This is something I do not know how to do. The first time I went abroad (to Florence for a summer) I really didn’t make any friends at all, despite taking Italian classes every day with kids my age. I suppose I was enjoying the first opportunity I had ever had to be by myself all the time. I did enjoy it, but I would also have enjoyed having friends. The second time I went abroad I was in Paris with 80 other American students and I had no problem making friends. It was a blast, but I wish I had worked harder to make French friends as well.
This is my third experience living in another country for an extended period of time, and I really need to make an effort if I want to meet people. I’ve been here for three weeks so I’m not feeling frantic yet, and I do have quite a bit to do in the next month or so, but I still want to get started. How?? I work from 8:30 in the morning until 6 or later at night, and I have to go to bed by 10 if I even have a prayer of getting up at 6:30 for my morning run. Saturday is errand day and Sunday is baking and cleaning day. I live the life of an elderly spinster! I suppose the other issue is that I like living like an old lady with her cats. I’m such a homebody naturally that I don’t object to much to being by myself watching ANTM on Saturday night - at least not for the first month or so. I’ve already thought of lots of things I’d like to do here - visit the flower show at Bellinzona, go to Lake Como, take a boat tour of the lake, hike on San Salvatore - and I’m not going to want to do it all alone. So make friends I must.
What I’ve done so far is to join the Swiss Expat Blogger’s network, whose members are almost exclusively in the Zurich/Geneva areas, and not near Lugano. One of the bloggers posted about a social networking site called “Meetup” where you can join groups of people with your interests for the occasional meeting. There is a group for English speakers in Lugano that will meet in April. What next? The Big Ben club (part of the Swiss-Anglo clubs of Switzerland) is going bowling tonight, the International Women of Lugano have a couple meetings in April and the American Women of Ticino have just sent me their newsletter (but how do all these women meet for coffee on workdays?). I deeply want to bury my head in the sand because meeting so many new people all together sounds completely exhausting BUT I think I have to go. I could stay in my little town for months on end without making new friends, but then I would be living out of an emotional weekend suitcase. I won’t really make a life in Switzerland unless I make friends and (I hate this expression but here we go) “put myself out there”. People are always telling me to do that (usually because they think I should be dating) but there you have it.
Dating profile next…?
This is my third experience living in another country for an extended period of time, and I really need to make an effort if I want to meet people. I’ve been here for three weeks so I’m not feeling frantic yet, and I do have quite a bit to do in the next month or so, but I still want to get started. How?? I work from 8:30 in the morning until 6 or later at night, and I have to go to bed by 10 if I even have a prayer of getting up at 6:30 for my morning run. Saturday is errand day and Sunday is baking and cleaning day. I live the life of an elderly spinster! I suppose the other issue is that I like living like an old lady with her cats. I’m such a homebody naturally that I don’t object to much to being by myself watching ANTM on Saturday night - at least not for the first month or so. I’ve already thought of lots of things I’d like to do here - visit the flower show at Bellinzona, go to Lake Como, take a boat tour of the lake, hike on San Salvatore - and I’m not going to want to do it all alone. So make friends I must.
What I’ve done so far is to join the Swiss Expat Blogger’s network, whose members are almost exclusively in the Zurich/Geneva areas, and not near Lugano. One of the bloggers posted about a social networking site called “Meetup” where you can join groups of people with your interests for the occasional meeting. There is a group for English speakers in Lugano that will meet in April. What next? The Big Ben club (part of the Swiss-Anglo clubs of Switzerland) is going bowling tonight, the International Women of Lugano have a couple meetings in April and the American Women of Ticino have just sent me their newsletter (but how do all these women meet for coffee on workdays?). I deeply want to bury my head in the sand because meeting so many new people all together sounds completely exhausting BUT I think I have to go. I could stay in my little town for months on end without making new friends, but then I would be living out of an emotional weekend suitcase. I won’t really make a life in Switzerland unless I make friends and (I hate this expression but here we go) “put myself out there”. People are always telling me to do that (usually because they think I should be dating) but there you have it.
Dating profile next…?
I totally understand about being a homebody. I had no idea I was one until I started living with Mirco. If it weren't for him I'd never leave the house. He loves being social and going and seeing things and I love those things too... I just also like watching Castle in bed...
ReplyDeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteI came across this blog from the Swiss Expat blog network you mentioned.
I can relate somewhat being an expat living abroad in Europe for a year.
I must say Ticino is the most easy going canton in Switzerland (you could say my dream place!), and its probably easier to make friends there than the other regions!
Here are some tips that I hope would help:
You could sign up on the following websites, if you haven’t checked them already: Englishforum.ch, Glocals.com, Meetup, Couchsurfirng.org, Ron Orp. There is also a website called Myswitzerland that’s brilliant to plan stuff on your own. And of course, dating websites don’t do any harm!
You would be surprised how you could be a home bird and yet have interesting companions when you choose. The trick is to use these websites and other clubs in town to find activity partners. For example, if you love cooking, you could find so many people whom you meet once or twice a month to cook together! For example I signed up for a tennis clubs, as I love the game, and I made loads of good friends there. On days when I needed my space, I always had the option of practicing against the wall :)
Try and enjoy as much of the Swiss & Italian experience as you can. You may go back to your home country one day and wish you spent more time in the alps, or ate more fondue, or attended more of their crazy carnivals!
Good luck, and catch you on the expat blog!
Cheers!
Vasu
http://vasusworld.wordpress.com/
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