All Entries in the "All Featured Articles" Category
A Note from the Editors
[May 2011 Issue] By the SAIS Observer Editors Goodbye and Hello, Revolutions, Terrorists, Students “As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.” — Socrates This semester has been one of immense changes in the international sphere, but the question of progress is still left up to future decision makers, if not generations. We’ve witnessed [...]
Meaning of Life After SAIS
[May 2011 Issue] By Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak Perspectives from an Alumnus Teaching at SAIS The time warp of May at SAIS is an annual ritual characterized by exams, internships for some, and orals, jobs, and commencement for others. And then there is packing for a time or for good. This compressed period induces stress and pressure of the [...]
A Revolutionary First Year in Middle East Studies
[May 2011 Issue] By Peter Gruskin I had studied revolutions and the Middle East but never the two together, until I came to SAIS. This semester changed the landscape of the region—or was it the other way around? Powerful narratives have emerged, but of what doctrine or fate, I am still unsure. As my International Financial Markets course [...]
Life in Bologna
[May 2011 Issue] By Mia Warner Studying at SAIS for the past two years has been an exhilarating and humbling experience, much unlike anything I could have imagined before I started my studies. I spent my first year of SAIS at the Bologna Center (BC) in northern Italy. I came to SAIS after working in consulting in DC [...]
Our Life in Nanjing
[May 2011 Issue] By Michael Carbone & Ray Wang Inside the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (HNC), a co-run academic institution which formed in 1986 between Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and Nanjing University in Nanjing, China, SAIS students get to sharpen their Mandarin skills while exploring a country rising on the global stage. With [...]
“This American Life”
[May 2011 Issue] By Lena Diesing Coming to SAIS as a foreign student is an adventure. There are lots of small things that happened to me that made me say, “Hum, really?“ in daily activities. I am far away from home, I rarely communicate in my most comfortable language, I cannot find my favorite food [...]
A Special Note from the President of The Johns Hopkins University
[May 2011 Issue] By President Ronald J. Daniels With a fantastic trip to the Hopkins-Nanjing Center last fall, a journey across Spain as part of the SAIS International Staff Ride, a whirlwind weekend at the Hopkins Bologna Center, and frequent trips to SAIS’ home here in Washington, I’m lucky to say this has been my “Year of SAIS.” [...]
International Staff Ride 2011: Strat Studies Hits Spain
[May 2011 Issue] By Rebecca Zimmerman In the reflective stupor that always marks the painfully early morning after a staff ride’s final night, I sat in the lobby of the Hotel Emperador with department head Eliot Cohen, waiting for the bus. We spoke about the staff ride and why PhD students are encouraged to come, [...]
SAIS Goes to Sri Lanka
[May 2011 Issue] By the International Law & Organizations and South Asia Studies Programs Through a generous grant from the Starr Foundation, the International Law and Organizations Program sponsored an academic field trip to Sri Lanka over spring break, led by the Director of the ILAW program, Professor Ruth Wedgwood, and Associate Director, Tiffany Basciano, [...]
U.S.-China Relationship: It’s Complicated
[May 2011 Issue] By Valerie Mock and Kristen Handley Dreading a 3 AM wake-up call, and given that it was St. Patrick’s night after all, it was a popular choice among this student contingent to revel in the evening’s festivities to the fullest and to just push on through the night. Directly following an evening [...]