The Best Things About Vandy
After my first summer away from Vandy, I couldn’t wait to get back by the time August rolled around. I spent the summer doing research in a lab at home, which was an incredible experience, but Western blots just don’t compare to Nashvegas. So for my first ever blog, I thought I’d write about all of the wonderful things that I missed and love about Vanderbilt.
First off, I love dining’s food and all of the variety that they have. I tried my first omelet ever at Commons last year and have since become addicted to them. I’m also a huge fan of Grins, and I can’t wait for the new pizza place to open in Rand. Also, Vanderbilt Dining is incredibly responsive to what students want. I have a friend who requested spaghetti and meatballs last year, and the next semester it was on the menu. Plus, the Taste of Nashville program is great for checking out local restaurants and getting tons of frozen yogurt.
One of the things that I’m really passionate about is community service, and Vanderbilt has tons of service organizations, which can make it difficult to choose because they are all so awesome. Personally, I’m involved in VSVS, where we go to middle schools and perform science experiments to get the kids interested and excited about studying the sciences. I’m also a volunteer flute teacher at a local Nashville organization called the WO Music Smith school, which provides music lessons to underprivileged kids for 50 cents a lesson. I’d also highly recommend Alternative Spring Break which I went on last year, and I plan to do again this year because it was such an incredible experience.
As an engineering major, the academics at Vanderbilt are definitely rigorous, but study groups and office hours definitely help make it manageable. It seems like there are always office hours, either for the professor or the TAs, along with review sessions going on, all of which are great for understanding the material and how to do the homework. Professors genuinely want you to do well and try to help you by explaining things in the simplest way possible. I’d also recommend doing homework with other students. Fellow blogger, Rachael, and I find it helpful to do our biomechanics homework together because sometimes it just helps to have someone else to talk through the problems with.
Another thing that I love is that there is always something to do in Nashville! My friends and I are always looking for a reason to dress up for fun, so last weekend we dressed up and went to the Belcourt theater to watch the movie, Moonrise Kingdom. Afterwards, we took advantage of the fact that Sweet Cece’s is now on the card and got some froyo. There are also free concerts on Thursday nights downtown at an event called Live on the Green, and free concerts on Saturday afternoons in Centennial park in the fall. I have yet advantage of either this semester, but I plan on going on soon!
I’m so happy to be back at Vandy and I can’t wait to blog about all that is to come.