Chat Cafe: Winter Edition

I was pretty nervous about starting Chat Cafe again this semester.  My group from last fall had set the bar high--they were terrific, active participants who, by December, I considered to be friends.  So, naturally, I figured things would even out and I might not have such a great experience this time (eternal pessimist--isn't it charming?).  Boy, was I wrong.

My first two sessions of the semester were a tad unorthodox--at the first, three of the six people signed up for the group came, and at the second, the other three came (no one from the first session was able to attend).  Although initially dismayed by this (only two weeks in, and already half of the group can't make it--eek!), I realize in retrospect that this split, smaller group accident actually laid some really nice groundwork for us.  At those first two sessions, there was a degree of intimacy that can be difficult to establish in a group of seven in which no one knows each other.  Conversation flowed easily, we broke into pairs naturally and then came back together as a single group, and everyone became familiar with other people really quickly.  This was one of the things I was hoping would happen with the board game I created for my capstone project last semester--group members would become comfortable with just one other person, which would hopefully set them at ease with the group as a whole.  (To my slight disappointment, though, we didn't actually play the board game itself--I asked about it at the first two sessions, but no one really seemed interested, and because things were going well otherwise, I figured there was no reason to push.)

After these initial sessions, we've had pretty much full attendance--and like I hoped, the familiarity created in those first two meetings have really helped the group mesh as one.  Members are really talkative in this group, which I love--we've actually already had some really interesting discussions about Mandarin, the layout/architecture of Chinese cities, and Spring Festival.  It's interesting to me that this group seems to be a bit more open to talking about their lives before college than my previous one was--last semester, most discussions centered around life at UM and in the US, but this semester has had a bit broader reach.  I like that my two semesters facilitating have given a mix of discussion topics, because I feel that I've both been able to help familiarize students with some of the idiosyncrasies of American life and learned from them more about the world at large.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens this semester--my gut tells me things are going to go well.  This group has great chemistry, and I love that I've gotten better at letting conversations flow where they will, rather than where I want them to go.  Last semester, Chat Cafe became a bright spot at the end of my week that helped pull me through school and work, and I have no reason to think it won't continue to be that.  It's exciting to spend time with my group, and I can't wait to see what conversations unfold in the coming weeks.