Hopkins-Nanjing Center Blog

Student blogger Tarela Osuobeni, Certificate ’17, MA ’19, gives some tips on transitioning between the Hopkins-Nanjing Center Certificate and Johns Hopkins SAIS MA program. What is the biggest difference between studying at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and Johns Hopkins SAIS in DC? Tip: The academic goals and environment of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and Johns Hopkins SAIS are different in some respects. Think about how you want each program to contribute to your career goals and professional development.  The Hopkins-Nanjing Center Certificate and Johns Hopkins SAIS MA study experience are different in that they can help you enhance different skills. While both programs center on international relations, coursework in Nanjing inherently has a language and cultural immersion aspect to it. Hopkins-Nanjing Center courses will require you to think, read, and articulate yourself in Chinese. Through lectures, discussions, and debates, I was able to practice thinking and speaking abo...

Student Blogger Hope Parker, MAIS ’20, reflects on some useful skills for a successful semester at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. As the fall semester at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center wraps up, Certificate and first-year MAIS students have developed some study tips, based on their experiences this semester. I have compiled my own and other students’ recommendations to help students who are preparing to come to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center in future years. Class notes Vocabulary Lists Before coming to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, I heard it was helpful to create vocabulary lists before class. I have found it most useful to prepare a list of what seem to be the most important words from a particular day’s assigned readings. Especially at the beginning of the semester, it is useful to review the words before class, or to refer to them during class while discussing the topics. As the semester goes on, it is easier to remember new words, and there are fewer new words to study. Even though ...

Student blogger Cady Deck, Certificate ’19, shares her experience participating in a research trip for the Hopkins-Nanjing Center course Chinese and American Thought: Bilingual Perspectives. My group on top of Shika Snow Mountain in Shangri-La Over fall break, I went to Yunnan Province to conduct research with classmates from the course Chinese and American Thought: Bilingual Perspectives. This was an opportunity that I didn’t even know existed before coming to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. There are other classes offered during the school year that include research trips, which I think is something that makes the Hopkins-Nanjing Center experience unique. For a couple of weeks before the trip, we learned about the area in Yunnan known as Shangri-La and its characteristics, including religions, myths, and ethnic diversity. The class then split into three groups, focusing on either the myth of Shangri-La, Tibetan Buddhism in Shangri-La, or ethnic minorities in Shangri-La. Each inte...

Student blogger Cady Deck, Certificate ’19, shares her experience taking an English and Chinese co-taught class offered this semester.  Class field trip to Maoshan, a Daoist mountain near Nanjing This semester I am taking Chinese and American Thought: Bilingual Perspectives, which is a new course that is co-taught in English and Chinese. It examines Chinese and Western thought, focusing specifically on religion, philosophy, and law. It is a fairly broad course with a lot of potential for discussion. We have taken several short field trips to places in or near Nanjing, which are related to topics we talk about in class. We also went on a week-long research trip to Shangri-La in Yunnan province over fall break. Aside from the field trip, one of the major benefits of this class is that half of the students in the class are Chinese and the other half are international students. Additionally, it is co-taught by an American professor and a Chinese professor. Both professors have e...

Student blogger Hope Parker, MAIS ’20, describes a typical day at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. Now that I have been in Nanjing for a few months, I have settled into my classes and a weekly routine. Here is what a normal day looks like for me at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center: 6:30 a.m. Go for a run I start the morning with a run on the Nanjing University track or by going to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center fitness center. As the weather has gotten colder, fewer people have been on the track. Luckily, this morning lots of people were out walking, running, and dancing. Nanjing University’s track in the morning 8:00 a.m. International Political Economy (IPE) On Wednesdays I have an early start with my IPE class. This week we have been finishing up topics on maritime issues and trade, and applying theories we studied at the beginning of the semester to events and policies. Today we focused on different states’ policies in the Arctic. 9:50 a.m. International Relations of East Asia O...