Today was a bit more of a struggle because I slept a little too soundly last night after the amazing mah jongg tournament we had, and I was a bit late. Obviously, I wasn’t left behind, but nonetheless, I felt bad to keep everyone waiting. But I will have to say that being the kind of person that I am, it’s really impressive I was only late once. It could have been much more often (shout out to all my roomies for waking me up these past two weeks).

Today is kind of a sad day because it’s our last day in China. I’ve loved being here, and I don’t want to leave. Knowing that today was our last day, I took full advantage of the time we had. First, we went to the Yu Gardens. These gardens weren’t like the typical gardens like at home. When we said we were going to a garden, I was expecting a Phipps-like place. I was surprised to find a lot of rockery, small ponds, and gazebos. Of course, there were plants and flowers around too, but I was just surprised to find that plants did not take up the majority of the space in the garden. It was beautiful nonetheless, and I loved walking around. There were many great picture spots, and we finally got a picture with all of us together in our hats. What a moment.

When we exited the Yu Gardens, we entered a huge shopping area, sort of like Disney but more of a mall rather than a singular store. We had some free time before we got on the bus, so we walked around and looked at the shops. We tried bartering some more just for the fun of it. I think I’ve gotten pretty good, but some shop owners start to not like me because I’m apparently “too cheap.”

From there, we went back to the hotel and had some free time before our final presentation. Someone on the trip had broken his suitcase in Xi’an and wanted to replace it, so we went to the mall to go buy a new one. We remembered that while we were in Xiaomi on the day of our company visit, we saw they sold suitcases. We found the Xiaomi store in the mall and found that our memory was correct, and they sold suitcases. He was able to buy a high-quality suitcase for a decent price, compared to what you would have to pay in the United States for a suitcase of that quality. We were both getting pretty hungry and he was craving McDonald’s, so I begrudgingly went to McDonald’s with him. I ordered chicken nuggets and instead of being given ketchup, I was given sweet and sour sauce. I never really have McDonald’s, but the chicken with the sweet and sour sauce wasn’t awful. Also, this McDonald’s was much fancier than the ones at home. First the Pizza Hut and now McDonald’s. I don’t understand why these are fast food chains in America but are classy restaurants in China. It’s a strange cultural difference.

We went back to the hotel and got ready for our final presentation. We went to a different hotel to give these presentations, and everyone did a fantastic job. Everyone’s idea was unique and completely different from one another. Also, everyone did a great job presenting their information in a cohesive and easy to understand manner. I was impressed with everyone’s work. I was especially proud of Group 4, my group. We hit some bumps in the beginning about which product to pitch, but we really came together at the end, and I am proud of everyone in my group.

From there, we had an especially amazing dinner. We were able to order these fancy smoothies which were delicious. We had some different food again, and it was all amazing as usual. Towards the end of dinner, people started giving speeches and saying how thankful we all were to have gone on this trip. It was really sweet hearing from everyone about how much they loved the trip. I’m glad that everyone had an amazing time, and all the speeches made me really not want to leave tomorrow.

We all wanted to spend the last night together, so we all decided to go to a karaoke club. Everyone who sang had a great time, no matter their singing abilities. We were the only Americans in the place, so it was kind of funny when someone not in our group would sing a song in Chinese and then we would sing songs in English. I had a great time with everyone, and I was really happy to have spent the last night with everybody as a group. We all went back to the hotel, and I fell asleep for the last night in Shanghai. Did I mention I really don’t want to leave?