Interview with American-Co-Director David Davies on the HNC's Annual Wall Walk

David J. Davies is the American Co-Director of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. His experience at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center includes his time as a student (1997-1998), a visiting scholar (2006), and the interim American Co-Director (2011). Co-Director Davies holds a PhD in Socio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of Washington, and has extensive research and work experience in China, and the greater East Asia region. This year, Co-Director Davies led a group from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center on a 26.2-mile walk around Nanjing – here is what he had to say about the event!

What is the Nanjing wall, and what is the Wall-Walk?
When you come to a place like the HNC, you have Chinese students and international students. The student body is made up of people who don’t come from the same geographic location in the world and don’t necessarily speak the same languages. They really only have one thing in common: they’ve all chosen this place to study. It isn’t a natural community; we shouldn’t naturally have anything in common.

But, one thing that really creates a sense of being in a community is doing something together. It is nice to do something that doesn’t involve consumption, and the easiest thing to do is walk. The Wall Walk is a ten-hour marathon-long walk around what used to be the imperial fortifications of Nanjing. There is a certain quality about that in terms of the time that you actually get to know people! By the end, you also think, I did a marathon, I walked a long way, I walked longer in some cases most people have ever walked in their life. And you realize, oh I can do that!

What does the day of the wall-walk look like? What should first time walkers expect?
 It’s almost always on a Saturday and almost always involves departing at 6am. We walk, we break for breakfast, and we walk through lunch. We get halfway by noon or one and we try to get back here so that there is a brief break before dinner. I reassure people that they can do it. Most people either decide at some point that I wasn’t telling the truth and they leave, or they say, I’m going to do this. You see this pulling together at the end, and thankfulness that it isn’t 30 miles.

What is your favorite part of the Wall Walk?
 I’ve got two places that I really like. I like walking along the south edge of the wall, because I’ve seen that neighborhood change so much over the years. What was one of the most ram-shackled parts of the city got leveled, clear cut and turned into a tourist destination. No one knows that it used to be an old neighborhood now. I also like walking along the east side when you see Zijinshan. The wall is narrow and high and you really get this sense of a boarder. But all the parts have different pieces; even all the boring parts make the interesting parts interesting.

Why should students take part?
It is fun to trace the route of what you know was originally the classic city of Nanjing! I’ve done it 7 times, for me there is an element of just enjoying a really long walk and seeing the city change over the years. Also, there is something very nice about getting a “command” of a city, by which I mean knowledge of a place.

If students didn’t go on the wall walk, their mental geography of Nanjing would be like a spider web with the HNC at the center. It’s nice in your mental map to know where the current city is, how big the traditional city was, and how the two relate now. Every time we do this there is somebody who says “we should do that again this weekend.”

Written by Alexandra Hansen, Certificate '18

HNC Alumni Profile: Maura Cunningham

Maura Elizabeth Cunningham is a historian and writer who graduated from the Hopkins-Nanjing Center with a HNC Certificate in 2008. She has her PhD in Modern Chinese History from the University of California, Irvine, M.A. in East Asian Studies from Yale University and B.A. in History from Saint Joseph’s University. She is co-author with Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom of China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know (3rd edition), coming out in 2018.

What was it that drew you to apply for the Hopkins Nanjing Center originally?
I was planning to apply for PhD programs in Chinese history, because I had a pretty good sense that was where I wanted to go…But I wanted to go back to China. There was so much more that I needed to learn about China, so much more that I needed to do there, that the six months I had spent in Beijing studying Chinese just wasn’t enough, before I committed to a PhD program and settled back down for that in the United States. I came across the HNC and it was the kind of graduate program that I was interested in, and it would get me in China, studying really advanced Chinese for a couple of years. It was more than just language study, but more structured than going to China on my own and trying to find a job.

Did you feel your time at the HNC was beneficial in terms of your later study?
It really helped me to refine my academic interests. Taking the courses made me figure out what I liked, what I could focus on in my graduate career afterwards. The language skills that I picked up there – I already knew how to speak Chinese, I already knew how to get by in China – but the advanced, technical vocabulary I picked up and the ability and the confidence to write papers in Chinese was invaluable and you’re just not going to get that in any graduate program in the USA. There’s nothing like reading an academic article in Chinese to make you realize that’s a different thing entirely.

