05 March 2012

Making Friends, UK Style

Ahh friends.  I miss having friends.  Things have been fairly slow in the friend-making department.  I moved here from the US not knowing anyone but my husband and my dogs... and my social circle still pretty much consists of my husband and my dogs.  I've been here less than two months though, so I know that I'm still very new, and I can't expect to just instantly have a group of girlfriends.  But, not gonna lie, it would be nice.  I do miss having friends you can call up at the last minute to join you for a margarita or glass of wine and/or other silly stuff like at-home manicures and reality TV.

In the past few years in the US, we moved around a lot.  I think I've become fairly adept at meeting people and making new friends.  I know that it takes time.  Making friends is a lot like dating.  You don't want to come on too strong, or be too pushy and freak the other person out.  But you still have to show interest and put forth effort.

As an adult, it can be hard to meet people who are open to new friendships.  The easiest avenues for friend-making, school and work, aren't happening here either.  My formal school days are long over, and I'm not working here yet (a subject for a future post).  But I'm doing what I can.  I'm joining Meetup groups, taking an adult education class, and volunteering.  Meetup.com has been very good to me in the past.  I've met some really wonderful people through that site, and hopefully that will hold true here as well.  I've joined some American expat Meetup groups in London, and I've started a couple of local Meetups, so we'll see what happens with that.

Hanging out with Americans has been nice, but I don't want to only have American friends here.  That would kind of defeat the purpose of moving to another country.  Plus, there aren't very many Americans here in my small town, and I really would love to have some local friends.  So I'm trying to factor British reservedness into my friend-making approach.  Don't want to freak them out with my eagerness and my super friendly Texan-ness.  That's kind of a joke, because back home I'm considered pretty quiet and reserved.  I usually have to consciously make myself more open and assertive when I'm meeting new people.  Hopefully I'll figure out how to strike the right balance here.

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