My Commons Life

News & features about the Vanderbilt Commons from the students who live here

Features

Oldboy returns to the big screen at The Belcourt

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For my first night out in Nashville, I decided to buy tickets to an 8:15 screening of Oldboy at The Belcourt. Just a 10-minute walk from Commons, The Belcourt is Nashville’s nonprofit film center established in 1925. Oldboy is Park Chan-wook’s 2003 cult classic that was recently remastered and re-released in select theaters. For a 20-year-old South Korean movie with subtitles, I expected a near-empty theater. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to see almost every seat full upon walking in.

The previews of upcoming events at The Belcourt completely set the tone before the lights dimmed. A preview for Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain playing on Wednesday, September 6 immediately sucked me in with its striking visuals. The following preview for the documentary Once Upon a Time in Uganda playing Friday, August 18 was hilarious and heartwarming. After the previews concluded, a short message from Oldboy director, Park Chan-wook, generated plenty of laughter and excitement across the packed theater.

Oldboy itself was twisted beyond imagination, wildly shocking, and surprisingly hilarious at times. Seeing such a unique work of art in a theater packed with people who love movies was unforgettable. To cap off the night, the walk back to Commons was full of discussion about the film’s philosophical themes and ambiguous ending. The Belcourt is truly a special place and exactly how going to the movie theater should be.

The Belcourt offers plenty of events perfect for first-year students looking for something to do on a night out. You can go to a midnight feature of The Big Lebowski on September 2 or meet Greg Sestero, the star of The Room (often dubbed the “Citizen Kane of bad movies”) before watching the movie on September 15. If you love movies or are just looking for something to do, The Belcourt is where it is at.

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Inside the Commons Houses

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By Harika Koduru, Sara Rodriguez and Lauren Lamson

Hey freshmen, you wanna get to know your Commons better? We toured all ten houses so you don’t have to. 

Historic Neighborhood

North House

First up, North House. North is in the historic neighborhood on Commons, which comprises three houses built in the 1920s as well as Gillette and Memorial, which are ten years older. North has six floors, spacious hallways and staircases with beautiful views looking out on campus. The sixth floor features a common kitchen and a sunlit atrium (definitely an amazing place to hang out, study and bake). The cons: the weird offset closets and the steep stairs (take our word for it, they’re a tripping hazard) and it’s right across from the hospital so ambulances and helicopters may keep you up.

East House

East has four floors and about 100 students, with a strong sense of community. Over a decade of East residents have left purple handprints on the walls of the first floor. In the front entrance of East, there’s a convenient dirt path for all members and a snappy elevator because there are only four floors. Other amenities include fairly bright bathrooms, semi-functional showers, and a full-size kitchen, study lounge and television lounge on the second floor.

West House

West is giving Gillette, except West’s stairs have bigger windows. West smells clean. Its hallways are wide. The common areas are small but inviting, and the fireplace in the foyer is the nicest of the Commons.

Gillette House

Gillette has six g’floors with roughly 231 g’homies. Each g’floor has narrow g’hallways and g’staircases with square-like g’windows. The first g’floor has g’laundry, two g’lounges and three g’practice rooms with two g’restrooms near the corner. The only g’cons are the g’horrors of the g’leak in 2021 (*cough cough* musty odor) and the dimly lit g’restrooms.

Memorial House

Memorial has a historic-feeling foyer with a beautiful fireplace. Its huge windows let in light and views of the leafy trees. Memorial is located at the heart of the commons dorms, accessible to neighbors, and it is easy to navigate inside because of its smaller size. That doesn’t stop Memorial from having study spaces and roomy hallways. 

New Neighborhood

Crawford House

Crawford is a member of the new neighborhood of houses built in the 2000s. Members of the hive have nice amenities: spacious hallways, well-lit bathrooms and homey commons areas. Beyond that, Crawford is fairly typical. Its roughly 150 residents are far from Commons and the bridge to main campus, but the staircase views of the parking lot and the Nashville skyline make up for the extra walking. 

