Moving to a new place and making friends there can be difficult sometimes, especially if you don’t speak the native language. In the meantime, learning some tips can help. This article covers some effective tips on how to make friends in a new city.
Trying to make friends as an adult is something not many talk about. It can be awkward and can leave you feeling like the new kid on the playground again. And with all this post-lockdown social anxiety, making new friends becomes quite a challenge. So, it’s no surprise that making new friends when you move into a new place in a new city can be quite daunting.
Whether you have taken a new job, have been promoted, or just need to make a change, moving to a new town or city can be a scary endeavor. Getting uprooted from your social circle, being severed from your former colleagues, or rebuilding a network for personal support and professional development are just some of the challenges you might face.
Whatever might be the reason, one has to move to a new place sooner or later in lifehttps://lonemind.com/how-to-give-your-life-more-value/. So when that time comes, you begin to wonder how to make friends in a new city. This article is an extensive guide to help you prepare for such a moment beforehand. We’ve got some simple yet effective tips to help you get started with socializing in a new city and making new friends.
After moving to a new city or town and tackling the most important post-move tasks, all you are left with is socializing and getting yourself a new friend circle in the new town. And while it might not seem like it, making friends in a new city can be a real struggle because you don’t want to get yourself tangled with the wrong people. Too often, people are not always looking for new besties, they may not need new friends especially if they are in their hometown.
Unless you know some smart ways to make new friendships and find good friends for life, you’ll be needing some advice for making new acquaintances. If you’ve just moved and are wondering how to make friends in a new city, here are 10 brilliantly smart ways to socialize and make new friendships.
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Why is making new friends a struggle for adults?
For working adults, it might be difficult to make new friends at this time of life. Unless you are a super friendly person who can make friends wherever you go, your friend list mostly contains friends from high school or college since many of us built our friendships organically over time. It is not because you don’t want to enhance your friend circle, but mainly because making new friends is easier said than done. And things can get even more complicated if you are in a new place or city and trying to make friends there.
What happens is that most adults are pretty set in their ways. They have their friends and routines, and it is hard to deviate from them. Plus, everyone is living a different version of life; some of the adults are married with kids, while others are single and having fun.
Another possible reason is that as people get older, most of them have been burned by the friendships in their past. So, they find it scary to be vulnerable and put themselves out there again if they have had a tough friend breakup. Most of the time, people simply prefer to stick around with their old friends instead of making new ones.
How to make friends in a new city?
Although it might seem like a challenge to make new friends, doing so is necessary in certain situations. For instance, if you are moving to a new city, you will need to have some friends there. You can’t simply expect to keep shifting between work and house all the time. Socialization is important in so many ways.
It might not be as easy as making friends at home. It might also take work, there is no reason it has to take a long time. However, the following tips can help you make friends in a new city easily. Follow the tips and learn to understand how networks function.
- Bond with your colleagues
- Join different groups
- Connect with friends of friends
- Sports and hobbies
- Make use of mobile apps to meet new people
- Have good connections with neighbors and roommates
- Get a pet
Bond with your colleagues
If you have shifted to a new town after getting a job there, then this tip might be the most helpful one in letting you make friends in a new place. When you are at work, you’re not alone because you are accompanied by workmates and colleagues. So, being social and accessible at the workplace is one of the best ways to make friends in a new city.
Friendships at workplaces can come often naturally as well. You already have something in common with your workmates, which is, your office. And friendships come easy when there’s something common you can talk about. Moreover, you interact with them on a daily basis. What better time to try and get to know them better? Who knows, you might even spot your future best friend there. Although most people don’t like the idea of making friendships at the office, it can prove to be beneficial if you’ve started working in a new city and want to make some friends there.
Some offices organize extracurricular activities, from sports games to happy hours. Company events like corporate lunches and dinners are also an option. If your company also offers such activities, you can benefit from them to get to know your colleagues better. Apart from having lunch with your colleagues, you can invite some of them to watch some games together or just grab some drinks after work.
