A Day at the Zoo | Guest post

Hey guys, I'm Hannah-Mae Graham from Carlisle. You’re probably all wondering who I am and what I'm doing on here but I am one of Jess’ close friends, we became friends nearly a year ago and I've supported her blog for a while now. Today I'm going to do a guest post as the other day my family and I went on a day trip to Edinburgh Zoo.

On the 24^th May, we decided, because the weather was looking sunny, to go away for the day and have fun so where better to go than Edinburgh Zoo. After travelling over an hour we finally reached our destination, we parked up and paid for our entry. As I entered the zoo, the journey had begun. We headed to the meerkats, who simply posed for the camera, changing positions every now and then. Before the real adventure began we hopped into a minibus to take us to top, where we walked around the Dinosaur Return exhibition which had a collection of many long-lost giants. The aim of this exhibition was to raise awareness about the real threat of extinction faced today by many endangered species. 

After taking many photos together we headed to the plains of Africa, to a few of my personal favourites. Sadly the zebras were far away so I couldn't tell whether they were black with white stripes or white with black stripes. We continued on in to the territory of the tigers and lions. The Sumatran tigers are the most beautiful animals I have ever seen; with their burnt orange and black fur, sadly these are a critically endangered species. The lions were extremely sleepy and didn't really put on a good show, I guess we just went at the wrong time of day for them to be priding around. After strolling around the kings of the zoo we travelled down under to the koalas and wallabies. Let’s just say the wallabies were smelly I walked in and quickly walked straight back out. Eventually we made our way through the eucalyptus gardens to find the indoor koala territory which was amazing, I really want a pet koala now, but I guess that will be the closest I get to koala anytime soon.

After we headed to one of the restaurants found at the park to grab a bite to eat. The food was delicious and energising, preparing me for getting back out there to meet the famous penguins at Penguin Rock! 
Penguin Rock exhibits a range of different penguins, from the King Penguin to the Northern Rock hopper. It helps the penguins live, breed and enjoy life. We spent time taking photos of the penguins as they came right up close and stood still for the perfect photo opportunity. It was soon time for the penguin parade as the penguins soon shuffled down the pathway past all the guests and visitors of the zoo. After the keepers of the penguins began to feed them and many of the mother penguins mouth feed their young the fish they’d been given. You never actually appreciate an animal till you've seen it in its natural habitat surrounded by their own fellow animal friends. Once we had watched the penguins waddle and swim around and taken many photos we moved onto the monkey house. It was a shame there wasn’t many monkeys running around and being their mischievous usual selves, so we soon left for one of the main experiences. 

The Giant Panda experience was an attraction not to miss; they were so good I’d have paid to see them anywhere! Considering the male panda (Yang Guang) lay there asleep the entire we watched him, the female (Tian Tian) came out to eat her bamboo and swing on her hammock which was a joy for everyone and a surprise to the keepers as she never usually comes out when there is an audience. 

Edinburgh Zoo is hoping to breed these two pandas and have panda cubs in the near future. After all the animal fun had been we moved into the gift shop that had a range of soft toys, plastic figures, t-shirts and much more, which seemed to draw the day to an end. This would definitely be the type of place I would recommend for a fun day out whether you take your family or your friends.http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk
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Early 18th Birthday | Vamps Edition

So you might not know but it's my birthday on Friday 29th of May (that's this Friday) and I'm going to be 18, how is that even a thing? I am yet to put a bet on, buy a lottery ticket, or successfully achieve a Super-drug points card but that's all a bit too late now as I am quickly approaching the important age of 18. Where I can legally drink, get a tattoo and you know go on holiday alone, you know the casual things, I'm pretty sure you can skydive at the age of 18 and now I don't even need my parents permission to go on club penguin. YES! I have been waiting my whole life for this.

To celebrate surviving eighteen years of life on this planet I wanted to get together with the Vamps Girls. It was originally going to be a majority of "Richard Squad" but due to exams and Georgia being in Spain it ended up being: Myself, Emily W, Emily H, Laura and Amy. We were going to go for a meal but I decided it was way too sunny outside to be sat in Nandos so we gathered a picnic of sorts and went and sat in Civic Park.
Yes I am wearing an 18 badge even though it's not my birthday yet and yes a cute boy in Primark did wish me happy birthday.
During the day all we really did was take photos, eat food and laugh oh and we played with bubbles after we forced Amy to buy some, and be we I mean me.
It's always so nice to see these girls as it happens to rarely, roll on June 2nd so I can see these idiots again. What up T-shirt reference.

