Hi, I’m Stefan and I’ve asked myself the question so many times in my life: "How do I meet new people". I love to explore the world and try new things, so I have moved to a new city more than 5 times in my life. This has the disadvantage that I have to rebuild my circle of friends again and again and for that get to know new people had to.
Meeting new people worked for me here on a jeep tour in Bolivia
After each move, I faced the same challenge: "How do I meet new friends?". Even the fifth time costs meet new people still overcome. But every time I end up finding wonderful people. With many of them I am still friends today.
I made my friends in the new city both offline and online. Part of it was a bit of luck, of course, but on the other hand, I was pushing my luck a bit as well. I made new friends only because I went outside and didn’t lock myself in my house. Because lonely Netflix nights must be pretty random if you end up making a friend with the pizza delivery guy. To help you with your new start in a new city, I have collected for you my top 10 tips on how to make new friends in a city. Here they are:
Here are my top 10 tips for meeting new people easily
Go out!
Introduce yourself to your neighbors
Make friends with your roommates
Meet new people through friends
Try to get to know your work colleagues better
Join a sports club or choir
Get involved politically or do voluntary work
Just go out with old acquaintances
Trying out apps to meet new people and make friends
Use social networks
Take part in events
1. Go outside
As simple as it sounds- this is the easiest tip I can share with you. You won’t make new acquaintances within your own four walls, at least offline. Go for walks, go to town, sit in a park or even go to a bar by yourself. At home you will Only have a very low probability of meeting new people.
For many people, this feels a bit strange at first. This is understandable, because if we are honest – many things are simply more fun together with others! On the other hand- what does it cost you? I am new in Berlin bspw. Just walked through a park. There I saw someone juggling. Since I can also juggle a little bit, I asked him if I could try it once and if he could show me some new tricks. We got along so well in the process that I am still friends with Giovanni today and often visit him when I come to Berlin.
2. Introduce yourself to your neighbors
I’m sure many people have more than 20 people in their neighborhood, but often only know two or three by name. As a child, meeting new people in the neighborhood was not a problem. It was natural for the kids to play together on the street and visit each other.
Two of my good friends I have nevertheless also recently met in the neighborhood. Sandra, for example, I just met at a neighborhood party that someone else from the neighborhood was hosting. Sure, it took a little overcoming at the beginning again to go alone on the festival, but in the end it was insanely fun and it was worth it.
By the way, I met another neighbor by needing a ladder. So I rang the bell and introduced myself. The neighbor who introduced himself as "Flo" was very happy to lend me his ladder and even helped set up the apartment in the end. In return I invited him for a beer. So from day one, I had a good friend in the neighborhood.
(Ps. you can of course just introduce yourself without having a reason to do so. Many neighbors are happy when you say hello and they have a picture of the person from whom they always accept the packages ;). You can also get in touch with neighbors via the app "next door.de" get to know. I haven’t tried the app myself, but I’ve heard from friends that it’s a good way to meet new people.
3. Make friends with your flatmates
Roommates are a curse for many, but often a blessing as well. I have already lived in many WGs and often met many great people in the process. -At this point a greeting to my then in Cologne and my good friend Simon. Even if you don’t get along so well with your roommate at first sight and don’t see such a big intersection – still go out together and get to know each other better on another level. Even though your roommate may not become your best friend, often you do meet new people through acquaintances as well as roommates yes!
Meeting new people through friends works for most people
4. Getting to know new people through friends
Many people still have some school time friends in the hometown. the only problem is that when you move to a new city, they are often too far away. However, it is often the case that a huge network is created through friends. Use this to meet new people!
Friends of your friends, or at least acquaintances often happen to live in the same city as you do. Have your friends network with someone who also lives in the city and just meet for a coffee or a beer. Through Facebook etc. you have a good overview of where friends are at the moment.
Here too it is important to be open. You don’t have to be afraid to "take away" your friends either. On the contrary – through mutual friends you often have great topics of conversation and have even more fun together on a birthday. (This may actually be my best "insider tip", friends of friends often tick similarly to you, so try it out.").
5. Work colleagues
Also a classic. With some of my ex-work colleagues I still meet regularly today. You spend about 40 hours a week with your colleagues at work. You get to know each other very well. The challenge here is that colleagues are often in relationships, have children, or are otherwise busy. They have often lived in the city for a long time and have a large circle of friends that they have to maintain.
