<p>Hey guys, I will be attending Vanderbilt in the fall, and I just recently visited Nashville and Vandy, and I really liked it there, but I was wondering...is there a shopping mall easily accessible to Vandy students who do not have a car? Or another way into downtown Nashville, if you are a freshman without a car? I've heard there is a bus system into downtown, but it actually reliable? So yes, is there a shopping mall easily accessible and maybe a big store like a target or walmart for our general shopping? Same as a nearby movie theater, etc...</p>
<p>The school has a shuttle that makes runs to Target & Green Hills shopping mall on weekends. Downtown is accessible by taxi. There is also a Zipcar you can rent & use for shopping trips. My D was leery of taking the bus, but she was not raised in an area that has public transportation.</p>
<p>We are from an area that is very dependent on having a car. It was tough on my D when she didn’t have a car with her … but that was because there is a sense of freedom that was lacking for her while she was car-less. It seemed like she got where she wanted to go, even if she felt trapped.</p>
<p>can anybody tell me about the hillsboro village area? do students go there?
ive heard great things about it from a family friend but have not been there myself</p>
<p>I’ll let other students elaborate on Hillsboro Village, but I can’t resist saying that Hillsboro Village is home to Pancake Pantry and Cabana, wonderful places to eat. The best French toast in the world is made at Pancake Pantry.</p>
<p>Explore Nashville’s Neighborhoods on youtube.
all within a stroll…
The Parthenon. Rent Robert Altman’s Nashville this summer. Expect to spend some good times in the park around it…many festivals there.</p>
<p>lots of coffee shops, luncheon spots and the Belcourt theater in Hillsboro which plays art house films…a few more old faves in Elliston Place on the other side of campus…</p>
<p>Further south down 21st…leads to Green Hills…a sprawling commercial district with indoor and outdoor malls and many other businesses…there is also a new developed area off of 12th Ave south…near the Station Inn where live music is quite good…</p>
<p>West End offers many hotels, a few chain places to eat and some upscale local dining, a couple of strip mall places for shopping…</p>
<p>A taxi quick drive to Broadway and Second avenue… fun touristy strolling and bars near the Riverfront…leads you past the great Frist Art museum…can’t wait to try the new world class Symphony Hall downtown sometime although the quality of programming at Blair is world class too right on campus</p>
<p>Hillsboro Village is closer to the Commons than the rest of Vanderbilt. There is also a Bosco’s microbrewery, some great little boutiques, a few banks and a block or two down from 21st and Wedgewood there is Panera bread, Starbucks, a SATCO, Noshville deli, Gigi’s cupcakes,etc.
You can take the bus to Green Hills and there is a very nice mall with a movie theater, Cheesecake Factory,etc. There is a Trader Joe’s right past the mall.
The closest true grocery store to Vanderbilt is the Harris Teeter and its rather awful with limited selection. Better to go to Green Hills to the Kroger, which is near the Mall at Green Hills.</p>
<p>I took the bus all the time when I was a freshman. At the time, an overlooked error had given all the undergrads free rides on the bus, but it’s still a lot cheaper than a cab. You can purchase cab cash with meal money and use that to pay for a cab if you want too.</p>
<p>my spouse held a 20 hr a week paid job in the Public Defender’s office when at Vandy law…no car…too poor…took the bus, worked great…sometimes took his bike to work…downtown is not strollable from campus…you do need wheels…but it is easy to access downtown…very easy, much easier than access to Atlanta from Emory and Nashville has tons more to offer than Durham does for Duke students re internships. </p>
<p>He also couldn’t afford to pay for heat and did all his work in his winter coat and hat at night in his apt at a building known then as the White Roach off of Elliston…now torn down.
Vandy degree is worth some sacrifices in my opinion. The Commons however, is a nice way to get started.</p>
<p>The Whole Foods by Greenhills is an option also- not only for groceries but for dining in-
my daughter and her BF spent many a night there eating dinner ( a plus for her because of food allergies) and studying as they have free internet access. Some nice little shops & other places to eat in the same complex. Lots of great places to eat & shop in Nashville although not as much of a variety in ethnic food as my daughter was used to here in CA.
She will definitely miss the city & people of Nashville. Graduation was awesome, but bittersweet, as she put it, to say good bye to all that she has grown to love!</p>
<p>Miasmom, so glad her sojourn in Nashville was a happy one. She was brave to come from California to Tennessee…glad it worked out to be a great choice.
