MAKING FRIENDS ABROAD

Making friends wherever you go, outside the structure of school, can be a bit difficult. You are no longer forced to be in the same room with people your own age for up to 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Once you leave university, you are most-likely not afforded the opportunity to see your friends on a daily basis. It can be difficult coordinating meeting up when you live in different cities and are working different jobs. It is a time in life where change comes and it is up to us to put the effort into our friendships.

When moving to a new city or furthermore, a new country, it can feel just like that transition. Having a good group of friends was a high priority for me when I moved to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from Canada. I was coming to a new country with a blank slate and the closest person I knew was my cousin who was still a couple hours away in Belgium. I new I would need to put in the effort to meet people and find some friends that would ultimately bring me the greatest possible quality of life for my stay.

Today’s world is very different from back when people would walk up to each other on the street or at a restaurant. It isn’t the same as our parents’ generation. Instead, I found the best way to make friends in a new city, was virtually!

I went on Bumble BFF, not really knowing what to expect, or whether anything would even come of it. I swiped either right or left based on a few photos and limited personality descriptions in a bio. It seemed really weird at first, making a shallow type of snap judgement, cause you never know how you get along with someone ‘til you actually meet them. But, this is what the world has come to - we are now virtual speed dating for friends!

Although it feels weird at first, I was super pleasantly surprised to meet some really cool people! I found some really special friends, and they introduced me to some people they knew/their roomies, and it was a great way to expand my social circle.

I would also recommend not living alone when you first move abroad. Having a roommate gives you great access to socialization, and if they are also an expat, you both have incentive to explore the city and find your footing. Doing so together is really nice, because you have support and know you are not figuring everything out on your own.

Moving abroad is something I would never regret doing (even having done it the year that the world fell apart do to a global pandemic - eeeek).

Ella

Images: Ella