A Day in the Life of a Blair student
I’ve recently been receiving many questions about how I balance my life as a music major interested in other subjects. Since it’s the time of the year when regular admissions decisions are released, I thought I’d describe my schedule to give a taste of what a typical day looks like.
As I’ve mentioned in my previous blog posts, Vanderbilt allows students to have flexible schedules if they have a variety of interests; thus, my life can get pretty busy as a Blair music performance major with a French minor! For those interested in studying music rigorously in a conservatory setting in addition to studying other academic subjects at a high level, this is what my schedule typically looks like (on Tuesdays).
I usually make my own breakfast at my Morgan suite, usually scrambled eggs or oatmeal with fruit. My first class of the day is at Furman Hall, the home of the French and Italian department, on main campus. The class is called Texts and Contexts: French Revolution to the Present, which is a requirement for my French minor. It’s one of my favorite classes despite there being a lot of reading and writing…c’est la vie!
Next, I hurry to Rand to secure a spot in the pasta line, which is usually the shortest during the hectic, crazy lunch hour. I only have about half an hour to eat since I have another class right after lunch.
My next class is the Refugee Experience in France & Italy, which is also on main campus, not far from Rand. I’m taking this course to learn more about the dangers that asylum seekers and refugees face as they embark on perilous journeys to escape persecution or war. It’s a super interesting class and I absolutely love the professor, as he’s super passionate about his work on helping refugees.
After class, I rush back to Blair to warm up for my hour long private lesson. I play the pieces I’ve been working on during the week and my teacher gives me constructive feedback. All this daily practice and lessons are in preparation for major performances such as my junior recital this past weekend and our “final” performances aka juries. As a junior performance major, I performed an hour long recital as part of my major requirements. You can view it here. After my lesson, I attend the weekly cello studio class. This is where the cellists have the opportunity to perform for one another and receive critiques on their playing. I usually perform twice a month. Afterwards, I usually get dinner with a friend at the Pub, my favorite on-campus restaurant on the second floor of Sarratt. As a huge foodie, dinners are my favorite part of the day, because I finally have time to relax and catch up with friends. With my packed schedule, I don’t usually have time to hang out with my friends that much, but we’ve all scheduled in dinners with each other on different days of the week at different places. This allows us to take a breather and also enjoy eating at multiple places either on-campus or off-campus. After dinner, I either practice for a couple hours or I start on homework. Depending on the time of the semester, I sometimes have two hour long dance rehearsals or orchestra rehearsals.
On Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, I only have one political science class at Commons, but the rest of my day is filled with chamber rehearsals with my string quintet (2 violins, 1 viola, 2 cellos), personal practice time, and orchestra rehearsals.
I hope you learned a little more about what I do. If you have any questions about my day, major, or various activities, feel free to contact me at meghan.leong@vanderbilt.edu!