Can you study with all the colors of the wind?

 

Greetings, readers! As you can see in the photo above, Vanderbilt students are in the thick of midterms. No worries, though, I, Samantha, have more interesting events to share with you than flashcard-making. 
 
My weekend commenced on Friday night with a get-together with a dozen friends on the 7th floor of the Baker building. What? You say that that’s where the Vanderbilt Call Center is located? What a coincidence!

Twice a month, the Call Center has a unique Friday night shift. As per usual, we called alumni and encouraged them to give back to the university. As per party, though, we put on Transformers 2, and ingested plenty of popcorn and Coke and root beer ice cream floats.

On Saturday, I spent an hour at the Centennial Park Annual Craft Fair. Centennial is a gorgeous park on the outskirts of campus. I found a nifty necklace there...

which is the only item I bought! The displays were lovely, though - hand carved rocking chairs, stunning quilts, homemade fudge, and most important to me, a collection of hand-made windchimes. As a diligent, plan-oriented individual, I have dreams for my retirement. Learning how to make wind chimes ranks pretty high on my dream list! I spent a few minutes chatting with the sweet, elderly woman who makes the chimes. We bonded. It was bliss.

Later on Saturday, I watched the General Relief Society Broadcast of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. For those of you who don’t have a mental catalog of Mormon lingo, the basic concept is thus: women of the Mormon faith, all over the world, come together via internet, radio, television, and (later) print, to hear speeches from male and female church leaders. The speakers tailor their remarks to womanhood. It’s awesome. Sister Stephens asked us, ““Is our heart soft? Do we have a humble heart, a teachable heart, a gentle heart?” That was my favorite moment.

Finally, I watched Angels Take Manhattan, the most recent episode of Doctor Who. 


As far as my Facebook newsfeed counts as evidence, I was not the only Vanderbilt student to do so. We all posted on Facebook from our own little nooks in campus about the heart-wrenching emotion we experienced as the Ponds and the Doctor separated. Honestly, I love that Doctor Who is often a stereotype-smashing show. It constantly questions gender roles, the meaning of education, the validity of social stratification, and other cultural "norms" all while whirling around the entirety of time and space in a police box.

 I know that right now, life at VU is pretty stressful. So as you embark upon your week, whether it's brimming with midterms, or other challenges, keep in mind the Doctor's advice: "The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and...bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things or make them unimportant." 

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/doctorwhospoilers/8027076423/sizes/z/in/photostream/