Soo.. goals for the next four months and life. hahaha here's to planning for living a whole life.

I believe in the pursuit of happiness. I also believe in Aristotle's view of the soul and body. haha yea, the two are intertwined in my mind. Aristotle said that the soul and the body are two forces that should always be in conflict with each other to develop one another. If left alone, the body would just do whatever it wants, and so it is up to the soul to control it. Only when the soul is in constant struggle will it develop and lead a good life. Or something something. It's been a while since Humanities Core Course.

But anyways, I can crossapply this to happiness in that happiness is a constant pursuit of something new, especially knowledge. Learning is amazing, and only through learning and experience can the pursuit of happiness be done. So there is never an end to living a whole life, only the constant pursuit of new knowledge.

With that said, my goals in life are to:
- be happy with who I am and what I have
- show gratitude for all that I have
- never be too content though! contentment leads to futility.
- try. explore. learn. overcome. discover.
- and then spread the message to others

This study abroad business is a huge step in that direction for me, as it absolutely introduces me to something new and I'm having a rough time adjusting, but hey, it's not like life is ever going to stop or pause right? It'll sweep you up and you just gotta keep going, whether you like it or not, so you might as well make the best of it!

To apply these goals to the four months that I'm here, my more immediate goals are to:
- appreciate Vietnam and discover its essence; the epitome of Vietnamese
- appreciate being able to live here, getting along with everything
- take back the good things that I've learned
- meet new people, explore new things, GET OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE

Hmm concrete stuff I want to accomplish:
- talk to more locals. befriend the locals. find out who the nice ones are.
- get to know my classmates and fellow EAPers! what's their stories? And Gerard too (:
- learn to read and write, and speakkk speak speak Vietnamese
- read at least one news article in Vietnamese a week
- write in Vietnamese, once a week
- find out what the locals think are problems with their community and try to integrate this into the NGO. work with the locals for the NGO.

Anyone want to point me in the right direction/ give me ideas? (: