Make friends in a new city

I am not the sort of person who makes friends easily and having lived in a fair number of cities and countries I have often had to make new friends. Sometimes it can be easy and other times difficult and this is true for most people. Let's look at some techniques for making friends.



Time: Varies, sometimes you can make new friends right away or it can take weeks.

Materials
Yourself
A friendly attitude


Method

Think about the people you would like to be friends with. They are usually open, generous and friendly. They say lots of positive things and encourage you.



Be that sort of person. Be happy and friendly and people will come up to you to make friends.


When you go to a new city or start university, often you will find that there are many people who are also new and trying to make new friends. This is one of the reasons why many people who are new to a city often only make friends with other people who are new as well.


I am always partly amused by the fact that people travel half way round the world only to make friends from their own country. Part of this is the sense of connection that meeting that comes from people with a shared background.

If you want to make friends look for connections. This could be hobbies and interests, work, music and so on. The more you display what interests you the greater the chance you will make a connection.


Take up a sport, interest or hobby. This gives you a purpose and make you feel happier anyway. Hobbies are a great way to meet people and make a connection.

For example, I love hiking and have made a number of good friends through hiking clubs, but I have also made friends just hiking by myself and meeting other people on the top of a mountain out in the countryside.




Actually things are easier now than they were before. If we want to find people who share our interests we can often find people through websites such as meetup.com.

However clubs, courses and other groups can be a way to meet people and basically give you a chance to get out of the house. I have made friends through hiking, learning languages and tennis.


This works well when you are single. If you are in another city or country it is fairly easy to meet people on dating sites because you are not there to date but to meet someone who can introduce the city to you.

I have made a number of friends through dating sites and sometimes something more.


You are not going to make friends sitting on your sofa watching TV or surfing the Internet. You have to get out of the house. Even if this just means sitting on your front door step, you will have a greater chance of meeting people.




I often have business cards with my mobile number on. It used to be they were from my job, but I started making personal cards as well. You meet someone on a bus or somewhere else you can just hand over your card rather than go through an awkward process of asking for numbers or other contact details.

Other ways include being easily searchable on facebook or always having a pen and paper on you. Mobile phones also make getting someone's contact details very easy.


Many people I have met who feel lonely also have trouble being a good friend to the people that they meet. Don't be selfish even if you have many problems, make sure you take time to help others, especially your new friends.

Categories
#life_skills
#self_help
#personal_development
#friends



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