Jon is now the Lord Commander and doesn't hang out with his friends much any more. Dolorous Edd is his steward. Sam is reading books in the library to learn more about the Others. Stannis is still hanging around. Jon's dilemma is how to get help from Tywin in King's Landing without pissing off Stannis, and keeping Stannis around without pissing of Tywin. It seems pretty moot to me: no-one else is likely to help the Watch.
It seems to be common knowledge that Stannis wants to sacrifice someone with king's blood to resurrect a dragon. Jon is worried about Maester Aemon (Targaryen). So he sends Sam and Aemon off to Oldtown to keep Aemon safe (assuming the journey doesn't kill him) and for Sam to become a Maester. This re-awakens Sam's nightmares about his dad strangling him with a chain last time he said he wanted to be a Maester. There really are some pretty crappy fathers among the Westeros noblemen.
Anyway I'm pretty sure some other big stuff is going to be happening in Oldtown and Sam will likely get there in time to have a ringside seat.
