From Nanjing to DC: Tips for the transition

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 about international relations, economics and law in a different cultural context.

When students begin the MA program in DC, they engage solely with English material within their concentration area, except if they are taking any foreign-language classes. (Certificate students are exempt from the SAIS MA language requirement due to their knowledge of Chinese, but some choose to study a third language in DC.)  Although you’re studying in a more familiar language, the MA program puts a strong emphasis on quantitative skills. All MA students are required to graduate with an international economics concentration. These courses may immediately feel like a challenge to some, but Johns Hopkins SAIS offers academic support from teaching assistants, professors and tutors (the Hopkins-Nanjing Center also offers quantitative-focused coursework). I came in with no economics background but I still find it doable to navigate the economics because of all the help I have sought out.

What is student life like in Nanjing versus in DC? 

Tip: Enjoy the cities of Nanjing and DC and prepare to prioritize your time. You will have many different academic, social and career opportunities available to you.

Nanjing and DC are similar in many ways. Both are big cities with many universities and opportunities to learn about China and the U.S. respectively. The differences in student life are specific to the community feel. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center has a smaller close-knit community. Most of the 150-170 students live in the student dormitory with roommates in a bilingual environment. You have access to a cafeteria, gym, common space, and classrooms all within the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. In DC, the Johns Hopkins SAIS community is more spread out because students live throughout the city. There are a plethora of on-campus events that happen each week: speaker series, mini courses, skills courses, student club meetings, etc. The city has many events to enjoy off campus so you’ll constantly have access to many opportunities.

How did you find housing in Nanjing versus DC?

Tip: Start researching early, think about price, and talk to people who are living in DC about housing options. 

In Nanjing, most students live on campus with a roommate of a different nationality. At Johns Hopkins SAIS, there are no designated living spaces for students. Students find their own housing within the city or in bordering states of Maryland and Virginia. Incoming students transitioning to DC typically use housing websites, or DC connections to find housing. I found appropriate housing through various DC online forums. During the summer, I researched DC neighborhoods and ranked them by affordability and proximity to the SAIS campus. Through understanding the costs, assessing these lists and talking with Hopkins-Nanjing Center alumni who lived in DC, I was able to find many housing options in the area.

Housing costs in DC (based on my experience in 2018):
Housing (Type)                                                                                Housing Cost Range

Less expensive and requires a roommate or more housemates      $950/month or lower
Average cost for a student (require a housemate/better location)    $950-$1200/month
High cost, may be within the city and closer to campus                    $1200/month and higher

How can you keep up your Chinese language studies in DC? 

Tip: If you want to keep up your Chinese, enroll in an advanced Chinese course each semester and explore other language options on and off campus!

When I started registering for classes at Johns Hopkins SAIS, I prioritized continuing my Chinese language studies. I wanted to build upon the language gains I had achieved at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and I knew that DC would have fewer Chinese language-immersive environments. I registered for the post-proficiency Chinese course at Johns Hopkins SAIS, Advanced Chinese Mid I, to not only resolve these concerns but also to prepare myself for a career where I could use Chinese. The class meets once a week for two hours, and we read and analyze U.S.-China-related news articles on political, social and international issues.  Class time is infused with discussions, debates and presentations. It almost feels like taking a class at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center!

In addition to advanced language courses, the Johns Hopkins SAIS language program offers a Chinese tutor and Chinese language table during the week!

What’s the most important thing to note when transitioning from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center to Johns Hopkins SAIS in DC? 

Tip: Know that each program is different and plan ahead (to the extent that you can) for each program.

Accepting that the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and the Johns Hopkins SAIS DC programs are different early on is going to be easier for your transition. Knowing what you want to get out of both programs will direct your coursework choices. You’ll be able to prioritize your academic, social and work life better. While studying in Nanjing you’ll want to consider which classes might apply to your desired MA concentration in DC. This could also influence whether you finish the MA portion of the program in 2 or 3 semesters.

Written by Tarela Osuobeni, Hopkins-Nanjing Center Certificate ’17, SAIS MA ‘18

How to Navigate Hopkins-Nanjing Center Coursework

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 I find myself referring to my list less and less throughout the semester, it is a nice practice to have when preparing for class.

Learn to Skim
At the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, there is a lot of reading. Especially at the beginning, it is easy to get caught in a trap by reading every word, but there is not enough time to look up every word you do not know. Although we may know how to skim in our native languages, it is much harder to get the main idea of a paragraph in a foreign language. It is helpful to talk to other students to learn how to pull key ideas and words out of a reading so that you can continue to stay up-to-date with readings throughout the semester.