During my first year at the center, I was looking at many different PhD programs in history. I kept coming back to University of California, Irvine, because they were looking at Chinese history but also China’s engagement with other countries and looked at China within a context of world history. Jeff Wasserstrom, one of the UC Irvine professors, came through in my first year to do a talk. The American professors set up a meeting for me with him, I got to meet him face to face and talk about what my interests were and why I should study at his school. I wound up going to UC Irvine. The connection that I made with Jeff at the HNC was one of the reasons that that worked out.

I’m currently working on a co-authored book with Jeff: China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know. It’s the 3rd edition, the first was 2010, then 2013 and now we’re doing the 3rd edition. It’s a short introduction to contemporary China for people who really don’t know much about the country.

Is the book typical of your general academic interests?
Very broadly, my career is about education outside the classroom. I find a lot of fulfillment in talking to general audiences about China, to people who have never been there, who may never get there, but who want to learn more about it, want to understand it in more depth than reading the newspaper or listening to the news. I try to convey in my writing and public speaking that, yes China is special and there are so many unique things about the country, but it is also like other countries, and we shouldn’t always treat it as being this unique, one off sort of thing. News stories can sometimes be about how different China is from everyone else, and I look for connections, parallels and ways of saying let’s put this in a broader context, let’s think about the ways that China is following trends in other places or engaging with things that are happening in other countries, like the US. It’s a way of saying, we’re really not that different after all.

And do you think that’s a line of thought that you see in the HNC?
The HNC is one of the places where people realize how much the two countries have to learn from each other and how important people to people engagement is between the two. So it’s very useful, the chance to take courses with Chinese students and hear different perspectives on the same topics that we’ve learned about and talked about in American classrooms for decades. It’s also a place where you can hash things out: you say, we’re all coming to this topic with our own understandings that have been conditioned by our education and our media. Let’s exchange ideas and information, and maybe come up with a third understanding of the situation. I think the HNC is one of the very few places, and for a long time it was the only place, where you had Chinese and international students coming together in that sort of context.

Yes, the HNC differs a lot from the typical study abroad in China experience.
The HNC is also different from a language program in that people who usually teach Chinese to foreigners get very good at eliminating accents and they write in very precise standard characters. But at the HNC the professors speak in their normal accents and write with their normal handwriting. They’re not conditioning what they’re doing for a foreign audience. It’s incredibly useful to get used to hearing different accents and learning to read actual Chinese handwriting. It’s another learning curve and it’s a better training. You have to get accustomed to how people actually speak.

Is there anything that stands out from your time at the HNC?
The Wall Walk may still remain the most impressive physical feat that I have ever achieved. I remember the next morning not being able to walk down the stairs from my 5th floor bedroom because my leg muscles hurt so much. The wall walk was a great way to see the layers of Nanjing’s history going back to the Taiping rebellion, up until post 1949. I’m still very impressed with myself that I completed it and I’m not sure that I could do that today!

The spring of 2008 the Olympic torch came right by the HNC. All of the classes that morning were cancelled and we went out to the street and got to see the torch from 20 feet away as it passed. It’s something you just can’t replicate. It’s one of the things that at the time I thought it was cool and interesting, but I didn’t quite realize how important the Olympics were for China. It’s only as the years have passed that I’ve truly come to understand how fortunate I was to be in China in 2008.

Do you have any advice for students looking to write about China in their careers?
I think it is very important to look for unusual stories. Foreign correspondents tend to be based in Beijing or Shanghai or Hong Kong, and so if a young journalist is interested in going to China, there would be a lot of value in going to different cities or out to the countryside, so we get a more layered understanding of the country and its political and social dynamics.

I also recommend reading widely – reading about other places besides from China. I gravitate towards Russia, India, other countries in Asia, I just picked up a book on Brazil. There are certain countries that make for certain parallels – i.e. politically comparing China and Russia. It’s important to think about the world more broadly. Read other people, read other opinions, read a variety of writing styles, if you’re someone who’s really interested in writing. There are plenty of different ways to write about the world, and I think we need to train ourselves well in being good writers.

Do you have any thoughts on encouraging different voices in the conversation on China?
In my previous role, I was co-director of the Public Intellectuals program at the National Committee on US China Relations. That program trains mid-career scholars in learning how to do good interviews, how to speak with non-academic audiences and how to take their knowledge on China and disseminate it to the general public. It introduces the fellows to journalists in the US and China and they get to know each other so that the next time the journalist needs a source, they can use someone they’ve met through that program. That program is a fantastic way to introduce new voices into the conversation. Journalists can go into the national committee website and there’s a list of the 100 intellectual program fellows, and their academic specialties.

