Stevens Admissions: Ellyn's Blog

Blast from the past!

Hello readers!  I've got some great news!

If you've been following my blog since 2008 (summer of my freshman year), you'll remember I took a one month seminar on Sysems Engineering in addition to doing my research in the Scholars Program.  A few great things resulted from that class... 1) I found out more information about Systems Engineering and ultimately chose that for my Master's Degree, and 2) I met some wonderful people from Norway I would have never otherwise met.

One of the students in the class who I became close with, Thomas, is currently in the US and in Hoboken for the week to take a one-week seminar towards one of his classes.  He is pursuing his Master's Degree in Systems Engineering at one of the universities in Norway (while working full-time), and his school has a partnership with Stevens that lets him take classes through Stevens that count towards his degree.  Thomas and I have spoken on the computer, but we haven't seen each other in years!  It's a blast from the past to be able to catch up with him face to face!  It's amazing how much can happen in three years!

Below is a vintage picture of Thomas and I from Summer 08 when our class went on a sailboat on the Hudson!

KAYAKING ON THE HUDSON

Yes I did kayak on the Hudson today!

Unfortunately my the batteries in my camera died so I have no pictures :(

BUT IT WAS AWESOME!

The Hoboken Cove Boathouse offered 3 free days of kayaking and today was the last one.  After waiting for like 45 minutes, I was able to kayak in a little nook-type area on the Hudson River (a place safe enough where people couldn't float away and get lost).

Check out the Hoboken Cove Boathouse website for more information at http://www.hobokencoveboathouse.org/

WOO HOO, a medal!

Last weekend was Garden State Games for field hockey.

The Garden State Games is a set of athletic competitions held in New Jersey for various sports.  Each sport is held in a different location and at a different time.

Luckily for Hoboken residents, the Garden State Games for field hockey was held at Stevens this year!
It was broken up into 2 divisions. Saturday was the Women's / College tournament and Sunday was the Under 16 & Under 19 competition.

It was a lot of fun to play in the Women's / College Division and play with different women from New Jersey who go to various schools around the country.  Everyone was very nice and we all had a lot of fun.

My team was lucky enough to be crowned the victor of the tournament after a very competitive and thrilling championship game.

Movie On The Pier

Fun Fact: Hoboken sponsors a free event every Wednesday on the Pier where they show featured movies.

This past week, Mamma Mia! I saw the broadway show last year and loved it. I had also seen the movie before and loved that too!

So, when this past Wednesday came around, a friend and I had 2 options....

1) Go to watch Mamma Mia on the Pier (more info can be found at http://www.hobokennj.org/departments/human-services/cultural-affairs/movies-under-the-stars/ )

2) Go into NYC to go to the famous chicken and rice cart (more info can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/53rd_and_6th )

It wound up being a very close call as to what we would do, but the idea of going to a "sing-a-long" movie on the pier was way too tempting to avoid. We figured we can go to the chicken and rice cart another night.

The movie was very good (as always). Below is a picture of the big screen right before the movie started.

As promised... the fireworks extravaganza

As promised, I am attaching the pictures of the fireworks yesterday from the Hudson River.

I took them not from Hoboken but from West New York (North of Hoboken) since I spent the holiday with my cousins.

Here are some great pictures that my cousin Adriana got (that I'm stealing from her)
:)

BY THE WAY, we saw one of the barges on fire! I don't know if they talked about it on TV or not, but the barge was literally on fire.  We don't know why or how but it shot up 3 or 4 extra fireworks after the grand finale.  It was literally directly across the river from us.

Yes that boat was shooting red and blue water out of it.

AND THE GRAND FINALE!...

Happy 4th of July!

Hello readers!

Currently I am at my cousin's apartment in West New York, New Jersey.  We'll be watching the fireworks from Port Imperial later today...well tonight technically!

Since the fireworks will be on the Hudson this year instead of East River, we have a FANTASTIC view!
The view from Stevens as well will be awesome.  Stevens students and faculty get it great, because the campus police is limiting the number of people who can watch it from our campus.  If you have a Stevens ID, you can enter campus an hour earlier than other people of the community.  Only 1000 people will be allowed to watch it from campus, so I'm sure it's going to get very packed very quickly.

My sister brought her camera to take pictures, so I'll post any good pictures she takes the next time I blog :)

Fun fact, the change in location for the fireworks is because of Henry Hudson. This year marks the 400th year anniversary since he sailed down the Hudson.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2009/07/hudsons_all_fired_up_over_fire.html

http://www.stevens.edu/press/cgi-bin/wordpress/?p=671  

Last Summer

This past summer, when I decided to do research and take a 1 month class, I would never have guessed how much of an impact it would have on me.