Murray House

Murray includes six floors with a seminar room, common kitchen and large laundry room. With an interior very similar to Crawford and Stambaugh, Murray also has spacious hallways and bathrooms. It houses a slightly below-average number of residents: roughly 150.

Stambaugh House

Stambaugh is another near-carbon copy of Crawford and Murray. “Stam” contains five floors, with a music and seminar room on the first floor. There are roughly 180 residents, and the view from the third floor balcony is as pretty as a picture, overlooking all of Commons. Other amenities include wide hallways and bathrooms similar to Crawford and Murray.

Sutherland House

Much like the rest of the new neighborhood, Sutherland has high ceilings, nice bathrooms and wide hallways. The elevators are conveniently right off the common areas. Roughly 180 first-years live in Sutherland. Sutherland’s main strongpoint is the kitchen on the first floor, which was one of the biggest we saw.

Hank Ingram House

Hank Ingram (or Hank Hotel as it is called) is huge with roughly 290 residents. If you meet a first year on campus, there’s a pretty good chance that they’re in Hank. Hank has a spacious lobby as soon as you walk in. The lobby also features a big seminar room where residents can study in group settings. The hotel has killer views from the upper floors as well as beautiful and spacious hallways. The good news is every first-year has Commodore Card access to the first floor in case they temporarily misplaced their dorm key and they have 24 hours to return their borrowed key back to Hank. If you actually lost your key then it’s a longer process which entails having your locks changed and a fee. Don’t be too jealous though, the staircase is dimly lit giving an ominous vibe as well as steep (also a big tripping hazard so watch out). 

There are pros and cons to each house, making them difficult to rank, but we were reassured on our trek around the Commons that no house was significantly worse than its neighbors. 

Vlog Type Thing-Housing Etiquette 101

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In this episode of Vlog Type Thing, Sariha & Maria go into everything a first-year Commodore needs to know about sharing spaces like your kitchen and the communal bathrooms. No matter what house you’re in, you’ll definitely need to check this episode out.

Co-Hosted by: Maria Balhara and Sariha Mohammed

Produced by: Sofia El-Shammaa, Maria Balhara, and Sariha Mohammed

Written by: Sofia El-Shammaa, Maria Balhara, and Sariha Mohammed

Edited by: Sofia El-Shammaa

Follow us @mycommonslife on Instagram!

MCL Top 5: Things I’ll Miss About Freshman Year

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Wow, can everybody believe we’ll be done with our first year of college in a week or two? Time certainly crawled by at times, but looking back, everything has flown by so quickly. It feels like just a little while ago that I joined the MCL team, and now we’re already on our final (!!!!!!!) newsletter of the year. Damn. Anyways, to wrap up this absolute roller coaster of a time, here are my top five things I’ll miss about freshman year!

5. Living on Commons

Okay, yes, it’s far from pretty much everything except all the Peabody buildings, but I still think it’s quite a nice place to live. And I know Commons is not anybody’s favorite dining hall (if it is, I truly have no words for you), but as someone who’ll be in Highland next year, I’ll certainly miss being two minutes away from a decent meal that I don’t have to cook myself. Looks like I’ll be getting my exercise in every day.

4. Having easier classes

Kidding, kidding… kinda. On one hand, I’m excited to learn more in-depth content in the subjects I’m interested in. On the other, the lazy half of my brain is kicking and screaming knowing that I’ll have to keep on top of things much better in the coming years. Ah well. It is what it is.

3. Knowing I have a lot of time to figure everything out

This one is just me being a bit anxious about things. We still have time to figure everything out—it’s what college is for! (That is, if we ever do figure things out.) But thinking about the fact that we only have three more years to prepare ourselves before we’re thrown into the real adult world where we’ll actually have to pay for do everything ourselves makes me quite nervous, and I frankly would rather ignore that fact for as long as possible!

