"Encounter Groups", Sith and Italy(?)

Well, hello. Fancy meeting you here!

So, it's Monday. Today in class, we had what is called an 'encounter group'. What this means is that we sit in a circle and have an entire day of unstructured time. It was insanely, ridiculously, preposterously, mind-bogglingly worthless. I mean, I really tried to get something out of it too, but there are a group of people who treat these kinds of situations as group therapy time, and it was endlessly frustrating because there just isn't much we can specifically do for one person, as a group of 33 people. Plus, I just can not sit for that long. It drives me crazy.

After 'class', two other students and I got together to do some mock counselling, and then I walked home. We set our clocks back this weekend, so it was dark on the way back, and for the first time since I've been here I just felt kind of lonely here. It was a frustrating day. Things will pull together though, I'm sure. Maybe not tomorrow, because that's another 'encounter group', but probably by Wednesday. One thing I'm looking forward to, though, is tomorrow, another student and I are going on a run after class! I'm pretty excited about that. This other student is actually one of the two who expressed some dislike for Americans, so progress is being made there.

I had a pretty good weekend. On Saturday, a few of us from school got dressed up and went out for drinks, and then we ended up running into another classmate who was out for his friend's birthday, and then we kind of merged parties. It was fun to see people outside class--especially when it came to the dancing portion of the evening. One classmate has talked up his dancing skills (in kind of a self-deprecating kind of way), and let me just tell you, he lived up to every word. Yowza. It's the kind of dancing that causes people to take out their phones and take videos to put on Youtube. Amazing.

Anyway, yesterday I spent the afternoon doing work for school and having a little dinner of a baked sweet potato at this local cafe, called Sith (pronounced 'Shee'--it's Gaelic for 'peace'). It was really nice. It reminds me of Butter, which was one of my favorite places in Uptown, except they sell a lot of handmade and organic/natural goods. I've decided to make going there my new Sunday ritual. Later, Chris and I met up with some of his work friends because one of his coworkers had his last day at work yesterday. It was fun and I got invited to be on a bowling league--of course I said yes!

Speaking of Chris...I kind of forget to talk about him now that I'm here with him. It's alright, I guess. HA! Kidding. It's awesome, he's awesome, everything is pretty awesome there. We're going to have a little date night tomorrow. We have been on opposite schedules for awhile, which isn't great. But anyway, yes, it's very good to be here with him, and I'm incredibly happy.

What else...I have a study week coming up in about 3 weeks, and instead of studying, I think I'm going to go to Italy! Airfare is ridiculously cheap, and I'm thinking a few days out of the country (this country) will be good for me. One of my classmates, who is Italian, told me to go to Florence first...so that's what I'm thinking. Airfare to just about everywhere in Europe is cheap though, so I'll keep you updated on where I'm actually going to go.

OK, that's enough from me. Take care and I'll talk to you soon!
Miss you.
xo