The 1 month class, an international seminar on Systems Engineering, had students from France, Norway, and Stevens in it. Not only do I know a lot more about NYHOPS and Systems Engineering, but I also walked away with some great friends as well.

NYHOPS is a part of the Center for Maritime Systems here at Stevens. It involves sensors placed strategically in the NY/NJ coastline to monitor the conditions of the water. It measures things like salinity, temperature, current, and many more that is a useful resource used by people like fishermen, surfers, and the government (because the data is given in realtime). Here are some links if you'd like to read up and learn more!
Stevens Maritime Center: Urban Ocean Observatory
NYHOPS

Systems Engineering aims to manage a complex system by taking a step back and looking at the project as a whole. More information can be found at: What is Systems Engineering?  & Stevens School of Systems & Enterprises
It seems like a really great field, and I think I am going to pursue a Master's in it!

I have met such awesome people both this summer and throughout my time at Stevens. I still talk to one of the students from Norway, Thomas, who took the class with me this summer.
I also got to meet some great students from Stevens during my research project. As a matter of fact, one of these students, David, is actually studying abroad in Israel this semester, so it's really great to talk to him too!

I like when people come to visit.

SO today is a big day. I finished my last appointment for my physical therapy (and my shin splints better not come back) and it is my last day at Fleet Feet for the summer. Plus, Friday is my last day at research!

To fill you in on what I've been doing this past week... I have been going to the gym, playing field hockey as much as possible (I played in a tournament at Kean in the 95 degree weather on Saturday in my goalie equipment all day ugh), researching, and friends have come to visit!

My good friends who were in my hall in Davis last year (DAVIS NORTH SIDE!) came on Friday, and we went to Illuzion for sushi. Saturday was the field hockey tournament and my friend Nick came to visit again in the evening along with my sister. He simply can't get enough of Hoboken. We went to dinner at Charito's! My sister, Nick, and I took AP Spanish in high school and love Spanish culture, so we had to eat there!  On Sunday, we were going to go to this delicious chocolate shop on 6th and Garden, but it was closed :( Sunday night I went to see Mamma Mia WHICH WAS AWESOME. I saw Mamma Mia on Broadway for my birthday, and truth be told, I was expecting the movie to be a big let down; however, I was pleasantly surprised, because I really enjoyed it. Next movie I NEED TO SEE is Batman! Hopefully I can find time to see it ASAP.

Plus, yesterday my friend Sunny also came to visit! :)

By the way, the picture at the bottom is "the guac" from Charito's. It is the most delicious guacamole ever.

The countdown continues...ARGENTINA IS IN 14 DAYS!

Feeling good

Yesterday was a Miles For Smiles/ Party WIth A Purpose 5K Run in Hoboken. I toyed with running it or not running it because I am just recovering from shin splints. In the end, I decided to run... I figured that if I could run a 5K, I should be good to go for preseason and healthy again. But if I couldn't run it without pain, then I'd know that I'm in big trouble and should take it easy.

Turns out, the run was AWESOME! I ran it in a decent time and felt no pain! I also convinced some of my teammates to run it also so that made it even greater!

Another funny thing is that I saw people who frequent Fleet Feet running in the race. Fleet Feet just ran a training program that culminated into running this race. I can't even put into words how nice it felt to see these adults finishing the race after putting in 10 weeks of hard work.

Venkat, one of my coworkers, finished 3rd. He is ridiculous!

OK I'm off to aquajog ha. I can't believe it's already middle of July.

ARGENTINA IS IN 21 DAYS!!!!!

National Ice Cream Month

So apparently it is National Ice Cream Month... didn't know that until lunch this afternoon!

I was eating lunch with my friend Michael at Frozen Monkey Cafe (on Washington near 5th Street) and we had just ordered Tasty Delites. Tasty Delites are absolutely delicious. I like to think of them as a healthier alternative instead of regular ice cream.

We were about to eat it when a reporter from the Hudsonn Current approached us. She asked us what our favorite ice cream was and such. I was shocked, to be honest, that I didn't know it was National Ice Cream Month. I worked at an ice cream store called Maggie Moo's back home for a year and a half. As a matter of fact, my favorite ice cream is Better Batter AND I did dress up as Maggie during my tenure at Maggie Moo's (she is a cow...it was definitely one of my finer performances in life ha).

So, keep an eye out in the Hudson Current for my debut; there should be a picture of Michael and I digging into our ice cream!