My Commons Life

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

Features

The Best Study Spots and How to Find Them

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Photos By: Elicia Osigwe

Text By: Jessica Barker

Take a breath of fresh air while studying for your first week of class. You can follow a picturesque route all the way from the Commons Center to the Alexander Heard Library and ace your classes without slugging through construction zones.

The first place that you can try to get some work done is the space directly outside the Commons Center. Green Adirondack-style modern chairs serve as a shady place to catch up on some reading for class and grab a snack at the same time. When the heat gets to be too much, just move inside to one of the bar-height tables in the lobby or use one of the lounges to relax with air conditioning as you read.

For more in-depth study, head across Peabody Esplanade. This should be the only construction you encounter on your hunt for study spots, and with clear-cut sidewalks and paths, it’s super-easy to navigate. Once you get through the construction, hang a right at the Administration building and walk to the building to the right of it. It will look almost identical, but it should have some banners outside and say “Peabody Library” over the door. Once you walk inside, be ready to look up.

Peabody Library greets you with a stained glass atrium that gives the lobby a warm glow.

Directly in front of you is a doorway, beyond which you can see shelves upon shelves of books. Check out some books (if you want) before you go back to the lobby and go downstairs.

Once you get downstairs to the study area, you will easily find your way to a large room with lots of tables, chairs, and even smaller rooms that let you have vast desks all to yourself with plenty of outlets and light to see. The Peabody study spaces offer everything you could need for a productive afternoon studying inside.

As a bonus, if you go downstairs just one more time, there is a spot called the Iris Cafe serving Frothy Monkey coffee and pastries so you can have fuel to get you through the grind. This library is perfect for Peabody majors (even though it’s open to anyone) and is a nice place to study close to Commons.

Farther away from Commons is the Stevenson Science and Engineering Library, which is perfect for STEM majors who may also want to consult professors for more confusing concepts. To get there, leave the Peabody Library and swing left, walking all the way by the playground and turning left to cross the footbridge.

Once you have crossed, follow the path around the perimeter of Stevenson until you see a grassy courtyard with a spiral staircase. Then, you can walk inside Stevenson Library.

There are so many places for you to find your own space. You’re greeted by an open library but can just as easily find stalls to study in all by yourself.

There are also small classrooms with tables for group study and whiteboards to work out equations and other concepts if you prefer group study time as well.

The computer lab can also help you stay connected even when your laptop dies, making it a perfect place to study for hours on end if need be.

Not only does the Stevenson Library have a lot to offer inside, but the courtyard with the spiral staircase is perfect to sit on a blanket and work outside, not too far from the comforts of the great indoors.

Next to the Stevenson Library, to the left of the courtyard with the spiral staircase, is the Alexander Heard Library. The Alexander Heard Library is nestled behind a group of silver chairs and tables.

The entrance to a cafe, Food for Thought Café, sits next to the library entrance.

Once you walk inside, you can explore the eight floors that the Alexander Heard Library has to offer. The different elevators actually travel to different floors with some elevators traveling to evenly numbered floors and some elevators traveling to oddly numbered floors. Each floor has a common room all its own with a community room on the sixth floor.

Outside of the Alexander Heard Library, there is another perfect place to put down a blanket and study or have a post-study picnic. With so many places to study and to unwind, the Alexander Heard Library has a lot to offer as a study space away from the grime of construction.

Ace your first few weeks of class and enjoy the space you do it in with this helpful Commons study crawl.

Vandy Rewind

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As soon as I set foot on Vanderbilt’s campus, I knew immediately the school was filled with a rich history. I had to know more. I rummaged through countless rolls of microfilm of Vanderbilt’s student newspaper, The Vanderbilt Hustler, which go as far back as 1888. I found out so much about Vanderbilt’s past, and I couldn’t wait to share my findings with you. Welcome to Vandy Rewind!

I started with the year 1929 because not only was it exactly 90 years ago, but also the first year of the Great Depression.

“Welcome Freshmen!” 

So, move-in day 2019 was a hassle in this crazy Tennessee summer heat! I know everyone was wishing they could have avoided it. In 1929, Vanderbilt freshmen moved in on Sept. 27, which must have been awesome! Not only was it probably cooler, but they also had an extra month of summer.

“Vandy Boys” 

I was so happy to see the Vandy Boys, Vanderbilt’s baseball team, win their second College World Series Championship this summer! I laughed when I read that 90 years ago, the Vandy Boys were ranked on the “tail end of the division.” It only took 85 years to win our first one in 2014, but we made it!