What made graduation awesome? (just home from elder son’s graduation from Duke…)<br>
Saw the Vandy graduation film on the website and will watch sometime soon…</p>
<p>My d did not have a car during freshman year, but was able to take the bus to malls and the movies. She and her friends walked A LOT, though - there are so many places in the immediate area to go! She would check out a Vandy car to get back and forth to volunteer obligations in Nashville (for Vanderbuddies, a tutoring group). And I know she made regular use of the Vandy Vans when she was out at night - I think these provide campus transportation only. Someone please chime in if that’s not right.</p>
<p>I too found graduation awesome! The weather was not as cooperative as it could have been, so both the Senior Day speech and the commencement ceremony were in Memorial Gym. Note to parents of future grads - if this happens again, arrive early and sit in the sections with actual chairs, not on the bleachers. We were able to do so, and that was uncomfortable enough.</p>
<p>What made graduation awesome? Doris Kearns Goodwin read a marvelous speech on Senior Day. Though she is not a spectacular speaker, her essay was excellent, perhaps because it wasn’t another “off you go into the great big world” speech. And it was wonderful to be on campus again (as it always is), with several family members, and to see my d and her friends so happy and excited. </p>
<p>The Party on Wednesday night featured an amazing opening act (Soul Incision). They are supposedly made up of hospital staff and administrators, but I say no way - one woman had an exceptional voice, and the instrumentalists were terrific! They had to be Blair faculty - or so it seemed to me. We are not party people, especially when we’ve spent the day on our feet, so we didn’t stay for the EW&F tribute. But it was great fun to see various Vandy administrators perform, especially Chancellor Zeppos, who did pretty well on the guitar. (He should have cut his commencement speech on Friday by about 20 minutes, though.)</p>
<p>I took the bus all the time this past year. The glitch silversparkles18 mentioned generated such good responses that the university has put free bus rides on the card. The #7 bus runs from downtown to Green Hills mall through the Commons side of campus, and the #3 bus runs from downtown to Target/White Bridge Rd/etc. along the West End side. Those two buses run fairly often, about every 20-30 minutes during the weekdays, and every hour at night and over the weekends. </p>
<p>Walking from campus to downtown is about 35-40 minutes; I’ve done the walk many times both in the day and at night with no problems. That’s just my experience though, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend anyone walk back from downtown alone at night, but I think it’s good to walk to/from/around downtown at least once in a group on a nice day to get a feel for the area.</p>
<p>I can confirm that the members of Soul Incision are absolutely not Blair faculty. Just about all of them are faculty and staff at the Vanderbilt Medical Center. There is an amazing glut of musically talented and gifted people in Nashville, many deserve to be “discovered” and most of them never are. There is a very good reason that Nashville is called “Music City”!</p>
<p>I didn’t go to The Party this year, but heard Soul Incision 3 years ago. I agree that they are awesome. Faline2, the only real disappointment with graduation was the fact we weren’t on the lawn for anything. On both days students just assembled in the gym prior to the beginning of the ceremony. I’m assuming that your husband graduated from the lawn and you know how awesome this experience can be with all of the students processing down different walks as the brass ensemble plays. Doris Kearns Goodwin was wonderful, but many complained about the poor quality sound and how they couldn’t hear her well. I guess I was lucky as I was someplace where I could hear. Chancellor Zeppos seems so personable and students seen to love him, but I heard repeatedly that his speech was far too long and not particularly inspiring.<br>
For me one of the highlights was the reception held for students in D’s discipline. She wasn’t recognized, but I got to meet some of her favorite professors and hear them say nice things about her and to tell them some of the nice things she had said about them over the last year. As a teacher, that was meaningful to me.
Mother Nature did grant us one favor and that was that only a few drops of rain fell during the move out process!</p>
<p>Sorry I didn’t reply sooner-
What made graduation awesome?
Yes I agree! Doris Kearns Goodwin speech was a pleasure for us as we have really enjoyed her work. I know my daughter was disappointed with the weather situation as everything for the outdoor ceremonies had been set up for weeks & she was selected as a student marshall & all the prep work for that was for naught- but we didn’t know any different so it didn’t bother us! I like the fact that the commencement speaker was the day before, it shortened the actual ceremony and allowed us to enjoy both more. And yes- definitely arrive early, not only to not to sit in the bleachers which thankfully we did not, but many had to watch on screens from other locations ( as in my daughters BF’s family!).</p>
<p>The Phi Beta Kappa Induction ceremony was the highlight for us. We were amazed at not only the organization itself, but at the at the accomplishments of those students being inducted & that our daughter was one of them.</p>
<p>You see- my daughter’s dream school was Vanderbilt- she applied ED, got deferred, then denied. She accepted an academic scholarship to Tulane University- was a member of their diving team & then Hurricane Katrina came. She lost all her possessions in the hurricane- evacuated with her teammates to Birmingham. Obviously the school did not re-open. Long story short- she transferred to Vanderbilt & had the time of her life. </p>
<p>And yes- it was an awesome feeling to see her graduate magna cum laude , Phi Beta Kappa & with many other honors. (after being denied in the first place:)</p>
<p>We appreciate all that Vanderbilt & the people of Nashville did to help our daughter & other students with the transition. We were very fortunate.</p>
<p>miasmom, what a nice story! I don’t know about you, but at both Vanderbilt graduations I have attended, I felt like I was in the presence of people who would change the world. I hope this doesn’t sound awful, but I was far more interested in the biographies of the Founders Medal recipients than I was in the Chancellor’s remarks. I was particularly impressed by the young man who graduated from both the medical school and the divinity school on the same day after six years of enrollment. His story was remarkable.</p>