Start Early
The Hopkins-Nanjing Center has a steep learning curve, but the sooner you confront it, the sooner you adapt. Even though the beginning of the semester may have fewer assignments, spend time carefully preparing for them. The first month sets the foundation for the rest of the semester. If you engage with readings, in class discussions, and with professors as much as possible in September, it will be much easier to write your final papers during January.

 Chalkboard from an international politics class

Use the Resources
The Hopkins-Nanjing Center provides students with a lot of resources to improve our language skills. First, each week, professors are available during office hours to help students with readings that they may not understand. Second, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center also offers academic writing modules outside of class time to assist students with writing formal essays in their target language. Third, there is a writing center where students review and edit other students’ essays, ensuring that our grammar is correct and that we are using appropriate, formal Chinese. Finally, you can always ask other students for help. Fellow classmates are always happy to help if you do not understand a lecture or reading. Talking to other students can help in both practicing your target language and expanding on analytical class discussions.

With these skills, you’ll be able to start the school year a little more prepared, which will help you become even more involved in class at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.


Written by Hope Parker, Master of Arts in International Studies '20

Fall Break Research Trip to Shangri-La

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 international student was paired with a Chinese student and each pair determined their own subtopic based on one of the three broader subject areas. We worked together during the research trip to conduct interviews, compile notes, and decide where to go. After coming back to Nanjing, we worked with our partner and our group to give presentations to the community about our findings. We also wrote research papers detailing our research methods, preconceptions, findings, and conclusions.

In many ways, learning about Shangri-La firsthand was more valuable than learning about it in the classroom. We spent the week interviewing locals, shop owners, and tourists. In our small groups, we were given the freedom to decide where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do, and how we wanted to do it. Because we had a full day in Kunming and my group was researching ethnic minorities, we decided to go to the Yunnan Nationalities Museum. The museum was interesting and informative, but the best part was running into an entire group of Miaozu men and women who were also exploring the museum. We interviewed several of the women about their lives in Yunnan and discovered that they were in Kunming as part of a government program to learn the sewing techniques of other ethnic minorities.

Students with Miaozu men and women in front of Yunnan’s Nationalities Museum in Kunming

After Kunming, we flew to Shangri-La. When we arrived, we rested and adjusted to the altitude, which is over 10,000 feet above sea level, before going out to explore the area. One of the local places we went was Dukezong, Shangri-La’s ancient town. We interviewed some local shopkeepers about living and working in the area. One Yizu woman described to us how she continued to preserve her own culture while living in Shangri-La, which is 80% Tibetan Buddhist. Although it’s fairly touristy, there is a large temple, an entire area of housing, and a lot of different ethnic minorities, which reflects the diversity of Yunnan and Shangri-La itself.

One of the groups at a temple in Shangri-La

In addition to visiting the ancient town, the three groups went to many other places to do research and see some of the famous sites. Songzanlin Temple is the largest Tibetan Buddhist Temple in Yunnan Province and one of the most famous in China. My group interviewed several monks, the tour guide, and a couple older Naxizu women selling sour yak yogurt. One of the monks told us that although this temple is a major tourist destination, the tourist industry hasn’t really impacted the monks’ way of life.

Two groups at Songzanlin Temple in Shangri-La to learn about Tibetan Buddhism

Two groups went to the Bureau of Religious Affairs to see what information they could learn about the region related to religion and ethnic minorities. Another group went to Potatso National Park to interview tourists and analyze the myth of Shangri-La. They then compared their findings to James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon, which we read for class before the trip.

A group at Potatso National Park to interview tourists and locals about the myth of Shangri-La

To explore the area, several groups went to Shika Snow Mountain and Balagezong Canyon, which were both beautiful and educational. At the bottom of Shika Snow Mountain, my partner and I interviewed two Tibetan women who were living nearby and raising yak until the winter. At Balagezong Canyon we managed to get a private guide who drove us around and introduced the history of the region. In addition to taking us to all of the various scenic spots, he also shared with us his experiences growing up in the area and how development has changed it in the past few decades. For example, he used to go to school by horse and cart, but a rich former resident poured money into the area and built a lot of the roads, making the area more accessible to residents and visitors.

A fun trip to Balagezong Canyon

This trip was also a great opportunity to bond with all of my classmates, but especially my Chinese classmates, outside of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center bubble. Going to class together two times every week for two hours is one thing, but spending a week traveling with a group of people is a completely different experience. Since coming back from the trip, I’ve noticed that the class dynamics have changed in a positive way. People who were merely classmates before are now close friends and as a result, conversations in class flow much more smoothly. There are also other classes that include a research trip component, both weekend trips and entire week trips during the fall and spring breaks. I highly recommend taking one of these classes because it added so much to my experience here, both intellectually and personally.