2. Discovering fun new things about campus and Nashville

I’m sure that I’ll continue to learn new things throughout my time here. After all, I’m only one person, and the campus and city are quite complex. Despite that, I know that there probably won’t be as many of those OMG-guess-what-I-found moments as the years go by. Perhaps it just means they’ll be more impactful?

1. Being on the MCL team

C’mon, I had to. This year has definitely had its ups and downs, but one thing I’m extremely grateful for is that I’ve worked with many wonderful people throughout my time in MCL. And hey, if any of you readers happen to be incoming freshmen who are considering joining, I say go for it! You’ll have a great time.

And that wraps up my last Top 5 of the year! Gosh, how crazy is that. To everybody who’s been keeping up with our content throughout the year, thank you so much for appreciating our work! It’s been an honor and a joy. Good luck on your finals, and enjoy your summer break! Toodles, everyone.

MCL Top 5: My Top 5 Suzie’s Drinks

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 Y’know working at Suzie’s is a very humbling experience. But I have the time of my life there (sometimes). Although I originally wanted to tell you my least favorite drinks to make, I don’t want to set myself up for failure because I know those will be the only drinks people will get. Anywho… every shift, I experiment with some drink, and I have narrowed down my favorites with these final 5 for the semester! hehe hehe

  1. Lavender Latte

This is the first drink I have ever tried at Suzie’s, and if coffee didn’t make me sleepy, I would get it all the time. Honestly, my grades were much better when I got this before every bio lecture.

2. Strawberry Coconut Chai or milk

Ok, this one I get every day now. It tastes very tropical and is a light pink shade. Makes me feel like I’m in the Bahamas. Cannot go wrong with just the milk either if you don’t like your drinks too sweet.

3. Strawberry Milk

This is a fan favorite! I also get this every day; it’s kind of an obsession. Although our strawberry milk does not look like this exactly…it’s close….haha. GET IT THOUGH; IT’S GOOD

4. Raspberry Chai

At this point, you should know that anything with chai is good, but RASPBERRY??!! The of, shoutout to Brooke this is her creation except with…oat milk which I despise. 2% all the wayyyy!!!

5. Hot Chocolate

Last but not least, gotta keep it classy. You cannot go wrong with a hot chocolate. Although I will judge you if you order this in spring…but I mean, who am I to tell you what you should get?

If you see me in Suzie’s and the line is OUT THE DOOR, and I’m making expresso shots PLEASEEEEEE get a chai or something or I will cry. But the key point of this article is that chais are very flexible and everyone should branch out from the burning oat latte or vanilla oat latte. Switch it up from time to time it makes my job more fun. HEHHEE ENJOYYYYY

Esme Street: Final Episode

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Dear Esme,

So silly how I call this the final episode as if there were multiple hahaha, sorry guys bio was beating me up for real. Anywho…wow, you truly did it, girl. You really did it. I mean, the semester isn’t over quite yet so don’t start relaxing now, but I mean girlllll it has not been easy. I’m honestly so surprised at how far I have made it. If you know me, you know my number one motto, “sleep is for the weak.” But for the incoming freshman let me tell you….DON’T BE LIKE ME. I cannot prioritize anything. Instead of studying for an exam, I was shopping for a wedding outfit and I don’t even know anyone who is getting married HA. Anywho, sorry Esme I forgot this letter was to you. After looking back on these past two semesters and you have done a lot. I’m very proud you could maintain your grades, two jobs, and multiple performance clubs. No wonder why you didn’t sleep. I’m kind of writing this hoping that you’re reading this before graduation so let me go ahead and say what I want to. I hope you have grown into the woman of God you have longed and longed to be. Hopefully, you are getting ready to travel, and have your dream job and your freshman-year plan can actually come to life. I hope your name still remained Congratulations all these years. I hope you left the crusty Gillette bathrooms behind. I hope you got Zeppos, NOT HOPE I’M PRAYING EVEN NOW YOU WILL GET IT IN JESUS’ NAME AMENOOOOO. I  hope you didn’t overload yourself to get where you are. I hope you still talk to some of your (emphasis on some) floormates from freshman year because that g’bond is too precious. Lastly, I hope you learned to say no haha, you don’t have to do everything girl you can only handle so much at a time. I lied I hope you finally got to take a sign language class and also got into art because registration that was outrageous. MAKE SLEEP NO LONGER FOR THE WEAK BECAUSE MY EYEBAGS ARE TOO MUCH GIRLLLL!!!! Take care of yourself and call your parents more you will regret it later. Also get your money up not your funny up, how you have two jobs but can’t pay for your own hair be fr. But I love you girllllll and remember nothing is embarrassing because you will never see these people ever gain 🙂 live it up girlyyyyy !! Be thankful for the character development arc heheheeeee !!

