Geese!

I arrived to school early today, and decided to take the scenic route to the music building. I pass by a pretty pond, trees, big rocks, and today, geese. There was a momma geese and her babies standing in the grass on one side of the sidewalk, and the pond on the other side. And directly in front of me stood what I can only assume was a daddy geese.

Now these things are huge. His head probably went up to my waist. The daddy geese was facing away from me, and was completely blocking the sidewalk. There was no way around him unless I a) wanted to go for a swim, or b) wanted to walk by the protective momma geese.

So I chose to loudly and obnoxiously stomp my way toward daddy geese. When I got, say, ten feet away, he noticed me. Then he hissed. And then he lowered his head so his neck was parallel to the ground and charged toward me.

!!!!!!!

Of course I ran away a little bit.

Then he hissed again as he stopped running, and then walked to the grass with momma and the babies.

And then I very cautiously walked by.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, Friday was my 20th birthday. I made out very, very well, and now have more than enough money to open a savings account for my "potential" study abroad trip to Sweden.

I decided trying to get into the United Kingdom program would be too stressful. It's very competitive, and if I don't get in then I don't get to go anywhere. Sweden, on the other hand, isn't as competitive as the UK. According to the study abroad lady, everyone that meets the minimum requirements (i.e. such as GPA and required classes that you need to take before leaving) will get in.

And Sweden is better because the university I will be going to has one exchange student for every six Swedish students. A lot of exchange students come from all over Europe to learn english there because apparently it is very "Americanized." I don't like the idea of americanized, I want something completely different. However, the opportunity to meet and make friends with people from all over the world is incredible, and by far outweighs any americanization that is involved.

I suppose European students choose to go there instead of the UK (or US) is because it's cheaper-- which is my other reason for liking Sweden better.

Anyway, I'm super excited about the idea of studying abroad. It's all I can think about, and I can't believe it is still over a year away. My mom says to stop planning for it now, but I have to plan now. I need to take certain classes before going, and I need to make sure that I'm not taking classes that I will get credit for while I'm in Sweden. And I need to start saving up money and applying for scholarships (unless someone wants to drop $14,000 in my lap... any takers?).