DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: I discovered your site yesterday and I thought that you give some pretty solid advice in the articles that I read, so I figured I would throw in a question of my own.
A little bit about me first: I am a 25 years old virgin guy (never even held hands with a girl), I can be a little shy and I am just finishing college. I think I am a good contender for the title of Ultimate Nerd : I never went to any clubs nor any parties during my college days but spent my nights turning pages reading philosophy books on various and (sometimes) weird subjects, utterly fascinated. And honestly, I don’t regret a thing. I am actually quite comfortable with being a (relatively) late virgin. I know I am not unattractive and social inept, since some girls I met confessed their feelings for me (!), but I didn’t feel mature enough to enter a relationship so I shut them down. My best friends know about my virginity and never gave me any s--t about it nor pressured me about it. And I am not really afraid of being rejected for it. I mean, I know I may sound like a bit of a jerk but I firmly believe that anyone that rejects me for being a virgin is probably not worth spending much time with in the first place.
I have been offered an internship on the other side of the planet, starting next month. I eagerly accepted because I think that’s a great opportunity to travel and discover new things and step out of my comfort zone. But here comes the question: how do you create a vibrant social life, when you are a young adult fresh out of college arriving in a brand new city and when you have almost no experience in doing that? ( I presume that the language barrier won’t be a problem since I speak the local language quite fluently. ) I could start with my colleagues but all of them are 40 somethings married with kids, so not really a good starting point for hanging out. My objectives would be to 1) have a nice group of friends to have fun with and 2) go on dates. I have never been on one and I am really really curious and excited about what it looks like. (Finding love would be awesome too, but that would be the cherry on top of the cake. Right now I am more looking to brush off on my social skills).
Thanks for reading, and I hope my question will be of interest to you and your readers.
Eager To Learn
DEAR EAGER TO LEARN: Congratulations on your upcoming adventure, ETL. That sounds like it’s going to be an incredible experience and one that’s going to add a lot of interesting and exciting stories to your repertoire.
When it comes to making new friends and building up a social life from the ground up, there’re a few things you can do. I’ll start with the basics and then we’ll talk a bit more about how to do this when you’re going to be living in a foreign country on top of everything else.
First and foremost: you want to find where your people hang out and make a point of going to those places. Friendships are formed much the same way romantic and sexual relationships are, and they start in a very similar place: meeting like-minded folks who share your interests and values. Meeting potential new friends can be difficult as we get older and we don’t have the easy set-ups that come with school – you’re surrounded by folks who are around your age and in the same general place in life that you are, in a place where you’re expected to socialize and hang out with people. All of this gives you a fairly solid base to start from and figure out who amongst your classmates are potential friends or lovers. Being classmates gives you an immediate ice-breaker and shared point of reference that makes it easier to start conversations and school activities provide organic opportunities to meet folks who might not be in your immediate orbit.
When we no longer have that shared starting point, it gets trickier. Without all those other factors that give us advantage on our persuasion checks, it feels a little more fraught to just go up and introduce yourself to folks. Similarly, you no longer have the benefit of being surrounded by your peers and by folks with (relatively) similar life experiences. Since friendships are most easily formed with folks who have similar interests and values to yours, then it makes sense to go to where those people are most likely to hang out. Having those immediate interests in common makes for a strong starting point, not only to start a conversation – “hey, you’re into $COOL_THING? Oh man, me too!” – but for building a home-base of sorts.
It’s important to remember: you want to prioritize interests and hobbies that emphasize your interacting with other people. Since you mention that you didn’t go out much and that most of your downtime was spent doing solo activities, this will mean that you’re going to need to leave your comfort zone. I love books like woah, but reading isn’t something that brings you in contact with new folks on the regular. If all of your hobbies were socially closed off – either solitary pursuits or ones you only did with your friends – then you may have to start experimenting with new interests. Considering that you’re going to be in a foreign country, this is the perfect time to branch out and try things that you may have written off before.
