Student blogger,
Brandy Darling, describes a typical day at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.
8:00am
I woke up earlier than usual to prepare for my presentation
on the Rwandan Genocide for my Injustices, Discrimination, and Group Identity
class in the study room on the first floor of the dorm building. Since it was
so early, the room was empty and quiet enough for me to practice a couple of
times without disturbance.
9:00am
My friend and I went across the street to Momo’s (a walk-up
restaurant that serves bagels and burgers) to eat egg and ham bagels. The
location is convenient and the food is so delicious that it was the best way
to start my day. Other nearby spots include my other breakfast favorites, such as baozi (包子) and jianbing (煎饼).
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| Brandy enjoys a ham and egg bagel from Momo's |
9:50am
We began my Injustices, Discrimination, and Group Identity
class planning our course research trips. I will be participating in a research
trip to Guangzhou over Fall Break where I will be researching a topic related
to gender. A Chinese student then gave a presentation on the Bosnian genocide,
which I followed with a presentation on the Rwandan Genocide. It was a very
emotional class for me.
11:30am
After class, my friend remembered she went to a restaurant nearby when she visited the HNC during Open House and decided we should eat
there for lunch. I went across the road again to a restaurant near Momo’s on the main
street to eat noodles with my friend and tell them about my presentation. It was my first
time at this restaurant, but the menu was endless and it was filled with other local Chinese residents, including classmates from the HNC.
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| Brandy makes sure the noodles are not too hot to enjoy. |
12:15pm
After finishing lunch, I then attended a meeting between student ambassadors and
student admissions workers to plan the rest of our semester and to promote
collaboration between the two groups. We helped plan an Open House in November for
prospective students to make sure it is a highly memorable experience like it is
every year. I even visited the HNC in high school and remembered it vividly
when it was time to apply.
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| Student ambassadors and admissions workers meet with American Deputy Director John Urban to collaborate and share ideas for the year. |
1:00pm
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I have a Chinese Economic and
Commercial Law class in Mandarin. It started off as my most difficult course,
but when I kept up with the readings and talked to my professor during office
hours, it became manageable. Today’s class is about laws regarding
multinational corporations in China versus the United States. Today marks the
last class discussion on corporation law; next week we will start looking at
financial law.
3:00pm
After class, I walked to Skyways (a sandwich shop next to
campus) to buy chocolate chip ice cream and oatmeal cookies. Skyways is such a
convenient place to get American style cuisine, whether it’s a tuna sandwich, a
brownie, or ice cream. I also find it to be a relaxing place to do homework.
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| A seated section at Skyways |
6:00pm
My friends and I went to the movie theater to see the new
Will Smith movie: Gemini. Because the HNC is located in the middle of
the city and next to a subway station, it is very convenient to travel
throughout the city and enjoy its amenities. After the movie, we ate at Burger
King nearby and returned to our dorm for the evening.
10:00pm
My bed called my name. I laid around and caught up on American
news, eventually falling asleep for the night.
Written by Brandy
Darling, HNC Certificate ‘20 + Johns Hopkins SAIS MA '21