WE ARE YOUR FRIENDSHIP GOALS. 

Whitley Bay High School | Class of 2015

22/05/2015 An emotional day for many

Today marks the end of an era.
The end of 5 years with the same people, walking the same way, and being in the same building day in and day out.
It's weird to think that this 5 year journey has finally came to an end, in the mist of all the exam stress and prom planning I think we all kind of forget that today was going to come.
After so many memories it feels strange to be saying good bye to the big blue building we've all grown to love.
Although I have studied there through GCSE it has been A levels that I have enjoyed the most.
The opportunities, laughs, smiles, friends, and comfy chairs have all just been so amazing, its sad to say goodbye really.
I thought I was going to cry today but surprisingly I haven't, looking back upon all the memories not only shared by myself but by my peers was an amazing experience. The school trips, the class jokes, all the awkward moments, and that time a few of us were just a little bit too drunk only brought a smile.
Over my time at Whitley Bay High i've learnt a few things.
Firstly, the comfy chairs are for year 13's wait your turn.
"groups" don't matter, everyone's nice enough once you speak to them.
The teachers are so supportive, even if all that's happened is you've messed up your colour scheme they're willing to help.
But most of all, i've learnt to be yourself.  There's so much stigma about high school that just isn't true, this isn't high school musical it's okay not to stick to the status quo sometimes.

I want to take a moment to  thank every single person in my year, for the laughs, tears, anger, bubbles and just your kindness. Whitley Bay High was a place where we all grew, in height and confidence. Looking back at year 9 is a crazy experience; to think once I didn't know the people who I now don't know what I would do without is an odd experience.
I wish you all the best of luck in what ever you do.
Thank you WBHS.

5 Ways To Deal With Stress | Photography

So it's exam season, stress season, the season of tears, whatever you like to call it, so that only means one thing... tears.

If this is the case for you, I'm here to help!
Without further or do, here's 5 tips to stop you from stressing! No more stress spots, tears, breakdowns, just confidence.

1. Breathe, it's not the end of the world. 
There's many great people in this world who don't have straight A's yet have gone on to do amazing things, for example; Harry Styles.

2. Tidy space, Tidy mind.
Keep your work space and notes tidy. Random pieces of A4 paper spread across every inch of your bedroom isn't very useful, plus you're hiding that nice rug you got from Ikea last year.

3. Go to bed.
Ok so may don't do this one if it's 1 in the afternoon and you're bored. BUT Late night study won't help. It might be 2am and you've got all the energy in the world and all you want to do is a biology flow chart but don't, a good night sleep will be MUCH MORE beneficial than how many types of insect flash cards you can get through without breathing.

4. You know it.
Don't let the phrase "I don't know anything" get into your head because I promise you, you haven't gone through a  years worth of lessons and learnt nothing, it's in there, it just needs refreshing.

5. Make time for your friends.
Your friends are probably sat in their messy rooms, crying, with post-it notes stuck to every inch of their body, and in a colour scheme frenzy so go and spend some time with them! Take a well deserved study break and go for a walk, watch a film, go bowling, anything you choose this parts up to you.

If you have successfully completed all 5 steps you will be stress free, confident and ready to tackle any exam question that is thrown your way, oh and that'll be £5.99 please.

Myself and Ellie (blog) decided we need to take a well needed break, and get away from the bottomless spider diagrams and endless mood-boards and to go to the beach, catch up, take photos, sing as loud as we can and just spend some time away from our desks, books, wifi and just get some fresh air.

Trip To The Beach | Photography

Hey guys, hows exam season going? Terribly. Yeah same. 

I decided to do a little post today as I was testing out a camera, and wanted to share some of the images I took. The camera I used and am going to be continuing to use is a Canon E0S 550D and I am literally so happy, my blog game is going to improve and I can finally start doing what I love. Photography.

Myself, Hannah and Beth went to the beach, on a very windy day to test the camera out. It's a lot harder to take a photo in the wind than it probably should be. Hair issues. Honestly I have fallen in love with this camera, this post is going to be heavily image dominated as they're why we're here after all and my last post was so long I feel we could all do with a rest.

I want to to thank both Hannah and Beth for coming along and being my models, and for Hannah for taking some photos and helping me to take some. I'll leave their links.
So with out further or do, here's some posey photos of my friends.
@HannahRedhead84 
@13bethr