Join different groups
Moving to a new place or town can be really tough. For this purpose, you will have to meet, interact with and spend time with different people in that city so that you can easily negate or minimize the effects of the so-called separation anxiety.
This way, one of the best ways to find friends in a new city is to join different groups. You’ll find many local groups on Facebook. Use the new city’s name to search for some groups on the social app. Join some of them and get social with members. You can also go ahead and make some posts, introduce yourself and explain that you’re new in the city. This interaction can lead to long-time friendships. Soon enough, you’ll surely want to meet some of the people from those online groups in person.
It is also good to mention some of your hobbies and the activities that interest you. Through the help of millions of groups on the Facebook app, you can find many new-city people with similar interests to yours.
If you have moved to a place where people have a different first language, you can join the language groups to get a grasp of the new language as well as to make some friends. Informal social meetups organized by language groups to improve language skills are also a great way to find friends in a new city.
Connect with friends of friends
When you are in a new city, it can be almost impossible to know right away how to make friends in a new place. So, if you don’t wanna try any friend-making trick and want to stick to the easy ways, reaching out to your old pals might be just what you need.
Let your friends know that you’ve just moved and are looking for friends. Ask them if they know anyone in the city you just moved to. If you’re lucky, you should be able to get a few contacts. When you get some contacts, make sure to reach out to those people and meet them for a drink.
Sports and hobbies
Making friends is not as easy as some might think. While some good friendships form almost effortlessly, sometimes you can just end-up empty handed no matter how hard you have tried. But the trick is to keep on trying until you have a good friend circle in the new city to enjoy and roam around with.
In life, one can meet people everywhere but the chances of making like-minded friends in a new city are elevated if you meet someone who has a similar interest as yours. And the best way to turn this possibility into a reality is through sports and hobbies. If you have moved to a big city like New York or London, chances are that it offers its citizens relatively more opportunities to participate in all kinds of activities, and thus to meet new people and form good friendships and meaningful relations. One such opportunity is practicing sports.
Joining any sports team or running club can easily spark new opportunities for meeting like-minded people and making friends with them. If you have a thing for sports, you can seek out some suitable sports league and join it. Being a part of such leagues is a great opportunity to make new friends. Moreover, if you have moved to a bicycle-friendly city, you can start riding a bike there to get to know other cycling enthusiasts in the area.
Another great way to make some friends in a new city is to join a gym or a yoga studio. This can prove to be an excellent way to stay fit and be social at the same time. When you start gyming and meeting the same people multiple times, you will gradually feel more comfortable talking to them. Moreover, it is also easy to have your workout partner or yoga classmate become your friend outside the gym or yoga studio. So, gather up your courage and invite them for a drink after the class.
Make use of mobile apps to meet new people
Making friends in a new city is never easy as it requires considerable effort, some planning, and a lot of courage as well. One of the good ways to make friends with like-minded people is to make use of mobile apps that can help you do just that.
One such app is Meetup, which is hugely popular to work across thousands of cities and helps you find and befriend local people with common interests. It contains groups based on different locations as well as different ages, working styles, hobbies, interests, etc. Although there are a lot of groups on the app, if there are none to your liking, you can start your own. You can also look up upcoming events in your area.
Other than this, there are many similar apps out there to help you find friends. Look for them through Google search and try out a few to see which one works best for you.
Have good connections with neighbors and roommates
When you move to a new city where you don’t know anyone and are surrounded by complete strangers all the time, it is natural that you will feel downhearted. Making one step at a time to change is probably the best route. And that change starts around your new home or apartment.
Start off by meeting your neighbors to gauge if there is a chance that you befriend any of them. Invite them over to your house for an informal get-together or a casual housewarming party to get to know them better. Even if you don’t make best friends with them, hanging out in each other’s house from time to time or just socializing can help you feel ‘not-so-alone’ in the new city.
