Being that the semester has wound down (OFFICIALLY HAVE NO MORE WORK TO DO - can you tell I'm excited!), I have had the time to go to a few cool places the past few days....
It was awesome! I went there on Tuesday night to watch the Yankees play the Kansas City Royals. It was my first MLB game!
Location: One of the many things I did not take into account when I was looking at schools but ultimately realized is an extremely important factor to consider.
Luckily for me, I think that Stevens has one of the best locations that a student could ask for and here's why!
1) Access into NYC - Getting into the city is as easy as taking a bus or the Path. Also, from the freshman residence halls, we have a fantastic view of NYC (and in particular, the Empire State Building). There are so many things to do like going to a museum, seeing a broadway show, going to Central Park, and so many more!
2) Carlo's Bakery - Being a Stevens / Hoboken resident lets us CUT TO THE FRONT OF THE LONG LINE and get priority treatment to order one of their baked goods
3) Sports - We are near Madison Square Garden in NYC, Yankees and Mets Stadiums in NYC, the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, the Red Bulls Stadium, and the Prudential Center in Newark.
4) Home - Stevens is an hour by car and 2.5 hours by public transportation home. It is the perfect distance to have my freedom at school but can still go home easily and see my family.
As promised, here are some pictures from Canada!
It really was an AMAZING experience to go to another country. Before going there,the only other time/place I have been out of the US is when the field hockey team here at Stevens went to Argentina for a training trip in the summer of 2008.
In Canada, we did a bunch of cool things and really tried to experience as much as we could in our limited amount of time there. Some of our sites included Niagara Falls, the CN Tower, the Floral Clock, the Canadian side of Lake Ontario, the Queen Elizabeth Museum, among many other places in Toronto.
Definitely a trip well worth it even though it was a cold spring break destination!
Hello readers! I'm sorry for my blogging absence... I was very busy during Spring Break! I didn't decide to do the "traditional" Spring Break trip of going some place warm like Florida. Instead, I spent my break in Candada to site-see and then in Maryland for an indoor field hockey tournament! This is the first Spring Break that spent out and about rather than just relaxing at home.
CANADA
My sister, a friend, and I decided to go to Canada at the beginning of Spring Break. My sister and I had never been there before so we figured it'd be something cool to see... and let me tell you, it was awesome! We went to Niagara Falls and Toronto! My next blog will go more into depth of what we did and have pictures, so look out for it :)
MARYLAND
Anyways, at the end of Spring Break, my sister, a friend, and I participated in a field hockey tournament in Maryland (near Washington DC). I hadn't really played too much field hockey since season
ended in the fall, because I chose to take a break and pick up running to train for a half marathon (which is less than a month away - can't believe it!). Needlesstosay, I was really looking forward to playing.
We played on an adult club team and our name for the tournament was "Phun". We wanted to be competitive and do well in the tournament, but our primary goal was just to have fun and enjoy playing! We were successful, because It really was a lot of fun! I got to play some field hockey and meet new people! The only downside... I am EXTREMELY sore today!
Similar to some of the other bloggers, this is my last semester at Stevens...
With this status comes a smaller course load meant to enable students to spend more time on their Senior Design project. Although I definitely plan to dedicate a majority of my time to my project, this extra free time is allowing me to do things that I haven't been able to do the past few years because of time restraints.
This semester, one of my goals is to explore New York City as much as I can and see as much as I can! Living in Hoboken is perfect, because the town itself is great AND it provides quick access to a number of other cool locations (particularly NYC)!
So... every time I go on an adventure, I will let you know by posting about it!
This post happens to be about visiting Madam Tussauds Wax Museum in Times Square this past weekend! It was SO INCREDIBLY COOL. The wax figures looked so real! A few friends and I got to see a bunch if celebrities in person... well... not really in person... but you know the idea!
