Arm yourself with your student ID and consider getting an International Student Identity Card (ISIC), which offers substantial savings on rail passes, plane tickets, and entrance fees. It also provides you with basic health and life insurance and a 24-hour help line. The card is available for $22 from STA Travel (tel. 800/781-4040; www.statravel.com), the biggest student travel agency in the world. If you're no longer a student but are still under 26, you can get a International Youth Travel Card (IYTC) for the same price from the same people, which entitles you to some discounts (but not on museum admissions). (Note: In 2002, STA Travel bought competitors Council Travel and USIT Campus after they went bankrupt. It's still operating some offices under the Council name, but it's owned by STA.)
Travel CUTS (tel. 800/667-2887 or 416/614-2887; www.travelcuts.com) offers similar services for both Canadians and U.S. residents.
There are many universities and colleges in the Nashville area, but the main ones are Vanderbilt University, on West End Ave. (tel. 615/322-7311), a private four-year research-oriented university; Tennessee State University, 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd. (tel. 615/963-5000), a public four-year university; Belmont University, 1900 Belmont Blvd. (tel. 615/460-6000), a Baptist liberal arts university; and Fisk University, 1000 17th Ave. N. (tel. 615/329-8500), a private four-year African-American university.
West End Avenue around Vanderbilt University is a college neighborhood full of restaurants, cafés, and shops. The area around Belmont University also has some college-type hangouts.