“Co-eds” 

I noticed that the 1929 copy of The Hustler contained a section called “Co-eds.” It focused on the female students on campus. I had no idea women were called “co-eds,” becauseI originally thought the paper was referring to coeducational dorms. I also found a gossip column called “Hellenistic Tea,” where I read all of the “tea” about campus of the late 1920s. The author talked about  “backstabbing” and “bloodthirsty girls.” Spill the tea, sis!

The front page of The Vanderbilt Hustler from 1929 during freshman welcome week.
Source: Vanderbilt University Archives

Walker Tries to Feed a Venus Flytrap?! (or We Visit Bicentennial State Park)

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It’s officially the last Nashville Wanderer’s post of the year! We’ve explored a lot of places throughout our first year at Vanderbilt, making great memories along the way, and hopefully, through these posts, we’ve inspired you to travel off campus as well. This week Walker and I decided to pack a lot into one post, so we went and visited one of our favorite places in Nashville: the Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park. Not to be confused with Centennial Park, Bicentennial is located right down the hill past the Tennessee State Capitol. It’s a bit of a hike if you decide to walk — about 45 minutes (which I still highly recommend) — but only a short eight-minute ride if you decide to Uber. Since the 19-acre park is so beautiful and has a multitude of attractions, I made a list to cover as many of the features as I could. Bicentennial has got:

  • The Greek-inspired Tennessee Amphitheatre
  • The Nashville Farmers’ Market
  • The Court of Three Stars (the center has an echo spot like Upper Quad) surrounded by a Carillon of 50 Greek-styled bell towers
  • Rivers of Tennessee Splash Fountains
  • A 200-foot-wide Granite Map of Tennessee
  • A World War II Memorial with an 18,000-ton moving granite globe
  • The Tennessee State Museum right across from the Court of Three Stars

For our trip, Walker and I spent our time exploring the Tennessee State Museum, the Court of Three Stars and bell towers, and the Nashville Farmers’ Market. We started at the museum, which is free to the public, and were immediately blown away by the structure and detail of the exhibits. Music, racial movements, the Civil War, sports, clothing through the decades, paintings, and even quilting (I still don’t know why quilting was involved) were covered in the wonderfully arranged displays of Tennessee’s origins and past. The museum had plenty of interactive screens and videos that covered each exhibit and also had plenty of photo-worthy architecture as well (the place is so huge that I honestly lost Walker for a solid ten minutes).

Before we left the museum, we hit up the children’s area (you should not be surprised by this point) and it honestly had some of the coolest art from the entire place. While the general exhibits had lots of history, the children’s area had all of the bright murals one would look for. The floor was covered by a giant map of Tennessee and the walls had multiple colorful pieces on them; one of them even included the Batman Building, but Walker failed at getting my photo next to it (rip).

After chilling at the museum for a while, we headed over to the park itself to check out the WWII memorial. As mentioned above, the WWII memorial has a giant, heavy black granite globe in the center of it, showing the places around the world that Tennessee troops went to during the war. The memorial is surrounded by cherry blossom trees and leads the way to the Court of Three Stars.

This area is so cool to experience because one direction you’ve got a beautiful lawn leading up to the State Capitol hill, and the other way you have 50 Greek-inspired columns that encircle a humongous granite version of the Tennessee Tristar. The lawn was undergoing construction when we visited this time (hence the lack of photos), but from past visits, I can assure you that it is a sight you will want to see while at Vanderbilt.

For our last stop, we hopped into the Nashville Farmers’ Market to check out some of the cool printing shops and local businesses inside. We had grabbed food at Commons before we left (gotta get that swipe), but the market also has bubble tea, crepes, Mexican, coffee, Jamaican, Korean, BBQ, a deli/grill, Jeni’s ice cream, and more. Since we weren’t eating anything there, we shopped, took some artsy photos with a magazine (check below), and then headed to the outside market and garden center.

The outside market hosts a lot of events throughout the year, and although there was no specific event the day we were there, they had some food trucks and neighborhood vendors selling their art (I got a bag of scrap fabric for only $5). The garden center, Gardens of Babylon, has actually been rated one of the most environmentally friendly businesses in Nashville. It was so fun to see all of the different kinds of plants (some were the same ones from Stevenson’s greenhouse) and shop around for flowers and succulents. Walker and I also spent a shameful seven minutes trying to get a mini Venus flytrap to eat a leaf (it did not work). But all jokes aside, I will definitely be hitting this place up for some affordable house plants for next year and recommend the same for anyone else.