Sincerely, 

The best Sesame without the S this campus has ever seen

p.s. here are some memories you are not allowed to forget:

MCL Top 5: Obvious Things I’ve Learned This Year

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You live and you learn, ey? It’s what makes life fun (at least, when it’s not for school)! And yet, some of the things I realize are so obvious that I’m just flabbergasted as to how I didn’t know it sooner. This whole article has been quite embarrassing to write, but hopefully someone can learn something from my own ignorance.

5. You can cover the toilet sensors (potential TMI warning?)

This one is just. Wow. How did I never think of this until I was 18 years of age. I always just suffered through the feeling of having cold toilet water splash up onto my butt when the toilet flushed while I was still using it. To be fair, I didn’t really use automatic toilets often enough for this to be much of an issue for me until I got here, but oh my goodness. Draping a piece of toilet paper on top of the sensor is such a wonderful quality of life hack.

4. It’s spelled “arboretum”

Someone tell me why and how I’ve managed to live my whole life thinking the word was actually “arboreum”. I only found out about my error when I was speaking to some people about my pollen allergies, which may have been made worse by the fact that we live on an arboretum (apparently the entire Vanderbilt campus is one!). The more ya know, I guess.

3. You can get a side with your 2301 smoothie

BEFORE YOU START TO JUDGE ME, please remember that the title of this article is top 5 obvious things I’ve learned this year. This one actually hurts to admit to, because how in the world did I not know this??? In my defense, I… Okay, I actually have no defense. Oops, I guess.

2. You don’t have to measure yourself in a vacuum

Whew, okay, getting into the deep stuff now! The heading is a bit confusing, but I couldn’t figure out how to word it concisely (sorry). Anyways, to elaborate: I was feeling a bit down on a random night because I randomly realized that I was always doing something—listening to music, working on a project, meeting friends, going places—in order to distract myself from the feeling that I’m not much at all without all of those things. But then I thought, “Why do I feel the need to measure myself in a void? That’s stupid.” And it really is!! Even the people that are universally considered to be successful wouldn’t be much on their own! Why do I, by myself, need to be something great? I don’t plan on living the rest of my life completely alone, nor am I going to do everything by myself. People and their lives are just accumulations of their relationships and accomplishments (“accomplishments” is used loosely here, since I’d say living well is an accomplishment), so why try to judge myself in a vacuum? If I really look at myself as I am—a person with a great family and friends I can rely on, a person who’s pursuing higher education, a person who is doing her best to live a good life—I’d actually say that I have quite a lot. And that’s something I can be satisfied with.

1. Living your best life takes a lot of effort

This one was probably the most impactful realization I’ve made this year. I won’t lie, my first semester here was pretty rough. No details, but it was a not very fun time, and I don’t like to think about it too hard anymore. Since then, I’ve done my best to turn things around, and I’d say that I’ve succeeded in doing so! Yay 🙂 But one of the things that I continue to realize every single day is that it is difficult as hell to actually live in a way that I’m proud of. It always looked so easy when other people did it, so I just lived my life thinking that it would just come to me one day. Nope. Turns out all the people I admired and envied actually work very hard to live good lives! Who woulda thunk, huh? Again, really obvious stuff. Anyways, I suppose this is sort of a flip side to the “everybody struggles, you just can’t see it” thing.

