23 September – Day 23
That day I had to get up at 6 a.m. because we were going on a school trip to Hortobágy with a class from Szolnok. We took a long-distance bus.

Our first stop on this trip was the Lake Tisza Eco centre in Poroszló, Hungary. There we got a tour of the centre, which is like a habitat for sick animals, as Roli told me, but I had my doubts about that because you could touch the animals, and they had fish that I don’t think will be released.

After this tour we watched a 3D film in this eco-centre about the surroundings and the artificial lake, which is next to the centre and is the second largest lake in Hungary.

When we finished the film, we went to the lake and took a boat trip where the guide told us more about the flora and fauna of the lake. I couldn’t understand anything because the guide was speaking in Hungarian.

After the boat trip we went by bus to another part of the lake, where we took small motorboats across the Theiss river, which is connected to the lake, and first went to a viewing platform and then through a forest. We were guided by the same person who gave us the tour of the eco-centre. As we walked through the forest he talked about the area again, but in Hungarian so I couldn’t understand a word.

As part of the tour, we also came to a small section of the lake with rowing boats, where everyone had a chance to try one out. Then we took the bus to our accommodation in Hortobágy.

For dinner we had Slambuc, a typical Hungarian dish.

24 September – Day 24
This was the second day of the school trip to Hortobágy.

Our first stop was the MÁTAI MÉNES Stud. At the stud we took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the Great Plain. During the ride we stopped from time to time and a guide talked about what we could see. We saw sheep, cows, horses, old water pumps and old houses. You can see it in the picture below.

Next on the activity list was a pottery with typical Hungarian pottery.

Then we had lunch and after that we went to a kind of animal park where, as Roli told me, they keep sick animals until they are ready to be released.

Then we went to a bird hospital. Which you can visit. This “hospital” consists of two parts. One is inside with a section of stuffed birds and a section of treatment rooms and concrete cages. The other part was outside, with bird cages. We even released a bird at the end. Now I come to my criticism of this bird hospital, which are the reasons why I don’t like it.

• Firstly, you could touch a bird, which you shouldn’t be able to do because it’s disrespectful to the animal.
• Secondly, they had a raven that could talk (say two words). But the raven didn’t do it because it wanted to, it was forced to.

And this was all the school trips. After this bird “Hospital” we went back to Szolnok.