Dr. Dimitra Amarantidou (Greece) :PhD (2020), Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University. She is currently Assistant Professor of Chinese Philosophy at Shanghai Normal University.

The Philosophy Department of East China Normal University has been my home for more than five years. What is it that makes up a home? Human relations, events, spaces. My teachers, my classmates, our classes, our dinners, our academic activities, our talks in the corridors, our classrooms, our dorm rooms. Having a home is a great source of comfort and security. Our home is a reference point. A place to return to and feel safe and in control. The world is spinning, dramatic changes sweep across the globe faster than our eyes can see, and our home is there, seemingly unchanged. Our home is what we know and love. But being a point of return, a home is also a point from which we need to depart. People, events, and spaces are starting points for our journeys. They are a source of comfort and encouragement, and a point which we cannot but depart from to walk our own path.

I feel deep gratitude for the home I have been given all these years. I am grateful for Office No 2309, a workplace generously offered by my supervisor, the gentle and warm-hearted Professor Yang Guorong. I am grateful for Room No 409 in Dorm Building No 12, which I kept as if it was mine forever, while knowing I was only its guest. Above all, I am grateful to the people that make up my ECNU home. Ms Li, taking care of all foreign students, in Building 14. I privately called her a Fairy. She was always nice and helpful, like a Fairy who came to save you from the difficulties of bureaucracy. And she was always quiet and serene, as if she belonged to another, peaceful world where there is no bureaucracy. Ms Li and Ms Chen in our Philosophy Department. Their patience and calmness, their sweet smiles, often helped me get through difficult processes and unexpected problems. I am grateful to Professor Liu Liangjian, our Dean and the heart of the Philosophy Department for foreign students. His warmth, cordiality, and ability to bring people together have been a great source of support for us all. Professors Chen Yun, Yu Zhenhua, Gong Huanan, Guo Meihua, and Zhu Cheng have, in their own ways, taught me academic ethos and humaneness, especially during the stressful time of pre-defense and thesis defense. They are living examples of how academic seriousness is only the other side of friendly lightheartedness. They are all dear to me. Last but not least, my home at ECNU would not be a home without Paul J. D’Ambrosio. He has taught me and is still teaching me more than he or me will ever know.