Moreover, being nice to the people who live around you also helps. Try to be courteous to your neighbors and be easily accessible if anyone needs your assistance. Make sure to always thank them whenever you get help from them in any way. Friendships come naturally when you are friendly, polite, and respectful to those around you. When you show genuine interest in them, you will notice that more and more people would want to be around you.
If you share your room or house with someone, it is essential to get to know them. You wanna know who you’re living with. And you wanna have good connections with them as well. And if you become friends with the one you’re sharing your place with, you might not even have to put effort into making any more friends in the new city.
Get a pet
Sometimes, moving to a new city and a new house can be so stressful that you may not be willing to invest too much time and energy looking for friends in the new city right after. However, that is exactly the time when you are going to need friends more than ever.
Getting a pet is another effortless way to do that, of course, if you don’t have one already. You can walk your pet in the city parks to meet and possibly befriend other pet owners. If you have a dog, it’ll be much easier to befriend someone because most of the pets in parks are dogs. Also, there is an app, Meet My Dog, that helps find friends for your dog as well.
How to make friends in a new city being an introvert?
The task of making friends as an adult becomes even more difficult when you are a shy and introverted person. It can be challenging to make friendships as an introvert, especially when you want to interact with people but end up being shy to even start a conversation. It’s not like introverts don’t have any friends, it’s just that they have a habit of sticking to old pals or their special group of one or two friends.
So if you are an introvert and have recently moved to a new city or town, you might, at first, struggle with making new friends there. However, we’ve got some perfect introvert-friendly tips that are sure to get you some nice friends.
Through common interests
Groups and events such as running groups, book clubs, cooking classes, or even garage sales can be good places to meet people while doing something that interests you. There, you’ll get a chance to meet people having similar interests as yours. Friendships made through similar interests are known to last longer. Try to come out of your “introvert” zone and start a conversation on a topic that interests you both. For example, you can talk of a recipe you are good at, or a sofa you wanna buy at a garage sale. Such simple conversations are a good start to knowing your townmates and making friends with them.
Take one social step at a time
For introverts, making friends does not come as easy as it does for extroverts. If you are an introvert, you wouldn’t expect yourself to just go out there and start making friends in no time. It is good to aim big but going way beyond the limit of your social exposure can have a reverse effect. So it is important for an introvert person to take one step at a time to start making friends.
If you are an introvert, you can start off by setting a milestone. For example, you can do one social thing every week. For this, you’ll have to urge yourself to socialize every week. It doesn’t need to be something big like a happy hour. It can be a nice chit chat with a neighbor or socializing in an afternoon coffee break during work. If you stick to this goal every week, good results are sure to follow soon.
However, keep in mind that it’s gonna take time. Don’t be disappointed or discouraged if you don’t start making friends right away. It is important to set realistic expectations and have patience.
Follow up
Meeting people once and then never meeting them again is not gonna land you anywhere. Consistency is the key in making friendships. So when you’ve set goals to socialize, make sure to stick to those goals and follow up the people you would like as friends. Follow up with pals you hit it off with and keep the connection going by inviting them to join you at another event or meet-up individually. And if they can’t make it, don’t give up and don’t lose hope. Keep following up until you find a time that works for both you and your new friends. Even though this extroversion is a forced one, it is bound to work and your efforts will eventually pay off.
Ending thoughts
Making friends as an adult can be quite challenging sometimes, especially if you have the habit of sticking to old pals and refraining from new friendships. But making new friends goes from being an option to a necessity when you move into a new city. Hopefully, these tips have helped you get a better idea of how to make friends in a new city. We have explained just a few steps you can take to build a network in your new city. Apart from these, there are a lot of things that you can try to make some friends.
Putting these tips to work and staying consistent can help you build a roster of connections in a much shorter amount of time. And yes, here’s a pro tip. While moving to a new city and making friends there, make sure to always remember your old pals and stay in touch with them.
