Motion to Set the Agenda

I finally finished my AU Abroad application, including the "Study Abroad Goals and Expectations" section, which asks you to list 3-5 goals you'd like to accomplish while abroad. I tend to not take anything AU Abroad does seriously, considering the opening banner on their website says "It's not just about the sites; it's also about the insights," and they make you sign a form saying you won't miss class because of hangovers or "self-inflicted conditions," which I think applies more to the suckers enrolled in AU programs, but still, it's silly. They're silly. I'm silly, too, though, and so are these goals. Hold me to them:

While studying abroad at the University of Gothenburg, I would like to:

1. learn enough Swedish to be conversationally fluent,

2. take advantage of the public land access laws and do some cold weather camping,

3. see the northern lights,

4. learn how to make Swedish meatballs, and

5. visit at least three other countries [editor's note: I'd rather be in a monogamous relationship with Sweden than have one-night stands with continental Europe, you know? Also, I know that Sweden is technically part of continental Europe, but only if you drive into the Arctic Circle (Gothenburg is on the southwestern coast, by the way) and make a giant U-turn into Finland and past the former Soviet Union. Getting from Sweden to anywhere is like following your favorite band on their cross-country tour, if your favorite band is called Warsaw Pact Countries and you live in the country of An Entire Fucking Continent], and become fairly competent at using European transportation.