Okay, I get it now... it's Tuesday, right?

After falling asleep so early the night before, you can guess I was up nice and early Tuesday morning. I staved off actually getting out of bed, by watching a couple of episodes of Will & Grace. And after I still couldn't sleep, and it was only 5, I gave in and ordered the internet for the day so I could check my email and chat. I killed time 'til 6:30, when I decided to go to the gym. I ran into about 6 classmates during my hour in the gym which was fun. I came back and showered, and was at breakfast at about 8:15. Breakfast=deliciousness.

We loaded on to the bus at about 9 pm to pull out and heading for the Suzhou Industrial Park. It is a huge industrial park, laid out like a tiny-Eutopia (actually, it was pretty big, I wish I could remember how big). It's about 2-hours away. I passed the time with my iPod and using Dan, Paul and John as entertainment in the back of the bus (where the "cool kids" sit), those guys are a real hoot. We literally drove through the Industrial Park for our tour, and then walked in the heavy heat to a Chinese Tea House for lunch. We were a little frustrated we had driven all that way for essentially, just lunch. Lunch was good, but we had a ridiculous amount of food and couldn't keep up with the pace they were delivering the food. Once again, my small plate of 10-or so bites left me feeling stuffed.

After lunch we traveled to visit Altay, an Italian company that makes educational tools in biology (think Middle School, the body that had all the bodyparts in it you could take out to study or the slides that had some sort of specimen on it). We toured the facilities, and it was really neat, because it's not a product you often think about. We also had a sort of case-study like discussion with the new COO (who's been there for 2 weeks) as the company was going under and in dire need of rescuing. The only downside to the visit was the building had just been opened, so there was an inordinate amount of mosquitos in the auditorium we were in. Sort of like a horror movie: being stuck in a room full of swarming bugs.

We made it back to the hotel at about 7 pm that evening. I read my book for a bit, before heading out with Paul at 8:15 in search of a grocery store (to look for Frosted Flakes for Mom). I was pretty proud of myself for staying up this late... but I was dead-tired. Paul and I were victorious in finding a grocery store, but not Frosted Flakes. Instead I got some snacks for the bus, and a yogurt for dinner. We made it back to the hotel and wound up both watching The Devil Wears Prada on StarMovies in our respective rooms while chatting on the phone. I fell asleep at about 11 pm (I know, I'm impressed) prepared for a very early departure the next morning. I wanted to be at breakfast at 6:25 (it opens at 6:30) to be in line for the omelet guy since the bus was pulling out at 7, so there would be 23 of us trying to get breakfast at the same time. Luckily, with jet lag, I am up and ready to go by 5!