I had yet another amazing weekend with my QFI-UT Austin cohort. I'm honestly a little sad, though, because we only have two official times we'll all be together again: New Orleans in January and Qatar in March. I'm really, really going to miss them and am crossing all my fingers and toes that we'll somehow be able to continue the program. I have been so lucky to have participated in incredible educational opportunities over the last several years — opportunities that have afforded me education, travel, and, perhaps most importantly, lifelong friendships. As soon as I arrived in Baltimore, my first order of business was connecting with two of my TGC cohort — brilliant educators with whom I went to Colombia in 2018. While I haven’t seen Sia in four years and Dave in three, it felt like no time had passed; my abs hurt from laughing so hard, and my heart is so, so full. Dave and Sia took me to Zorba's, the most amazing Greek restaurant I have ever seen. Sia is Greek, and as soon as she walked in, she started chatting it up with other tables, people who were friends with her parents: it is such a popular restaurant in the community, so you know it was incredible. Our venue for this workshop was absolutely gorgeous -- The Grand Baltimore, a Masonic temple built in 1886. It served as the headquarters for the Freemasons for 130 years. According to the brilliant source, Wikipedia, "The French and Italian Renaissance-inspired property is a 7-story, 90,000 square foot building in downtown Baltimore. Among its ten main meeting rooms are Edinburgh Hall, modeled after the Tudor-style Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland, and another which resembles an Egyptian temple. The building features ornate plaster moldings, a marble staircase, stained glass windows and Rococo chandeliers." It was decorated for Christmas while we were there, so it was especially beautiful. The workshop itself was with James Gelvin again -- the UCLA professor who taught us about the modern Middle East in Chicago. We continued with the same theme this time, too. Again, I learned so much. After the workshop on Friday, several of us headed to the American Visionary Art Museum, and it was so, so cool. Then, we went to a super nice dinner with the group. We had the second day of our workshop on Saturday -- perhaps my favorite day with Professor Gelvin. We ended relatively early, so my friends Lindsay (Chicago) and Matt (Raleigh) and I went on a walk around the city. First, we stopped by the memorial to Marylanders who perished in the attacks on September 11, 2001. We then stumbled on a nearby park that was super cute. I wish I had taken more photos of it. We walked along the harbor and then to Fell's Point, an adorable neighborhood in Baltimore. I know I've said this a gazillion times before, but I just love exploring cities by foot. (And, I need to do this with my own city, too.) We ended the evening with a delicious dinner at The Helmand, an incredible Afghan restaurant. I just love these friends -- so much. I'm looking forward to New Orleans in just a couple of months!
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