8.10.2014 Day 6 Group 6

We started the day off with breakfast. After we satisfied our stomachs, we then hopped onto the Mercury Tour coach and went to the San Francisco Zoo. It took us about an hour to get there, the scenery on the way to the zoo was gorgeous. We passed the coast and the waves were reckless youths frolicking about in their playground pushing against the shore with nimble hands.

And now, let us tell you more about our visit to the zoo: we were very strategic and quickly devised a plan on how to cover the entire perimeter of the zoo with minimum effort and time. We first went to pay the wild African animals a visit, it felt so surreal to see these foreign and strange creatures up close and we were enlightened through reading the signs on the ledges of the exhibitions. We soon progressed to the primate areas where we saw mandrills, monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees. It was fascinating to learn that humans share 97% of the same DNA with these primitive forms of man. Then, we saw some of the world's greatest predators - tigers and lions and such. Some our group mates were quite excited about seeing snow leopards and it's nice and refreshing to see people squeal and leap about in the most ridiculous manner over a cat whose most thrilling pastime is washing its face. The South American region soon came into sight and we met the capybara - the world's largest rodent. Then we saw some bears that were very lively and some penguins that were very noisy. We saw a variety of animals from Down Under and went to the insect zoo and pretended to be Spider-man (spider-man, spider-man, does whatever a spider can). We then shopped for gifts for our family and friends and came back to the assembly point with overflowing bags.

After bonding with the animals for the entire morning, we decided to go to Union Square for some shopping. Some of us did not quite understand the joy in shopping in such a rushed manner but most of us did their best and, to quote a popular reference, shopped til they dropped. It reminded us of Causeway Bay back at home but the architecture and staff here are much better.

We rested in our dorms for a bit and rushed out to the lawn to watch the Super Moon, we ran across streets in our pajamas to look for the perfect spot to catch a view of this rare occasion. We then ended the day with our house meeting. It was such a tiring but rewarding day.