This morning as we left the hotel I was a little disappointed that our trip was coming to an end but at the same time I was starting to look forward to going back home. Our first activity of the day was a trip to the beautiful Yu Garden, an epitome of natural beauty filled with koi ponds lined with rock formations and spanned by small bridges, all overlooked by the many trees contained within the dragon-shaped walls of the compound. We spent about 45 minutes walking through complex and took an album of pictures. When we left the garden, we found ourselves next to a large maze of small stands, shops, and stores. We were given the opportunity to spend some time shopping and this market was the perfect place to buy souvenirs for myself and for my family. I bought some tea, chopsticks, and other cool gifts to bring home to remember this trip.

We returned to the hotel for a block of free time, during which my group and I put the finishing touches on our case study project which consisted of using the knowledge we gained from our trip to create an idea for a small business startup based in China. We then walked about 15 minutes to another hotel in which a conference room had been reserved for us. The presentations took about 2 hours as each of the six groups presented and with that, our final projects were finished relatively painlessly. After the presentations, we walked a bit more to a restaurant where we enjoyed our farewell dinner joined by the founder of the Asia Institute, the organization which made all our hotel, bus, and guide reservations for our trip. At the end of the dinner, we were each given scrolls with art on them as final gifts from the Asia Institute. This signified the end of scheduled activities for our Plus3 China class.