Do you have any podcast or book recommendations?
I'm a huge fan of podcasts and subscribe to a bunch of them. Aside from the Sinica podcast, other excellent China podcasts are Laszlo Montgomery's China History Podcast, the Little Red Podcast that Louisa Lim and Graeme Smith are doing from Australia, and Radii China's new Wo men/Women podcast, in which two Chinese women speak with guests about a wide range of topics, from Donald Trump and U.S.-China relations to adventure travel.

Any last thoughts on the HNC and your relationships stemming from the HNC?
When I lived in Shanghai there was an HNC alumni book club. We would get together on Sunday afternoons once or twice a month and talk about different books, dealing with international relations or China. None of them were people I’d gone to the center with but we all had that connection. It’s one of those things that when you find out you both went to the HNC, and even if they went there 10 or 15 or 20 years before you did, there’s still that connection there, so it’s just a really invaluable place to learn a lot and to meet people, and to forge those sorts of networks. It’s hard to believe I was there ten years ago – it just feels like yesterday.

Interview completed by Anna Woods, HNC Certificate/SAIS MA '18

Day In the Life of an HNC Student: Alexandra Hansen

Alexandra Hansen, Certificate '18, shares a typical day as a student at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center. She keeps busy with her classes, extracurricular activities, and late-night Chinese BBQ. 
 
7:30am – I wake up early to grab breakfast with my roommate at the 餐厅. I love the HNC’s breakfast, they often have pancakes, soya milk, steamed dumplings, 馅饼, eggs, and fruit.

8:00am – My roommate and I walk to the East Building to attend Critical Developments in American History. We take this class together, and often have late night talks on the class’s content. Today, Professor Joe Renouard introduces us to the Bill of Rights.

HNC East Building

9:30am – I walk to my Chinese Foreign Policy class. This is one of the most popular classes at the HNC. Today, Professor Cai Jiahe’s lecture is on Chinese foreign policy during the Cold War era.

11:30pm – After class, I head to the cafeteria for lunch. I eat with a few friends and talk about what we did over Fall Break.

Lunch at the cafeteria

12:00pm – I have my very first Johns Hopkins SAIS Observer meeting! The SAIS Observer is a newspaper written, edited and produced by the students of Johns Hopkins SAIS. Today we brainstorm article ideas, and discuss international affairs and current events.

1:00pm – Anthropology and Chinese Society begins. Professor Fan Ke leads a class discussion on African migration to Guangzhou, China.

2:30pm – Wow, I’m done with all my classes for the week! To prepare for Monday, I start reading for my US & China: Cross Cultural Dialogue class in the library.

Studying at the HNC Library

5:00pm – After a long day of classes and meetings, I head to an off-campus gym with a friend to workout.

6:30pm – Dinnertime! I pick up some noodles from a place down the road from the HNC. It was my first time trying the restaurant; I will definitely be going there again!

Walking to the noodle shop

7:00pm – I research different job opportunities on the SAISworks portal and update my resume.

10:30pm – My stomach is growling, so I meet up with friends to get some Chinese BBQ (串儿) from a nearby street vendor! Yum!

Chinese BBQ

12:30am – I talk with my roommate about what she did today, and we discuss our plans for the weekend. I fall asleep, ready to explore Nanjing tomorrow!

HNC 2017 Fall Wall Walk

Benjamin Miles, MAIS '19, shares his experience of participating in the Hopkins-Nanjing Center's annual Wall Walk. 

Every year the Hopkins-Nanjing Center has a special tradition. The students, led by American Co-Director David Davies, trek the length of Nanjing’s old city wall, a 41 Kilometer or 23 mile journey. Several classes of students before us made the long journey, and it is considered somewhat of a rite of passage for HNC students. This year the trek began early on September 23, Saturday morning when all the students gathered in the East Lobby at 6 am.

We began by heading east towards the Xuanwumen Gate adjacent to Xuanwuhu lake. It was about an hours-long journey from the center to the gate, during which time sleepy students engaged in lively conversation to keep themselves going. Along the way we stopped briefly at 麦当劳 to get energized for the coming 10-hour walk around the length of the wall.