It’s also important that you don’t just go to those places once and write them off if it’s not an immediate success or you don’t find a squad right off the bat. One of the things we don’t talk about when it comes to our relationships is the mere-exposure effect; we develop an affection for things because we’re familiar with them. When we see the same faces over and over again – such as at work or school or even just the regulars at the bar – then they become known quantities and bring a level of comfort just by there presence. Spending time in those new hangouts is going to be important, in no small part because it means you’ll be able to build that familiarity. This will be useful both for your comfort and confidence – those strangers become, if not friends, then at least familiar faces – and for them to get to know you over time as well. That will make it much easier to make friends, especially if you’re in a place where the culture is a little more closed off or reserved.
But becoming a regular at those places will be important too because it makes it that much easier to turn those strangers into friends. Friendships – especially close friendships – are built over time. It’s a lot easier to put in the 200 hours that it takes to build close friendships when you’re spending eight or more hours a day together, five days a week. Since most of your week will be taken up by work, and you aren’t as interested in connecting with your co-workers (which we will get back to in a moment), that makes it harder to put in the time to build friendships. Hanging out at those venues will make it easier to go from strangers to acquaintances and to invite those acquaintances to hang out and do stuff that will help you go from acquaintances to friends.
Now, I’ve written before that hosting regularly scheduled events and get-togethers is a good way of grinding out that social meter. Since you’re going to be spending time in your initial weeks and months getting settled in, adjusting to the new schedule and dealing with the weirdness of living in a new country as well as a new city, that may be a little tougher to pull off. But this is where some of the tips for making friends when moving to a new country will help too.
First of all: leverage social media before you even go. There’re any number of forums, Facebook groups, subreddits and more out there, not just for the city where you’ll be moving to but specifically ones for expats, people new to the city and folks who’ll be traveling through. Finding and joining these groups will help you make connections with people in the area before you even get there. These can be useful for getting the lay of the land, figuring out some places to check out – restaurants, shops and entertainment districts, local areas of interest and the like – and even networking with folks who already live there.
If you build some relationships before you even move in, you’ve got a ready-made network of contacts – if not friends, yet – waiting for you to arrive. That makes it a lot easier to hit the ground running when you’re ready to make friends. Having this network in place means that, for example, announce that you’re finally in town and settled in and does anyone want to check out $PLACE with you or show you around?
At the same time, don’t write off your co-workers, just because they’re older than you. First of all, the fact that they’re married 40-somethings doesn’t mean that they can’t be good and valued friends; the age difference may seem daunting, but you may want to look at it as being a matter of having a different perspective. And just being married or having kids doesn’t mean that they won’t want to go out and do stuff; I’m willing to bet that many would appreciate the opportunity. Just because someone’s married doesn’t mean that they’re dead or that they never leave their spouse’s side.
Just as importantly, even if they aren’t folks you might be friends with otherwise, they could still be valuable resources for you, especially if they’re local or well-connected. Just as I always tell folks to not write off folks they don’t want to date at MeetUps or parties, you don’t want to freeze your co-workers out. They may not be people you’d want to be friends with, but they can introduce you around… including to folks who may well be the people you’d want to befriend.
Which actually leads me into the next point: take advantage of the fact that you’re new in town. One of the activities I suggest for folks who want to organize events for their friends is to play tourist and do all the kitschy stuff that none of you all do because you’re locals. Since you really will be a tourist (of sorts), you have an instant and organic idea for hanging with friends… or even some dates. Invite some of your new acquaintances to come sightseeing with you and play tourist for a day. Odds are good that many of them will take you up on it; going around a city with someone who’s never been before helps you see the city with new eyes. Even better: they’re likely to want to show you their city, rather than the tourist version. This is a great way to bond with your new buds as well as to get more comfortable in your new home and maybe find some hidden gems that’re off the beaten path.
This sounds like an amazing opportunity, ETL, so I hope you take full advantage of it. And don’t forget: when in doubt, err on the side of having a story afterwards.
Good luck.
Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com