  well, despite the slow start, i ended up having a pretty good night.&nbsp; first of all, just for the reccord, i tried to hang out with a group of girls. but they had no planning and by the time thy finally got back to me, i was already out! this again&nbsp;proves why girls are often not good to hang out with.
so i went out with&nbsp;a new friend&nbsp;from the trail club (thank goodness for that club) and we went to a few different places in Bethesda, MD. it is a really nice neighborhood, clean and safe. first to flanagans where they had cider on tap and folk singer. and a real live irishman for a waiter. his accent was soo cute. then walking around, went to some ballroom where some people were dancing rhumba (let me just say wow! i have never seen rhumba before) but when we tried to dance a little, they told us to pay $13 each,&nbsp;and the place was closing in a few minutes! no way, jose. so we left. then down to a big club/bar/outdoor restaruant. we chose a table outside near the door so we could hear the music.
the food was excellent, i had a baby greens salad with steak kabobs and a vinegar/honey dressing. the wait staff was great too. it had a dumb name like "American Grill" though. um, then we walked around a little more and decided to find a coffee shop, but most were closed so we went to a cute little diner across the street from white marsh (i kinda actually knew where i was all night!).
so, all in all, it was quite fun. i can't even tell you how nice it is to hang out with someone who has no ulterior motive. we just talked about all kinds of stuff, mostly music, dancing, and culture differences (he's from india- been here 3 yrs). so, now it is LATE and i need to sleep, so i can hike tomorrow! good night! &nbsp; &nbsp; 