The starting point of the trek: Xuanwumen Gate

Making it to Xuanwumen, still in high spirits, the students gathered for a starting photo. Would all the smiling faces still be there 10 hours later for the ending photo? The journey began as we walked in the early morning mist of Xuanwuhu lake. Walking past joggers, old-timers and boats, the students took in their surroundings as they experienced early morning Nanjing.

Continuing to follow the wall, the crowd headed up the north-eastern corner and followed it further north and then west. The group, at first densely packed, slowly began to spread out and our troupe began to resemble the wall itself spanning several yards in length. Within the different sections of the group, all manner of conversation was taking place as students would take turns talking with each other.

During the info session for the wall walk, Co-Director Davies explained that this experience was a way for the students to experience Nanjing in a way that they could not otherwise. By traversing the length of the wall together, we would see parts of the city that we wouldn’t normally see or speak to students who we wouldn’t normally interact with. The wall walk is first-and-foremost a bonding exercise. It is a way for the students to build a sense of comradery in the already tight-knit community that is the HNC.

The group begins the trek

As we made our way up the northern section of the wall, following the channels and streams that run alongside it, the group began to stretch even further. Though it was still early in the day, some were beginning to feel the strain of the journey ahead, but we continued to carry on.

The flag bearer leads the way!

Making our way down the western side of the city, we traced the Yangtze River before dipping back west inside the city to continue chasing the wall. Students stretched further along the path with the front being led by the HNC flag bearer who showed the way for the rest who followed. At times, the group would stop to make sure not to lose those behind. Some students even rode bikes to keep up.

Along the south side, the group made their way up on top of the wall. The wall itself is broken into sections. Certain parts of the wall are walkable and tourists can get to the top for a wall’s-eye view of the city, while other sections are not open to the public. Still other sections are not even built as the original Ming Dynasty wall had been torn down many years ago. What exists today are rebuilt remnants that add to the city’s ancient flavor.

Heading into the home stretch along the eastern side of the city, some members decided to join around 1pm. This has become part of the tradition of the wall walk as students may leave or join at different points of the journey. The wall took us into the Baima park area, a beautiful luscious forested area that soothed the groups aching muscles and kept us moving forward. We fast approached Xuanwuhu, the starting point.

Once the group made it to Xuanwuhu, the lake we had left that morning went from being the sleepy, misty hangout of old-timers and early-morning runners to being a hot-spot of activity. Families leisured on the grass in tents, a Xinjiang dance festival was being held and boats streamed through the lake. This was certainly not the Xuanwuhu we met earlier in the day.

Finally making it back to Xuanwumen gate, the group was visibly exhausted. Students lined the floor along the gate, others leaned on each other for support, some were even limping from the pain. Though we were tired, we had made it. A sense of accomplishment came upon the group as the final picture was being taken. We had completed the wall walk, the epic journey of the HNC that very much mirrors the experience itself as students go from being energized and ready to face graduate courses in their target language to finishing the year possibly exhausted but accomplished. However, the year is only just beginning!



Written by Benjamin Miles, MAIS '19

Orientation Week at the HNC

WELCOME everyone back to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for the 2017-2018 academic year! My name is Emily Rivera, a first year HNC Certificate student. A little over two weeks ago, 180 HNC students from around the world – including China, the U.S., the U.K., South Korea, Ghana, Canada, Mexico, India, Myanmar, Turkey, Argentina, Spain, and Venezuela, to name a few – arrived in Nanjing, China to begin the new school year at the HNC. Of these students, many second year students returned for their second year at the HNC, to complete their final year of the very unique  MAIS program. This two-year program is the only master’s degree fully accredited in both China and the United States.

 Classes are already underway, but before we get ahead of ourselves, let me start with our very first week here at the HNC – orientation week.

As students began to arrive at the HNC, carrying their luggage, purses and 包子’s in hand, orientation week kicked off to a start with on-campus tours to allow students to familiarize themselves with the HNC, Nanjing University’s campus, and the surrounding area. During the tour, we had a chance to meet other students and thus, the language and cultural exchange began. WeChat IDs were quickly exchanged and lunch plans to the nearest dumpling restaurant were made.

Although students were still recovering from jet lag, the excitement of finally arriving at the HNC, settling into our rooms, and meeting our roommates, kept everyone energized and a flow of excitement remained throughout orientation week.