Written by Cady Deck, Certificate ‘19

Chinese and American Thought: Bilingual Perspectives

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 extensive experience in both China and the US, which adds to the truly cross-cultural and bilingual experience of the class.

Every class at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center encourages students to analyze issues from both the US and Chinese perspectives. This class has deepened my understanding of many topics from the Chinese perspective, adding historical, cultural, and political context to issues that are often discussed in the US from a purely Western perspective. The class has been an excellent opportunity for international and Chinese students to discuss topics together in an academic setting. My other classes consist of either mostly international students or mostly Chinese students, but this class was designed for an even number of Chinese and international students, which can lead to more balanced discussions.

It is also by far my most interactive class. Every class, the professors set aside time for students to discuss topics with each other in smaller groups. International and Chinese students usually sit next to each other, which makes conversations much more valuable. Often, the professors will intentionally ask questions designed to draw out similarities and differences between international and Chinese perspectives. One example of this is when students were asked to write a list of characteristics that define a leader and then discuss the differences between the lists, identifying common similarities and differences between Chinese and international students’ opinions.

Another way this class maximizes interactions between Chinese and international students is by pairing an international student with a Chinese student for every paper and project. Some readings are in English, while others are in Chinese—taking advantage of the fact that everyone in the class speaks each other’s languages. Topics have included the political philosophies of Marx and Mao and the philosophies of Kant and Confucius. Since these readings are quite complex and difficult to understand, even in one’s own native language, we do many of the readings with our partners, or at least meet outside of class to ask and answer questions related to the readings. After writing our papers, we also write a response to our partners’ papers and analyze their opinions. We change partners after every project, which encourages us to interact closely with many of our classmates over the course of the semester.

Teamwork has been an extremely challenging but rewarding part of this class. In addition to the many papers and projects that involve partner work, we will put on a bilingual play at the end of the semester that examines the difficulties of cross-cultural dialogue. We are currently working together to prepare for the play, which includes directing, managing, and coaching each other on our respective roles. It is the final project of the semester and exemplifies the truly cross-cultural experience that the Hopkins-Nanjing Center offers.

Written by Cady Deck, Certificate ‘19

Day in the Life of a Hopkins-Nanjing Center Student: Hope Parker

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
Our class focuses on Northeast Asian relations, particularly on the Korean Peninsula. In our last class we all presented on our final paper topics. Since several students are studying cooperation mechanisms in East Asia, our professor discussed fundamental features and barriers to cooperation in East Asia.

12:00 p.m. Lunch
Around noon I head to lunch at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center cafeteria. Lunch is probably one of the busiest times in the cafeteria because everyone goes to eat right after class. Professors and students catch up with one another and continue class discussions over lunch.

A study space in the Hopkins-Nanjing Center Library

12:30 p.m. Homework
This semester I only have morning classes, which means I usually start preparing for other classes after lunch each day. Today I have to go over my readings for tomorrow’s law class. We just started a unit on internet law and how cyberspace activities could be governed internationally. Once I finish, I start on readings for Friday morning’s International Political Economy class.

There are lots of places to study on campus. Sometimes I’ll study in my room, but there are also various spaces in the library for students to study. If I feel that I need an extra quiet space, I usually go to my study carrel. Master’s students can get a carrel to study in, which is a room that is shared by three students, each assigned their own individual desk. The carrels are available for students to study any time—day or night.

Professor Andrew Mertha giving a lecture on China’s relationship with Cambodia

7:00 p.m. Lecture
Each Wednesday afternoon from is blocked out for visiting lectures at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center—often professors from universities in China and abroad. Tonight we heard from the new China Studies director at Johns Hopkins SAIS, Professor Andrew Mertha, talk about his research on Chinese-Cambodian relations. Lots of students were excited to hear about China’s relationship with Cambodia from an expert in the field.

8:30 p.m. Moot Court
I am a member of the Jessup International Law Moot Court team. Our group usually meets at least once per week to discuss, research, and write, but I also try to do some work on the case each day. Often that means reading about other cases, then adding to my written arguments.

9:45 p.m. Wind Down
At the end of the day my roommate and I are usually both back in our room. Before we go to sleep, we talk about different things that we did that day, as well as what we’re doing later in the week.

Written by Hope Parker, MAIS ‘20