing their stories about how they got to where they are and the experiences they’ve had working at the zoo. They both work long hours, rarely, if ever, take days off, and essentially have their entire lives based around the zoo. This isn’t something that they can chose to undo, as without them the animals in the zoo would not be able to survive, and instead of just accepting the situation, they’ve learnt to thrive in it.
They are both active and working, all day, every day, rolling with the punches and adapting to whatever situation arises. Despite all of the work that they do they are still always laughing at any conversation, and always willing to help with whatever the students/volunteers need. They also still manage to find free time to do the things they want to do, such as finishing all of the tasks in the zoo very quickly to be able to see a movie, or taking stops on a 40+ hour animal transport to visit family/friends or (ironically) see a local zoo.
Sharon and András have really inspired me to start taking my life into my own hands and push to pursue the things that I want to do in life. My horizons of what I can do in life have been really expanded because of them, and for that growth, I am extremely grateful.
Inspired by Shloimy’s gap year? Learn more about the Latitudes Year and carve out your own journey!
