Goodbye Essex: Colchester Zoo

                                             Kristi (giraffe) and I (lion)

                                                    Maria, a beautiful Leopard

                                                    Jasmin, the cutest mandrill I ever did see

The girls all painted and ready to expore the zoo. from top left: Kristi (giraffe), Sam (butterfly), Jasmin (mandrill), Tanu (butterfly), Nyien (scary bunny). Bottom left: me (lion), Maria (leopard).

                                                                   Junggle animals

                                             feeding the elephants, my favorite part of the zoo.

                                  Tanya, she´s 30 and could live to 70. She´s head honcho here at the zoo.

                                          Me and Tanya, Ben too scared to come any closer
                   (Ben was the only boy to partake in face painting, what a trouper)

                                              Jasmin the mandrill and Tanya the elephant

       All aboard the fun train! The train took us to see the Flamingo´s, some monkeys, and the red pandas

                                              Group shot in the Sealion tunnel. Best day ever!

So many emotions were running through me while preparing to leave.  Sunday after the Summer Ball I packed up my room to prepare to leave early Tuesday morning.  It was a horrible day knowing I would never be apart of the Uni ever again.  I may return one day to visit but this really is it, the end of a wonderful journey.  While it was hard for me I know it was hard for my friends too, we were all a mess and ended up just lying in bed, all six girls, crying.  We decided that the following day was going to be a happy one, no tears allowed so that we could have a proper day together as our last day.  Monday morning we all gathered and took off to the Colchester Zoo, something we have been saying we´d do since day one.  As we are all children at heart we got our faces painted and really experienced the Zoo as animals do.  It was an incredible day!  I couldn´t have asked for a better last day as we all excitedly ran around taking pictures and being playful.  And the best part is that we were all together, all 15 of us.  Maria and I were to catch a bus at 5 the next morning so we decided sleep was out of the question.  Instead we cleared the tables out of the kitchen and replaced them with five mattresses on the floor so that we could all have a slumber party together.  My friends being as amazing as they are made me the best present of all, a scrapbook to remember my time here.  I am so fortunate to have them and its something I will be able to look at and remember all the great memories we had when I miss them most (which will be all the time).  As the hours dwindled by we all layed there cuddling and holding tightly to one another as we knew we´d soon have to let go forever.  As I layed there with all the people that have grown into my family I couldn´t be happier to know that even though I´m leaving, I won´t be leaving them behind because they are forever a part of my life and a part of me.  When it was finally time to go we were all silent with tears while hugging one another but no one wanted it to end on a sad note so since dancing on the benches was a common activity throughout the year we all joined together to dance to Beyonce´s Love on Top as our final goobye.  My last memory will be of my friends, sleep deprived but smiling, as they continued dancing while I waved goodbye hand in hand with Maria while we left to catch our bus.  Thank you University of Essex for bringing us together!