All My Bags Are Packed

I am all packed and ready for summer school in Italy. Two weeks of macroeconomics surrounded by the Dolomite mountains. I am surprisingly unapprehensive about  meeting 30 fellow PhDs/early-career researchers and I suppose I have my meetup experiences to thank for that. If I can land up at a stranger's house in a posh neighbourhood for a meetup event knowing fully well that I might be the only non-white, non-Brit there and not just surviving but mostly enjoying myself,  I should be fine. And these are PhD students, so chances are they are even more socially awkward than me. I am a little apprehensive about the content of the course and the fact that it will be heavily modelling-based. A lot of it might just go over my head. But I am deep enough in my own research to know that what I am doing is not worthless. I will do my best to keep up, but I won't beat myself up for slipping. At worst, it will be a half-holiday in the lap of the Dolomites. At best, I will make new friends and connections, which might even lead to some collaborations. I am going to keep an open mind and an open heart. At the very worst, it will just be fodder for my blog.
Which brings up another question. I  don't know if I will be able to or inclined to blog or do yoga on my trip. Maybe I will decide to take a break from both activities that have served me so well this past year. But, even if I do, I am sure that I will be back.