Making Friends in a New City

Many people in Austin have migrated here from some other part of the state or country, myself included. So how do we get our social interactions? There are lots of people that are able to create friends and acquaintances through their workplace, and that's great. But what about my workplace? I don't have an office to go to and interact with certain people everyday. Don't get me wrong there are a couple of agents in my brokerage that I'm sure I would be friends with if I went to the office more than just when I'm picking up signage. So what else can I do? Perhaps I could go out randomly, by myself, to areas with high activity and hope for the best. That's funny and quite scary for a woman in todays day and age.

Okay, you've twisted my arm. I'll let you in on my little secret to having fun and meeting great people along the way.

So a couple of months ago I was extremely bored scrolling through my Insta feed. Watching cute videos of ferrets and cats that are always entertaining, and I passed an add for an app that promotes meeting people offline in your city. Sounded kinda sketch to me, so naturally I scrolled away from it. But you know those darn adds are always so persistent. And there it was, that add. Again. And again, And again. I gave in.

[Download]

Just like any other social media app, set up a profile. Picture, quick bio, and of course your personal handle.

Next step: Join a group. There are lots of groups to join from Texas to DC. And just to be a bit more specific of your wants and needs from new friends, groups range from book meetups to concert buddies. 

So where do we begin? Obviously in the Good Things ATX group that has over two thousand members at the moment.

[Join]

"Interesting layout," I think to myself. In these groups are 'Rooms' that have all different purposes. But the one that caught my eye was the 'ATX Groups' page. It turns out the group I originally joined is basically a base for all other groups located here in Austin. Anyone can create a group as long as it has a purpose, seems simple.

So as I scroll this list of other groups to join, I come across an attractive group, ATX Girl Hangouts. Just what I needed, girls looking for girl friends.

[Join]

And so it begins, 1200 girls in Austin trying to make the best of their time here. Everyday, in the 'Main Chat' room, a post of someone's plans for the night, following day, or weekend are up looking for another gal pal to join them. If there's multiple interest in a post, you can create a meetup that clarifies when. what, and where you plan to hangout. You can even plug other groups that attract a smaller portion of the chat into joining a new one for a specific purpose.

{Enter my now favorite group, ATX Wine Nights}

[Join]

Oh how the love of wine can create wonderful bonds between people. Just puts a smile on my face thinking about it.

Okay. Time for my first meetup. So there I go, a bit late cause who can be on time with this traffic, to Wanderlust, a wine bar. This is awkward. How do you approach someone you've only ever interacted with on an app. Even worse, there were multiple someones that seemed to already know each other, making the anti-social me want to crawl back to the car. Well I've already dragged myself downtown, I am at least going to have a glass before I go. I see someone pouring a glass by themselves that was originally part of that big group over there.

{Enter my new bestie}

So here I go, putting my big girl pants on, I walk over to her. Awkwardly, very awkwardly, I ask, "Hey, are you from the Geneva chat?"

"Yes! We're all over there," she points.

Perfect, now to walk up to the big group, no biggie. HAHA. Anxiety is back. Walking. Sweating. Am I or am I just really warm right now? Anyways. So I walk on over and introduce myself. They were very receptive of me which made me feel comfortable enough to relax a bit. Everyone has gone through their first meetup and know how challenging or scary it can be.

So after a few meetups with other groups of girls, I can confidently say that this app has helped me gain new friends in a city foreign to me. Don't get me wrong. There are people that you will not click with and that's okay, that's just life. Most meetups there's probably about two or three people that you will gravitate towards. But hands down, the Geneva app has helped revive my social life. I'm in several groups now, one of which is planning on doing goat yoga soon. I'm very excited for it as I've always wanted to try goat yoga.

So my advice to those who feel a bit lonely but don't know where to start, try it out. Try Geneva. Like I said before, there are many groups to join because they tend to be hobby specific. And if one meetup didn't go as well as you had hoped, try again. There are so many people out there that are just trying to connect to others that have the same interests, and I hope you get to meet them.