Bicentennial State Park is a jam-packed experience that makes you want to come back time and time again. It is seriously one of the most beautiful places I’ve found in Nashville and I hope that you take the time to see it for yourself. Whether you’re looking for some good food, a scenic place to study, a chance to get to know Tennessee’s rich history, or a new succulent, Bicentennial has got it all and is only a walk away.

Bicentennial Capitol Mall State Park Info: https://tnstateparks.com/parks/bicentennial-mall

Tennessee State Museum Hours and Info: https://tnmuseum.org/

Nashville Farmers’ Market Hours and Info: https://www.nashvillefarmersmarket.org/

List-o-things to do over the Summer!

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Summer is the lingering thought amongst most of us Vandy students as we prepare to tackle finals season. Most of us are looking forward to relaxing and enjoying ourselves while some will wonder what they will be doing over our 2 month long break. Here is a (semi) long  list of things to do and/or to keep in mind over the summer:

  1. Plan/decide your future educational path/plan.
  2. Schedule a shadowing of a professional in your prospective field.
  3. Apply for internships in your prospective career.
  4. Learn an new subject: cooking, coding, 3D printing, painting, song writing, playing an instrument, etc.
  5. Volunteer at a retirement village (“old folks home”). They enjoy having young people around!
  6. Volunteer at a local non-profit animal shelter. These types of shelter receive very few support and usually run on donations and grants and are always looking for help.
  7. Create, learn, and start-up a business. This can be from doing tasks on Fiverr, selling handmade items on Etsy or Instagram, or even creating your own website and advertising your product.
  8. Learn to meditate.
  9. Find a way to incorporate more water into your schedule if it is hard for your to remember to drink it daily.
  10. Apply for scholarships.
  11. Learn to film, edit, and post videos/film.
  12. Deep clean your room and donate any old but in good condition items to goodwill. Any new but unworn items can be sold on sites like Mercari or Depop.
  13. Go thrift shopping.
  14. Learn how to invest and/or budget your money.
  15. Plan a vacation or day event with friends.\
  16. Review online notes for any future subject you plan on taking.
  17. Try a new clothing, hairstyle, and/or hair color.
  18. Discuss possible room designs with your roommate for next year.
  19. Consider mentoring an incoming Vanderbilt freshmen.
  20. Breathe and enjoy the summer!
  21. Learn a new hands -on-craft: woodworking, sculpting, construction, electrical circuitry, etc.
  22. View study abroad applications and consider staying abroad for a semester.
  23. Consider taking classes that are new to you (for example, sign language, theater production, acting, star gazing, etc.)
  24. Learn tactics to limit procrastination.
  25. Consider a new method of planning: bullet journals, notebook planners, electronic calendars, etc.
  26. Volunteer at a local food pantry.
  27. If you plan on transferring, taking college tours is a good idea.
  28. Try a new diet and/or exercise routine (within healthy measures of course).
  29. Read more. Go to your local library and get a library card. It is/should be free.
  30. Practice improving your handwriting.
  31. Learn how to type without looking down. There are many free services that offer this online and it makes your typing faster.
  32. Learn/improve your cursive handwriting, like typing, cursive is meant to make writing faster.
  33. Walk outside more and enjoy the fresh air.
  34. Communicate with/visit far away relatives.
  35. Find a summer job.(or create your own).
  36. Sign up for move-in crew.

This list could go on and on but it should give you some ideas as to what you can do over the summer if you find yourself bored and uninspired. Have a great summer!

Hands Down a Great Year

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Handprints are unique; each has their own fingerprint patterns, lines, and size. Each handprint on that wall represents a unique person … someone from a unique background, pursuing their own unique passion. Leaving your handprint somewhere is synonymous to leaving your mark or legacy. That may seem like a bold or melodramatic statement for covering your hand in purple acrylic paint and touching the basement wall of your freshman dorm, but hang on, I’ll explain. Our unique backgrounds somehow all lead us here, to Vanderbilt University, but specifically to East House. There’s a special bond that occurs as a result of learning and exploring freshmen year together.
These hands belong to people who are always learning and creating. East residents are researchers, members of a variety of different academic organizations, and people who engage with faculty, like our Head of House Dr. Seymore, outside the classroom at events like our Bachelor viewing parties and the weekly Thoughts and Snacks house event.
These hands belong to people who are committed to actively engaging in communities across campus. They have thrown up an “anchor down”, helped set up for a function, and clapped enthusiastically as they attended an athletic event.
These hands belong to people who know the importance of self care. They have applied face masks at our stress relEAST event, dialed the number of an RA to seek help, and knocked on the doors of other members of their community to check in and engage in dialogue about healthy living.
These hands belong to people who are committed to celebrating the diverse community they are a part of. They have scrolled through the house groupme, stopping as they saw an cultural showcase event a housemate was in and decided to go (learning more than they were expecting), gone on ASB and helped people who are not as privileged as they are, and hugged someone with a very different identity than them after an insightful, intentional conversation.
These hands represent people who have learned a lot about themselves this year. They have registered for their first absentee ballot, researched an issue to find out their personal stance, and sought out campus resources for personal well-being.
I thought it was interesting to look at the wall and know that so much diversity is present, but how you couldn’t tell what identities a person has just by looking at their hand print. It is, thus, an equalizer and a representation that we are all very different, but share a common identity: a member of East House. These hands represent a diverse community of people who grew alongside and learned from each other. To quote High School Musical, just like we were “all in [it] together” this year, so are our handprints … all up there together on that wall.