On the other hand, there will certainly be one or two new colleagues who have also not yet made a lot of connections in the city and would like to meet new people. I’m sure this colleague will be happy if you ask him if you would like to meet in private. This often improves the working atmosphere even more. -And who knows, maybe the busy family dad-colleague will find an evening and go out with you after all. It costs nothing to ask.
6. Join a sports or music club
Whether it’s soccer, volleyball, dancing, tennis, handball or field hockey. Many people have played as children in a team or sang in the choir. Meet new people in the process. Why not make it work today? In every city, there are a variety of clubs where many people get together and have fun together.
Even if you’re not a professional athlete or world-class singer, you’re sure to find a club to suit you. There are a lot of groups in most clubs. There is usually also a hobby group, where the focus is on drinking wine or beer instead of sports.
Tip 6: Meet new people in the sports club
7. Get involved politically or do voluntary work
Do good and be happy? Just dreaming about a better world does not make it better! Find out what clubs or parties there are in your area. Friendships are often formed by people with the same interests.
So the probability is quite high to find there also like-minded people with whom you become friends. A great app to use is flexhero where you can volunteer your time. Otherwise, you can also join a party in your area, meet new people and make a real difference at the same time. Click here for instructions on how to become a party member.
8. Meet up with old friends
You walk through a city 600 km away from your hometown and then suddenly meet someone you last saw in kindergarten, on the other side of the world, as it were. Has this ever happened to you? Take the opportunity and don’t be shy, just ask if your kindergarten friend would like to meet up with you.
Even though you may not have gotten along well before, you have a history together and a lot to talk about. I’m sure you’ll find many more things in common over a beer together.
Ps. Of course, you can also check Facebook to see who in your network of acquaintances lives in the city you just moved to.
9. Try apps for meeting new people and making friends!
There are apps like spontacts, or freizeit-treffs.de where you can meet new people online. The only problem is that it takes a bit of effort to make the internet acquaintance a "real-life" acquaintance, and that it’s not just writing back and forth.
For example, I personally have only met someone once through tinder.- Of course, it was more about getting to know girls and not just making friends. In the end, however, the date is more along the lines of "let’s be friends after all". That was fully okay for both of us. So this is how meeting friends online worked for me too.
10. Find people through social networks
For me personally, LinkedIn works great for networking online with like-minded people. You can network via no-obligation friend requests and see what the other person is up to and interested in. Through Linkedin, for example, I have thus met like-minded founders. We have the same interests and always exciting topics of conversation, so we can also help each other for example. Of course, if you meet in person, it goes even better.
11. Take part in events
This point is my absolute favorite for meeting new people. If you’re honest, it’s also an intersection of all the other recommendations you’ve just read. Specifically, I have an experience from Bolivia in mind: I wanted to do a little round trip through the Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. In the process, we sat in a jeep together with four other people. On the round trip, we experienced so much together that the experience bonded us and I still like to think about the moment. I still often visit a friend I met there when I’m in the vicinity of her home in Cologne.
A start-up, which I personally find great and where you can meet new people, is "joinmytrip". Joinmytrip offers shared experiences in the form of trips. One disadvantage may be that if you travel for several days with people you don’t know yet, you can’t stop the trip so easily. On the other hand, if you have a group of several people, there is a good chance that you will have like-minded people and so you can meet new cool people.
Otherwise "events" don’t have to be big trips either. Go to a Meetup event near you, or to a sporting event where like-minded people hang out. You’ll see, you’ll have a lot more fun through the shared experiences and you’ll surely meet someone with whom you get along well.
I am a firm believer: Getting to know new people works best through shared activities. If you also share common emotions, these activities become an experience, and that in turn creates friendships. To create more of these experiences and help you make close friends, we’re building the BenefitsWithFriends app. Take a look!
#Names have been partially changed for privacy reasons.
A young group of like-minded people having fun playing mini golf
Is it only me who asks myself how to meet new people?
"How to find friends?" or "how to meet new people" will be every month about 100 to 1.Googled 000 times. That’s not surprising, because according to Statista, every second person has already moved once because of his job. As you’ve read, I’ve also moved more than 5 times for professional reasons and always had the same challenge.
I know how you feel, and that all beginnings are hard, especially when you come into a new job and everything is a challenge right now. That’s why I’d like to share my tips with you, so that you too can have unique experiences and feel comfortable in your new city. If you follow my 10 tips, you too will soon meet a lot of new people in your new city.
To help all the people who are moving to a new city more we are building an app. On this you will find the best experiences in your area and you can meet new people at the same time. I would be happy if you take a look and subscribe to our newsletter. Click here for our app
You can find more infographics at Statista