Last full day in China… I don’t think it’s ever hit me that I was actually in China and it hasn’t hit me that I’m leaving this country… Today started off a bit earlier than normal as we bused to Yu Garden- China’s most famous garden. This garden was used for entertaining the emperor’s guests and for hosting parties and get togethers for families. The garden was filled with beautiful ancient architecture(the roof detailing was unbelievable), gardens, and ponds. The place was crowded with tourists and there were souvenir shops on the exiting street where my bargaining skills were put to the test.

After the Yu Garden visit we were given four hours of free time to grab lunch and get ready for our presentations. Our Plus 3 group was divided into 6 groups of 4 to come up with a business idea and model that would fill a gap in the Chinese market from our observations on this trip. My group, Brian, Chandler, Athen and I, came up with an on demand laundry service that would go along well with China’s growing O2O on demand market. Hayley and I each met up with our own groups to tie up loose ends and then grabbed pizza for lunch. We then, as an entire Plus 3 group, walked to a different hotel to present in one of their conference rooms. We would be presenting to our peers, Dr. Li, Jordan, William and Orange from Asia Institute. Other group ideas included an online bartering system, a computer and smartphone hybrid, and a virtual reality social media platform.

After the presentations we all walked to our farewell dinner where we met up with Hillary from Asia Institute as well as the institute’s CEO. Dinner was Shanghai style Muslim food which was extremely delicious and an interesting hybrid to say the least.