It was my first day at school this week. I decided to take a course in GCSE maths, as it is apparent that I will need it if I want to persue any higher education in the future. Going on courses will allow you to meet people. Not that I have made any friends yet; just one acquaintance that could be a potencial friend.
Uprooting and settling down somewhere else can be quite daunting. Very, actually. As much as I have wanted to move here for years, and also live with Sheldon, I am finding it hard to be as independant as I was back in Spain. I had my own group of friends I could see on a daily basis. I think you take friendship for granted when you have it, and when you have to start all over again it becomes a bit of a burden to have to meet new people, make sure you are compatible, ignore them you are not... It all sounds a bit dramatic, but you can kind of see as going to a new school. For a few days (or weeks, or months) you don't quite know where you stand, you learn your way around the school and learn who you should hang out with and who you actually want to hang out with.
So, what can we do to make new friends?
1. The easiest way to make friends is at work. When I used to work in Spain I got on well with almost all my work colleagues. Some of them have become really close friends, almost family. Of course, some people do not recognise you as a friend if they work with you. There were people who would pour their heart out at me and skip off as soon as they felt better about themselves, that would happen inbetween classes (I was a teacher). However, there will be people that will suggest coffee; or even you can suggest coffee outside of work. Get to know each other outside the four walls and find out if you have anything in common or if you are compatible as friends.
2. Charity work. Maybe not working at shops, but any work that might involve projects may spark a friendship. I will tell you more about that when that actually happens to me in the next couple of weeks. I'm meeting some of my fellow volunteers this week and next week. I am hopeful someone will at least sit next to me.
3. Join a club. Say, for example, you like knitting. And say you lived in Manchester. If you type "knitting clubs in Manchester" in your chosen search engine I guarantee most of the results will be of interest for you. If you are looking for a book club you can go round your local library, or fins the library website. Newcastle City Council also has a list of book clubs, so I am pretty sure other councils will do the same. Look for your nearest community centre as well, as there are normally activities going on there as well.
5. Join a course. Creative writing is in fashion now; I am sure there are short courses you can go on and also learn something a part from meeting people. I, for example, am taking maths. I also have to get back to you n this one as I haven't yet made a solid-ish friendship. It's only been a day, give me a break.
4. If you are confident with the internet, why not use forums? They might be riskier as you won't really know what the person is like until you meet them in the flesh, but http://www.expat-blog.com/ might be of interest for you. You can find people by nationality, or where they are. Most of them will have blogs like this one, where you can read some more about them and gradually grow to know them. You can never asure that you will meet these people, but you might feel less alone knowing that there are other people in your same situation.
5. If everything else fails you can always sit in the library, or join the gym, or go to a café. Although you might come across as a bit of a wierdo if you approach someone in a coffee shop and say: "hi, I'm new around here, do you want to be my friend?" In my opinion that would be the equivalent to social suicide. Maybe try the laundrette.
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