By Qianrong Ding After a month of distance learning in this new semester, people seem to have been used to the particular circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic– and they may start enjoying the benefits it brings. But problems are not solved yet. With so much uncertainty, international students - a significant component of the SAIS... Continue Reading →
A Snapshot of the SAIS Virtual Student Experience
Zachary Wheeler “I am writing to inform you that we have changed our earlier position and have reluctantly decided to conduct all SAIS-DC classes and activities in virtual and online formats for the Fall 2020 semester,” wrote SAIS Dean Eliot A. Cohen on July 17th. That night, I imagined the coming semester filled with technological... Continue Reading →
Feeling Homesick? Check out these restaurants!
By: Laura Rong February 5th, 2020 BOLOGNA, Italy - Home to the SAIS Europe, Bologna has welcomed students from different parts of the world since the 1960s. Although the local cafeteria on campus, Giulios, offers delicious Italian breakfast and pasta everyday, sometimes one just wants to feel closer to home by going to a restaurant... Continue Reading →
SAIS election poll: Democratic primaries
By Gerhard Ottehenning February 17, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. — After a long winnowing phase, the Democratic primaries are finally underway. SAIS Virginia residents will get the chance to vote on March 3 (“Super Tuesday”), followed by Maryland residents on April 28 and D.C. on June 2. A recent poll administered by the SAIS Observer provides... Continue Reading →
The Myth of Canadian Studies
By Niki Ottolia February 20, 2020 WASHINGTON, DC - Look around you. Approximately, one of every 67 SAIS students is a Canadian Studies concentrator or minor. This elusive student often cross-concentrates in Latin American Studies, making them the Students of Fire and Ice. Although their natural habitat is the Great White North, at SAIS you... Continue Reading →
SAIS goes to Israel
By Gerhard Ottehenning February 2, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. — The six weeks between the Fall and Spring semester confronts SAIS students with the mildly stressful task of sifting through the myriad of opportunities the school has to offer. Students interested in grappling with some of the world’s most intractable issues embarked on a trip to... Continue Reading →
Outbidding the competition – Getting into classes is getting harder at SAIS DC
by Yilin Wang February 1, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Twice a year, SAISers put their economics curriculum to the test; seeking to optimize a bidding strategy with minimized cost. However, it seems that composing such a strategy is proving increasingly difficult. The price inflation on classes have run students dry of opportunity and more classes... Continue Reading →
SAIS Europe reflects on Black History Month
By Fatou Sow BOLOGNA, Italy - Dr. Carter G. Woodson said, “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, founded by Dr. Carter... Continue Reading →
COVID-19 Virus: Bologna Edition
By Julia Fonteles February 25, 2020 BOLOGNA, Italy - In the early hours of Sunday, February 23, Lombardy, the northern region of Italy, woke up to a public health crisis. In a span of 72 hours, Italy reported more than 200 cases of COVID-19, marking the biggest outbreak of the epidemic outside Asia. On Monday,... Continue Reading →
SAIS Europe students learn negotiation skills as part of Prof. Michael Leigh’s Brexit simulation
By Will Marshall February 7, 2020 BOLOGNA, Italy - Students of Professor Michael Leigh’s Fall 2019 course, The European Union: Integration or Disintegration?, were treated to a taste of the painstaking process surrounding the Brexit negotiations through an in-class simulation over the course of two weeks which included a working dinner at the professor’s home... Continue Reading →