Alrighty! That’s the end of this one! We’re getting pretty close to the end of the year now, which is crazy to think about. I’m not sure what to say about it all, but at the very least, I can say I’ve learned from this whole experience (as you just read about)! Good luck on the final stretch everybody. We got this!

MCL Top 5: Study Methods That Helped Me Pass

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Since finals are around the corner and our freshman year is basically over, why not share my study methods? If you’re anything like me and peaked academically in high school, this one is for you. I have struggled to be consistent with my study habits, especially since that’s not what they teach you in high school. You kind of uh… have to figure it out yourself. Over the past semester, I have asked people how they studied and tried them out, so here are my top 5 study methods that I think worked for my other friends or me: 

  1. Writing everything you know on the board: I love this one so much. I am the type of person who, if I don’t physically write something down repeatedly, it will not stick in my brain. I did this for all of my fall semester classes, but then I either lost my markers, or they dried out, and I just gave up. HIGHLY RECOMMEND

2. Anki: Anki is a popular study method (I would not recommend making 500 anki flashcards the night before the exam like someone here). The idea of asking yourself questions to practice active recall and spacing them is excellent, especially for pre-med students, but I did not use it correctly. It was probably the sleep deprivation, but all of my questions were so random, and I would look at the answers and say, “Oh, that’s awkward.”

3. Funny memorization: This always made me enjoy learning. For example, my girl Amy G  amygdala is always emotional, and the information sticks longer. The more random, the better.

4. Taking the practice test a million times and studying what I didn’t know: It cuts your study time in half and is way more efficient. Of course, you want to review all of the material you can, but I have a job and am a part of a bunch of orgs on campus, so I’ll work smarter, not harder. This was the best way that I have studied. What better of way than studying the way professors word their OWN exams? I wish I could have taken advantage of this asap, but better now than never. One thing is to make sure that you are thinking through each question and writing down the answers as if it was the real deal. Also, just because you have taken it once does not mean you can’t take it again, so MAKE SURE YOU TAKE IT AS MANY TIMES AS YOU CAN !!

5. Flashcards physical cards: ( Don’t mind the fact that there are no physical cards in the picture. I’m working with what I got hehe) I bought so many flashcards fall semester…. And they’re collecting dust in my desk drawer. But I found it to be most effective for my language learning or memorizing amino acids for where I could draw or write in a different language.

I felt very discouraged since some study methods worked better for others than they did for me but at the end of the day. YOU’RE THE ONE TAKING THE EXAMS! Do whatever is best for you, not for everyone else :0 hehehhee 

Why I Love Suzie’s Cafe…

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For me, waking up in the morning is no easy task. Many times I groan at the sound of my alarm, roll over and hug my stuffed animal, wanted nothing more to return to the comfort and warmth of sleep. However, what provides me the mental and physical boost to arise out of bed, put on my Ugg slippers, and get ready in the morning is my daily trip to Suzie’s cafe near Central Library. So, here’s why I love Suzie’s Cafe and why you’ll see me with a strawberry iced chai (with extra chai and oat milk) and two banana cakes everyday in class. First, walking into the cafe is always a pleasurable experience: the employees are always super nice, the organized assortment of snacks and baked goods is such a refreshing visual, and it’s always fun to take a look at the trendy drink of the week artwork. Every time I frequent Suzie’s I walk out with an extra pep in my step and bright, replenished eyes… all of a sudden my day is so much better. While the vibes of Suzie’s are immaculate, the same can be said about the food and drinks they offer. The strawberry iced chai I’ve been getting lately is lip-licking delicious, and don’t even get me started on the banana cake AKA the perfect study snack. There’s also something special about their ham and cheddar sandwiches that I actually prefer over the rand-wich (a controversial opinion indeed). If you’re thinking about stopping by Suzie’s, I say walk-not run- to the Central Library location. It’s worth the meal swipe.