The week was filled with useful presentations to introduce students to the Chinese and American Co-Directors of the HNC, the HNC faculty, fellow students, on-campus facilities, Nanjing in general and much, much more!

Career Services Presentation by Robert Shields

Some of these events and speakers during orientation week included:

• Robbie Shields, the HNC’s Career Advisor, who spoke on career services, upcoming resume presentations, and employer visits to the HNC (see photo above);
• Faculty presentations – which included both the International faculty and the Chinese faculty – during which each Professor gave an overview of their courses;
• A representative from Nanjing University, who spoke to students on mental health resources available in Nanjing;
• A presentation by the Raffles Medical Clinic, a clinic available to international students that offers an array of services, ranging from health screenings to laboratory services;
• Professor Paul-Armstrong Taylor, Resident Professor of International Economics, who invited interested students to learn about volunteering opportunities, such as teaching English to migrant children in Nanjing.

HNC Co-Director Davies and Co-Director He give speeches during the Opening Ceremony

As I mentioned, classes have already started at the HNC and everyone is in the full swing of things – signing up for volunteer positions, forming and joining student groups, and still finding time to explore the beautiful city of Nanjing. Last weekend several students joined Co-Director Davies and other leaders of the HNC on a 26.2 mile walk around Nanjing (stay tuned for our upcoming blog on this!)

Thank you for reading our blog! To students at the HNC - welcome back, 加油 !

Written by Emily Rivera, HNC Certificate '18

Meet the HNC Student Bloggers in Nanjing

Meet our new student bloggers in Nanjing! Emily Rivera, HNC Certificate ’18, Alexandra Hansen, HNC Certificate’18, and Ben Miles, MAIS ’19, will be sharing their experiences studying and living at the HNC throughout the fall.

Emily Rivera, HNC Certificate ’18 (left)
Hi everyone! My name is Emily Rivera and I am currently pursuing the HNC Graduate Certificate in Chinese and American studies. I am originally from Miami Beach, FL and this is my second time in China. After deepening my interest in international relations during my first year at Hamilton College, I decided to begin learning Chinese my sophomore year and well, here I am! I graduated from Hamilton College in 2016 with dual concentrations in Government and Chinese.

Last year, I lived in Honolulu, Hawai`i where I worked as an AmeriCorps Advocate/Paralegal at the Legal Aid Society of Hawai`i. I was so excited to be able to use my Mandarin speaking skills to directly communicate with clients and to help translate during meetings with attorneys. I chose the HNC because of the intensive language and cultural immersion aspect. It has been a blast getting to know my roommate, my peers, and my professors. I am currently helping co-lead the Yoga student group and am actually involved in two Moot Court Competition teams. Having recently gone through the HNC application process myself, I know the value of having a knowledgeable mentor to guide students through the critical decisions that lead to the Hopkins-Nanjing program. I hope I am able to offer useful advice and support!

Alexandra Hansen; HNC Certificate ‘18
 大家好! My name is Alexandra Hansen, and I am a current Certificate student at Hopkins-Nanjing Center. This past May I graduated from Kenyon College (’17) where I triple majored in Chinese Area Studies, International Studies and Asian Studies. Although I was born in Irvine, California, I actually spent my formative years in Beijing and Singapore.

I first found out about the HNC during my sophomore year at Kenyon. I was immediately drawn to the opportunity to further develop my Mandarin skills and cross-cultural fluency. By November of my senior year, I knew that the program would be the perfect next step towards a career in Sino-US relations. Now that I am studying at the HNC, I can attest to how unique and valuable this experience is.

This semester I am taking four classes including, Chinese Foreign Policy, Anthropology and Chinese Studies, Critical Developments in American History and, US and China: A Cross Cultural Dialogue. In addition to taking classes, I am also heavily involved outside of the classroom. In addition to being a Student Admissions Worker, I am also involved in a sports mentorship group for girls in Nanjing and the Price Media Law Moot Court Competition team.

I am very excited to be working with the admissions office. In this position, I will be giving you a glimpse into the HNC life and supporting you through your application process!

Ben Miles, MAIS '19
Hello! My name is Ben Miles, I am a first-year master's student at the HNC in the international politics concentration. I completed my undergraduate studies at the University of Southern California where I took a keen interest in Chinese politics and culture. While at USC, I spent a year abroad at Peking University focusing on Chinese language and international relations. The time spent at Peking University laid the foundation for my time here at the HNC.

