Meet Andrew Retallick one of our new student workers in Nanjing! Andrew is a first year HNC Certificate/SAIS MA student. Read on to see what life is like
at the HNC for Andrew.
Hello Everyone! My name is Andrew Retallick and I am from West
Hartford, Connecticut. I am currently doing the HNC Certificate/ SAIS MA program.
I am planning to have my MA focus on International Economics (with a specialization
in International Finance) and International Relations (doing the International
Law and Organizations program). I graduated from the College of the Holy Cross
in Worcester, MA in 2014 as a Chinese major and last year (2015) I lived in
Taiwan, studying at the International Chinese Language Program at National
Taiwan University.
I was attracted to the HNC/ SAIS not only because it seemed like the best place to pursue my academic interests, but it was also a unique opportunity to learn about issues regarding modern China, taught by Chinese faculty. As someone who hopes to have a professional life that revolves around China, I can think of no better way to study these issues.
I was attracted to the HNC/ SAIS not only because it seemed like the best place to pursue my academic interests, but it was also a unique opportunity to learn about issues regarding modern China, taught by Chinese faculty. As someone who hopes to have a professional life that revolves around China, I can think of no better way to study these issues.
I’m excited to be working with the HNC admissions office,
and will be updating this blog with information about the Hopkins-Nanjing
Center as well as speaking with prospective students. I hope this blog will give
prospective students (and anyone else interested) a snapshot of what studying
and living in modern China is like. Reading previous HNC blogs helped me figure
out what life was like on campus and in Nanjing, which was really comforting
and solidified my decision to come here.
Well that’s enough about me; I am now going to give you a
glimpse of what a typical school day for this HNC student is like (big thanks
to my roommate 宝乐 [Bao Le]
for helping me with these photos)…
7:30 am Wake Up!
Typical double room at HNC.
8:00 am Workout
HNC has its own gym. Short of Cardio
Equipment, it has most of what students and faculty need. I’ve heard through
the grapevine that we should be getting some new equipment soon. I’ll keep you
posted with that.
9:00 am Breakfast
This is 金银街 (Jin Yin Jie). It’s right next to HNC and
many students come here for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc. I love
coming here for breakfast because there is a shop on this street that has good
bagels/ breakfast sandwiches and coffee in the morning (I’m serious. The bagels
are pretty good and not too expensive. If you ask, I’ll tell you which one it
is.)
9:15 Prepare for class.
There are a bunch of places
to do some schoolwork, but in the morning I personally love studying in this
courtyard.
9:50 am First Class.
This is my “Social Issues
of China’s Modernization” class. It’s by far my biggest class.
11:30 am Lunch.
For this meal, everyone usually
goes to the cafeteria.
1:00 pm – 4:20 pm Afternoon Classes. Usually students have
2-3 classes a day.
4:30 pm
Done with class, time to relax and do some
work in the HNC Lounge.
6:00 pm Dinner. For dinner, students head back to 金银街 or another nearby restaurant.
8:00 pm Work
At night, by far my favorite place
to study is the library.
12:00am-ish Good night!
I will talk more in depth about classes, food, living
conditions, etc. in future posts, but for now I hope that this gives you a good
intro to life at HNC.
P.S. I invite anyone to send me questions regarding anything
here at HNC. Anything from what is living in Nanjing like to what’s the name of
the shop with bagels on 金银街.
Written by Andrew Retallick , HNC Certificate/SAIS MA student
To contact Andrew email nanjing@jhu.edu
To contact Andrew email nanjing@jhu.edu
