Moll_F

I move a lot for my work (which I love), and often to countries where I don’t speak the language very well. Moving to a new place, or back to an old place, every six months makes it hard to keep hold of friends. And most of the good friends I have are doing the same thing: we are all scattered over the world trying to stay in contact via facebook. All of us have the same problem, that we find it hard to meet new friends in the new places we go to.

The city I’m living in at the moment is wonderful. I’ve been here 3 months and I love it – its got exciting cultural events going on, plenty of cools bars, cafes and restaurants, and beautiful parks and scenery to enjoy. But I know hardly anyone here so I’m really not taking advantage of it the way I should. I want to spend some time going out to these places with fun people, rather than on my own.

So I need a plan on how to make friends here, given that I don’t speak the language very well. I’ve met some people through my language class but they tend to be tourists who only stay here a few weeks, while I’m here a whole year. In the past in the US I’ve tried to take classes as a way of meeting people, but that never really worked. Should I try again here, maybe with a dance class or art class? Should I try and contact the English-speaking ex-pat community (who, in general, I find quiet obnoxious and right-wing) in the hope I’ll meet some more friendly people there?

... they must think I hate them. I move a lot, and most of my friends now live in foreign countries. So facebook and email are really the only way we keep in touch, but I’m terrible at replying to emails. Sometimes I get an email from someone I care about, and it really brightens my day. But still I don’t get around to writing back to tell them how much it meant to me until its suddenly two weeks later and I feel too guilty to do it.

So, my plan is to:

1) switch from the crappy university email account I have at the moment to one that might be more user-friendly, to encourage me to keep my inbox tiny
2) plan on having all my emails from one day written and sent before I go to bed each night
3) write shorter, quicker replies immediately, rather than putting off writing till I have time to write a longer reply.