Good Planning, Ambition, and Plenty of Coffee
A letter from Nashville! Madeline Thomas is getting to know student life in the United States and has found a second home in the university library.
Nov 12, 2019
On those rare occasions when Madeline Thomas has some free time, she treats herself to pancakes.
Image Credit: private collection
I have been in Nashville, USA, since August, but preparations for my semester abroad started almost a year ago. The first few weeks were harder than I expected. It was hot and humid with temperatures over 30° C (86° F) every day. The professors were ready to go at full throttle, and there is practically no public transportation system here.
A Vanderbilt University landmark, Kirkland Hall was built in 1875. Its clock tower can be seen from all over the university’s campus.
Image Credit: Madeline Thomas
Still, I’m glad I’m here. Thanks to my previous semester abroad at the University of Edinburgh, I was somewhat prepared for the amount of reading we are supposed to do: We have to read two books plus another 200 to 300 pages of essays and secondary literature each week.
My host institution, Vanderbilt University, expects a lot from its students. But we have lively discussions in the seminars, and classes are really fun. Still, I have to come fully prepared! As a graduate student, I can enroll in courses across the university. This semester I am taking four: two in the English Department, one in the History Department, and another in the Women’s and Gender Studies program.
Street art and murals can be seen all around Nashville.
Image Credit: Private collection
The workload is heavy, but with good planning, ambition, and plenty of coffee, it’s manageable. I do try to include free time in my schedule so that I can explore Nashville. The first football game of the season turned out to be pretty boring, but I had some nice afternoons at the farmers’ market and in East Nashville with its little cafés (pancakes!!), street art, and bars – a welcome break from the university.
The farmers’ market in Nashville is for producers only, which means the merchants can only sell products that they planted, harvested, or baked themselves.
Image Credit: Madeline Thomas
The end of the semester is already approaching, and the library has become my second home. The university makes that easy since the library is open from 7 a.m. to midnight. There isn’t much time for an exciting social life, but the short fall break at the end of October gave me a chance to visit Chicago. I’ll tell you more about that next time.
Further Information
Madeline Thomas will be sending us “Letters from Nashville” over the course of the semester. She is one of eleven students from Freie Universität reporting on their study abroad experiences.
Here you can find the original German version of her letter.