So far, I have discovered that the HNC is truly a unique place that attempts to blend together two very different perspectives and create an environment where Chinese and international students can come together and critically analyze themselves and each other's academic traditions. By critically analyze, I mean we can participate, discuss and engage in important dialogues that mirror those of our leaders and the world. Thus, the HNC is truly a place that prepares the next generation of innovators, leaders and great thinkers!

The mission of the HNC is what brought me here. Traveling to different lands and learning different methods of communication has always been a passion of mine. This is why representing the HNC on the blog is an important component of my time here: I can communicate this experience to potential students or people who are just curious about what we do!

Adjusting to Coursework at the HNC

In the weeks leading up to my arrival at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, the thing that weighed on my mind the most was the worry of taking graduate level classes in Chinese. Never mind that this was what had attracted me to the program in the first place – that was back in 2015, when September 2016 felt very far away indeed. The problem of course being that not only did we have to listen to all the information in class, but we were expected to retain it and use it to write papers! In my heart of hearts, I had no idea how I was going to rise to the challenge.

Presenting on the use of Renewable Portfolio Standards in the U.S.

One of my first classes was Policy Instruments for Environmental and Resource Management, taught by Professor Liu Beibei of the Nanjing University School of the Environment. As soon as the seven of us sat down in the classroom, our energetic professor immediately started firing questions at us: what were the most important environmental issues facing the world today? What did we know about China’s environmental policies? What should the Chinese government do about combatting environmental challenges? It was terrifying, to say the least – I remember feeling as inarticulate as I have ever felt, as I stumbled over words and struggled to understand parts of her questions. Part of the problem was the vocabulary I lacked – in a Chinese language course or chatting at a bar with friends, carbon trading schemes, sulfur dioxide emissions or solar panels are not typical phrases one uses. But the even tougher part was that these questions are difficult to answer in English – they’re the challenges facing world leaders and policymakers today, which everyone is seeking the answers to.

I had to rise to the challenge- and fast! My first tool was Pleco – a fantastic Chinese dictionary app, invaluable in class as well as daily life in China. During class, I would look up words on it the professor used that I didn’t understand, and then add them to the vocabulary list I kept for each class. I used the website Memrise to create my own lists that I would then do online quizzes to help me learn these new words (they actually served as a nice break from my readings #gradstudentlife).

Speaking in class was a big challenge for me (I wanted to sound smart and thoughtful!) Something that helped when I was first doing this was to write out my comment in Chinese so I could get the grammar straight before putting my hand up to contribute. Once I felt more comfortable with the phrasing, I would just write the key words of my point down so that I had them to refer to, should I forget how to phrase something. This helped me to concentrate more on my tones and my argument, as opposed to searching for the correct grammar and vocabulary mid-comment.

 Field trip to visit areas of environmental policy interest in Suzhou

When writing my papers, I was sure to always plan extensively in English to ensure there were no gaps in my logic, which are easier to miss when written in Chinese. I also reached out to the fantastic Chinese students at the writing center for help proofing and explaining my grammatical mistakes. I always left feeling like I had learned more about writing in Chinese, and relieved I had them available to fix my errors! My roommate also helped in a pinch, and she was especially great when it came to economics, which is her major.

As the semester progressed in my ERE class, the combination of readings and class time boosted my environmental policy vocabulary (I ended up with 207 words and phrases on my vocab list) and through teaching, discussions and some soul searching, answering those huge questions became more achievable – though they stayed a little out of reach. That’s the magic of classes at the HNC – you’re asking huge questions about economics, politics, the law and the environment. You’re being asked to use all of your powers of analysis and insight on a daily basis and what’s more, in your target language. That’s what the brochures mean when they talk about graduate level classes – they’re not just full of readings and research papers (though those are certainly part of it), they’re requiring thinking on a whole new level that goes beyond the challenges of undergrad.

At the end of my year at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, I wasn’t magically transformed into a native level Chinese speaker who never messes up their tones and always arranges their sentences perfectly (more’s the pity), but I left with the confidence that I had conquered what I never would have believed I could – six graduate level classes in Chinese, countless papers and presentations discussing the big ideas and key challenges we face. I’ve carried it with me to SAIS DC and will continue to in my future endeavors, the knowledge that if I can do that, I can do whatever challenge I’m presented with next.


Written by Anna Woods, HNC Certificate/SAIS MA Student