October, 2014
Retreat Weekend
Oct. 28, 2014—This past weekend I spent Friday evening through Sunday afternoon as a staff member for the Nashville Awakening Retreat at Camp Marymount, a camp ground that’s just a quick drive headed south along West End. I have participated in this retreat every single semester since I went on it my first semester as a retreated and...
How to Get Exercise Without Setting Foot in the Gym
Oct. 28, 2014—Don’t get me wrong: the Student Rec Center here at Vanderbilt is great. With the swipe of your Commodore Card, you get free access to an indoor track, a basketball court, more treadmills and weight machines than I can count, and even a couple of rooms for racquetball that I’m dying to try out. And...
Passport to Nashville Weekend
Oct. 27, 2014—At the beginning of this month I was very, very busy. With it being midterm season AND Homecoming week my weekdays were packed with lots of time spent studying, finishing projects, planning birthday surprises for friends, seeing Bill Nye the Science Guy (Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!) and going to Commodore Quake. This meant carefully...
When Drinking is a Disease
Oct. 27, 2014—Last week while using public transportation in Nashville, I found myself chatting with a couple of homeless men at a bus stop. One man, called "Chief" by his buddies, had short greasy hair and dirty white sneakers. "Look at these," he said, pointing to the shoes. "Look at how disgusting I am." His voice dropped to a cracked whisper and his brown eyes looked into mine. "Today I’m drinking my last beer." He peeled back the brown paper from a glass bottle. "You don’t believe me, I know you don’t. But this is my last beer."
A Tale of Two Roomies
Oct. 26, 2014—Some reasons why you're missing the perfect (or perfectly tolerable) roommate that you might not have even realized you needed here at Vanderbilt.
Blazers and Résumés and Keeping My Sanity
Oct. 26, 2014—As a senior at Vanderbilt, I am constantly plagued with the “What are your plans after graduation, again?” question. It’s not that I’m sick of it — it’s just that I am still asking myself that same question. I don’t know my plans, world! One of the main reasons I chose Vanderbilt my senior year...
EVOLVE is Present Tense
Oct. 24, 2014—After eight weeks, EVOLVE has come to an end. We've explored ACCESS and accomplished the following goals: Examine and describe personal leadership style; develop relationships with peers through cluster and 1:1 meetings; identify, explore, and apply personal strengths; apply Leadership Excellence Philosophy to our Vanderbilt experience.
A Series of Firsts
Oct. 24, 2014—Hey guys! My name’s Ishani and I’m a freshman in the School of Engineering. As an international student from London, England, my time at Vanderbilt could be characterized as a series of firsts, for example going to my first football game (a rite of passage, even though I had no idea what was going on and accidentally...
Ethical, Service-Oriented, and Supportive Leadership
Oct. 23, 2014—The first three sessions of EVOLVE covered accountability, collaboration, and communication, and the last three session of EVOLVE covered ethics and values, servant leadership, and identity and inclusivity. A Leader is Ethical Ethics, which we defined as standards of conduct based on socially-accepted values, are necessary to promote productive functioning and well-being of groups/societies (OSLD)....
So Fall Happened
Oct. 23, 2014—Vanderbilt let me do all of the fall things...for freeeeeee!