The Girl Next Dore: Looking Back, Moving Forward

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This year I’ve learned, and subsequently blogged, about many things. Along my journey, I’ve walked countless laps around Vanderbilt’s campus in my Stan Smith shoes, reminding myself with each step that no matter how dull the soles of my shoes get, the things I’ve experienced in them won’t fade. I’ve begun to see that life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans, and that detours are sometimes the perfect escape — and that these realizations don’t require me to stop the planning I am so accustomed to, but rather to accept the ways that life presents itself to me.

Along the way, I’ve written some journal entries, tried to get my paragraph right and begun to prioritize taking the next right step. I’ve watched some football games and some episodes of Friends, and sung along to “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”

I’ve read some phenomenal books and lamented over my Art History grade through GIFs. I’ve fallen into the midterm slump, hit submit, and tried to pull myself out of the non-Christmas daze of Nashville. I’ve recognized the kindness in humanity, had crazy nights watching Netflix and drinking Brita on the rocks, and even gone line dancing. 

In time, I’ve started to consistently challenge myself to evaluate my perspective and to potentially make some changes if that perspective is not conducive to my growth. And, in turn, I’ve challenged you to do the same. Throughout some of my posts I hope that you’ve been able to see the ways in which I’ve begun to acknowledge that vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness, and that it is okay to tell each other our stories.

Whether you’ve only seen the cover photo of my posts, or whether you read every single one, or maybe read just one along the way, I hope that in some way you may have benefited from my journey, and, if nothing else, that you’ve maybe paused to consider your own. 

Probably without knowing it, you’ve given me a platform to say things that usually I would only think in my head. The ability to say something out loud, to write it down and actually reach an audience, has given me more joy and experience than I could’ve ever asked for this year. Thank you for that and for so much more. 

I hope you will continue to come on this journey with me! If you would like to do so, you can follow me at my website www.thegirlnextdore.com.

Thank you for an incredible year, MyCommonsLife.

As always …

Anchor Down,

Brooke

Preparing for the End: FINALS!

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Final season has fallen among us. And like many other VU students, you most likely  have to juggle your last midterms with studying and/or working on your final exams/projects. Here are some steps to aid you in preparation for final season.

  1. Make a list of all your exams, final projects, papers, etc. and record the date and time each assignment is due/scheduled.
  2. Print a blank calendar (or use a planner) and write in the information you collected in step 1.
  3. Review the list you made in step 1 and estimate how long it will take you to study for, finish, and/or prepare for each item you listed.
  4. Using different colored highlighters, pen, symbols etc., block in the days that you will work on each assignment. For example, if you have an exam Friday, and you need to study for 4 days for it, you will highlight or mark the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday before the exam as an indication of the days that you will study for it.
  5. Repeat step 4 for everything on your list.

In particular to studying, if you need guidance to break down your studying into manageable chunks, follow these steps:

  1. Make a list of all of the chapters/parts that will be covered by your exam.
  2. Quickly skim/review each section and make an estimate of how long it will take you to review the material. Note this next to each chapter/section.
  3. Follow the same steps #1-5 in the above list and use them particularly for your exam. If needed, make/print another calendar separately for any exam.

Your planner/calendar can look pretty overwhelming after listing all of your responsibilities. However, know to take each day at a time and to not try to overplan and over exhaust yourself. Always have 1 to 2 days a week where you are not actively doing work and can relax and do the things you enjoy. Remember to take study breaks every 45 min to 60 min and to sleep,on average, 7 to 8 hours a night.