On Friday afternoon we departed for our long away trip to Pittsburgh to play Washington and Jefferson for Saturday morning. The trip was really long particularly because there was loads of anticipation. Not only was this a huge conference game for us, but we also had a full weekend consisting of a visit to a scarehouse and dinner at the Spaghetti Warehouse.
Our long trip began with watching tons of fun movies on the bus ride including Charlie’s Angels, Zoolander, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I enjoy napping on the bus so I admit that I didn’t watch all of them!
When we finally arrived in Pittsburgh we went right to dinner. It was delicious! I got to sit at a table with my sister, Karen, and Mel. It was nice to sit down and have dinner with the seniors on the team (it doesn’t normally happen). We stuffed our faces but not too much because we wanted to be ready for the scarehouse.
The scarehouse we went to is one of the best in the country. We went there as a team the last time we were in Pittsburgh and it was absolutely terrifying! The link to the scarehouse is at http://www.scarehouse.com/ . I knew what was to come, but I will admit that I still screamed A LOT.
Saturday morning comes around and we are set to play W&J at 10am. The team was extremely pumped to play this game, because we’ve played W&J in the conference championship for the past two years AND they were undefeated in conference this year. The game proved to meet our expectations. It was an extremely competitive game. They scored first on us. Even though I hate getting scored on, I will admit that their goal was good. We answered right back in the first half with Mary Nikish scoring on a corner. The second half was played in both sides of the field. The excitement came at the end of the game. W&J got a corner against us with no time left in regulation. They took a shot that was deflected high and one of their players raised her stick and batted the ball into the goal. W&J stormed the field and began cheering. The official originally called it a goal to end the game but I immediately went up to her after she made the call to argue against it saying that it wasn’t legal. Luckily, the other official agreed with me and the goal was taken back… meaning we were now about to start overtime! W&J got corners against us but the defense played great so we were able to deny them the golden goal that would’ve ended the game. A few minutes later in the overtime, Caitlin “Cali” Chamberlain got a breakaway against the other team but was tripped from behind in the circle. Therefore, the official awarded us a penalty stroke. Mallory stepped up to take the stroke and scored! It was a beautiful stroke and ended the game! We were so excited, because it was a great game that could’ve gone either way but we were able to get it done.
I could not be more proud of our performance… I’m not even mad that I lost my voice this weekend! :)
I spent this past weekend in Baltimore playing in a field hockey tournament.
Let me just clarify that I did NOT play outside! Field hockey is only played outdoors in the collegiate level, but indoor field hockey is very big to the field hockey world.
Indoor is typically played in a roller rink type surface. Instead of there being sidelines, there are wood boards. These wood boards keep the ball in bounds, so it is common strategy to use them to pass up the field or use to force out the attack.
There are a bunch of differences in the games, so you can read more information about indoor here.
Indoor really helps your outdoor game. The game is so quick and since the rules are slightly modified, it tremendously improves your game.
Anyways, it was great to play out in Baltimore with other hockey enthusiasts. I was on a team with people who are already done with school but just love the sport and want to play. Their stick skills are incredible! We played well and got to watch some great hockey during our breaks.
Word to the wise.... be VERY cautious when driving on a road trip.
On my road trip to Texas as I mentioned in my last post... some things went awry.
Let's just say I didn't even make it to Texas. We got as far as Memphis.
I'm going to spare you the details, but I will say the trip was fun while it lasted.
Before the car broke down in Memphis, we got to see and do some pretty cool stuff!
1. We paid a visit to one of our friends in Indiana and left some artwork on his house :)
2. I was taught how to pump gas into a car.
3. I saw how flat it is as you get to the Midwest (you can see for miles!)
4. I spent some time in Memphis (& went to a BBQ Festival)
No matter where we were though... we were always DUCKS!
(this was our watchful duck on the Dashboard)
Below is a picture of our journey (both the intended one and the actual one).
Now I am back in NJ and preparing for my first week of graduate classes and my internship that starts next week!
*Fun fact- Lauren and I stick out like sore thumbs wherever we go! Almost everyone we met commented/ asked if we were twins.*
