Making New Friends on unfamiliar ground!

Creating new friends as an adult can be daunting! But making new friends as an adult in a new country is even more overwhelming. This post aims to assist with some ideas or pointers for you to consider in the attempt to form new alliances and create lasting friendships on your Journey in Australia and beyond.

As children making friends was as simple as “hey can I play”? to which there was an automatic yes life was so uncomplicated. How times change as we get a little older, I probably wouldn’t look at using that phrase when requesting the company of someone now, but there are still a lot of ways to create opportunities to associate with like-minded people and build new friendships or social circles.

Classes and Activities
When enrolling into school (English school, cooking or dance classes), it encourages and helps you to make friends. You spend a large deal of time with and around the same people, doing the same type of activities… and when you’re spending time with the same people regularly, they become familiar to you. It’s recurrent and so you become more comfortable with reaching out and making friends or generating conversation.

Therefore, enrolling into classes is going to give you that head start in creating a social circle or group of acquaintances that could potentially be friends.

Volunteer Work
If this is an option even for a few hours a week, fortnight or month, it could be a great way to not only assist in the community and develop basic humanity principles in a foreign country, but also be a wonderful way to form collaborations with like-minded people who share common Interests and or goals.

Friends of Friends
You may already have a friend or family in the country, socialising with them from time to time may give you the opportunity to hang out with other people who are like minded. Consider the fact that you must have common interests with the known friend or family for one reason or another, so it would make perfect sense that the people that they also socialise with could share the same or similar interests as you do.

Regular Hangouts
Is there a particular coffee shop, library, fitness centre that you like to frequently visit? You become accustomed with the other regulars and therefore may strike up a conversation that initiates an opportunity to build a friendship, and the possibility of an invitation to spend time together.

Social Media
Joining social media platforms based on location and common interest, or on the recommendations of your existing following, offers a foundation for new friendships to be formed and opens up a range of new and exciting ways to discover your new city and the people in it.

So now you’re going to be around people who have the same interests as you. Conversations are more easily struck up because the both of you like to be a part of that event or activity so exercise, cook, or dance get socialising.

Enjoy the Journey and your time here in Australia and beyond.