As I get ready to call it a night, weary from a full day of going a million miles an hour, the list of things that I should have and probably could have done earlier in the day increases at an alarmingly exponential rate. I try to escape the stress by opening my laptop, but to no avail. My stress level is only increased by the barrage of digital information such as Facebook notifications, gloomy news reports, and a calendar...

What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way? On top of the mandatory classical literature I was required to read over the summer before junior year, I was also required to read a book that was randomly assigned from a list of contemporary books. The computer assigned me The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. With no idea of what this book would be about, I ordered it off...

What is your favorite word and why? Serendipity. Noun. The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. I first discovered this word when I walked into a New York ice-cream shop by the same name ten years ago. Stepping into this tucked-away restaurant on East 60th Street is like being transported another era. Serendipity is covered in black and white tile and authentic Tiffany lamps. The whimsical menu features chocolaccinos, and their world-famous frozen...

Asparagales Orchidiceae. That’s right: orchids. Lady Slipper orchids. Dragon’s Mouth orchids. Nodding Ladies Tresses orchids. There are endless colors, designs, and smells. Once a week, I’m surrounded by these exotic plants at The Atlanta Botanical Garden where I’m one of three students from my AP Biology class doing an internship at the Garden’s Fuqua Conservatory, home to one of the country’s largest orchid collections. I jumped on the opportunity to intern at the Garden...

There are so many things I like about the Vanderbilt culture, and many of these were the reason I chose Vanderbilt over other schools I was accepted to. In my opinion, Vanderbilt is in the perfect location. It is in a major city, so you never run out of things to do on the weekends, but it still has the feel...

As a neuroscience major, you would expect my favorite course to be a biology or a psychology class. However, that is not the case. After completing my freshman year I would have to say that my favorite course thus far has been a 1 credit...