Yeah, that makes it harder. Could it still be worthwhile to get together every week or two to talk about what the reading *means*, or what the professor is hoping you'll get out of it? Or to generally sit down and take stock of current topics of focus in your various classes and how they relate to the rest of life? Or maybe this is just not a viable strategy for building a social group in a program like this.

Good luck on drumming up that dinner group!