Nick Kaufman, Certificate '21, shares his experience as one of almost 20 Hopkins-Nanjing Center students who chose to temporarily relocate to SAIS Europe for in-person/hybrid instruction in Bologna, Italy.
As midterms end at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, preparation
for Thanksgiving begins. The HNC seems to mark this happy coincidence by giving
students a week off from classes; a welcome relief for all.
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Nick Kaufman takes virtual classes from professors
in China, in addition to in-person coursework in Bologna.
(Anna Fantuzzi/John Hopkins University) |
For a student like me, in their first semester of classes,
this break is particularly appreciated. My classes thus far have been difficult
but rewarding. In these past few weeks, I’ve had presentations in every one of
my HNC classes. In Professor Cai Jiahe’s class on Chinese Foreign Policy, I
presented on Chinese naval power and discussed its implications for regions
like the South China Sea. In Professor Zheng Anguang’s International
Organizations and Global Governance class, I presented on U.N. peacekeeping missions,
performing a case study on the U.N. mission in Kosovo and recommending further
actions to assure stability in the region. In Professor Hua Tao’s Social
Problems with China’s Modernization, perhaps my most demanding course, I
prepared for my oral midterm examination, reviewing topics from the one-child
policy to state industry reform in order to be ready for our 20-minute exam
window.
In the moment, all of these projects came with their
stresses and anxieties. However, looking back I am struck by how much I’ve
learned. From specialized facts of a Chinese province to broad theories of
China’s role in the world, my knowledge of China has grown rapidly in these
first few months. Furthermore, I can talk about all of these new facts and
concepts in Chinese.
Still, a break was much needed and I was eager to take some
time to myself to enjoy and explore Bologna. Being among the "HNC-in-exile" crowd
able to be at SAIS Europe in person has brought a fair share of advantages.
Academically, I am able to attend some in person classes and meet and bond with
my HNC cohort and several HNC professors who have made the trip to Italy. Even
as coronavirus restrictions tighten across the world, SAIS Europe has remained
open, with dutifully masked-up and socially-distanced students gathering at the
center for class, work in the library, and talks in the auditorium.
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| Bologna, Italy (RossHelen/Getty Images) |
Bologna as a city serves in stark contrast to what I’m used
to in China. While Chinese food will always have my heart, the pastas and
sauces of northern Italy have proved able replacements, while steadily
expanding my waistline. The historic center of Bologna, dimmed by the long
shadows of renaissance era churches and populated by students of the University
of Bologna, the oldest university in the world, is a world away from the
hyper-modern infrastructure and construction of Eastern China. I’ve been struck
by the diversity of Bologna as well, not just around SAIS, but spread across
the north of the city. I hear Arabic, Italian, Polish, and Chinese on my walk to
class. After spending time in China’s Anhui Province last year, a largely
homogenous region dominated by the Han majority, there's something refreshing
about walking through all these little cultural enclaves.
Wanting to use my time off wisely, I recently decided to go exploring in the countryside around Bologna with a few fellow HNCers. On a Sunday, we packed prosciutto sandwiches from a local storefront and set off due north along a canal. Before long we were out of the city. On the right was a little river, on the left were changing scenes of woods, small towns, and wide-open planting fields waiting to grow again in the spring. Eventually we stopped and picked up a few drinks and chatted under a sprawling oak tree. While all of us can speak Mandarin, we opted for English on this lazy Sunday. Eventually we turned back and tracked the old Bologna-Padua rail line back to Bologna.
For all of us, the week of Thanksgiving brings a certain pang of homesickness. Most are accustomed to trekking back to their hometowns for Thanksgiving and the holidays and several are experiencing a first Thanksgiving away from their families. However, this week has given every student a type of release from class to invest in spending time with each other, taking trips, going exploring, and building camaraderie. Experiences we’re sure to be thankful for when we sit down for dinner on Thursday. I’ve been assigned to make the chocolate chip cookies.
Written by Nick Kaufman, HNC Certificate '21.
