When moving to a new city one of the hardest adjustments can be the lack of access to people to call up and hang out with.. it’s a huge challenge and can leave you feeling quite lonely if you don’t force yourself to do something about it!
When I first arrived in London I was lucky enough to have a friend travelling with me for the first week so it felt like an easy adjustment to life in a new city. I quickly realized after she left and I was staying in a hotel by myself looking for a job and place to live that it was going to be a challenge. I missed having someone who was just there to talk to and after buying 70 pounds worth of useless face lotions and potions solely because the sales lady was really nice and talked to me I realized that being on my own for extended periods of time was going to be detrimental to my emotional health not to mention my wallet and bank account!!!
I’ve always been one of those people who likes to be around others and thinks that life is more fun when you’re doing stuff with people. Even when I was sitting at home by myself in New Westminster, I’d still be texting people to see what everyone was up to and keep that social connection to the world outside my apartment. So to all of a sudden not have people to text (without there being an 8 hour time difference) it was a challenge.
BUT on the flip side it was a perfect opportunity for me to realize that I can have fun on my own and that I moved here by myself; therefore I should be comfortable hanging out by myself!! I should not feel self-concious if I decide to go to a museum or sit down at a restaurant or coffee shop and enjoy my surroundings in my own company. I’ve come to learn since moving here that I no longer NEED to have that validation of having someone with me and I feel like my confidence has definitely been given a boost since being forced to do things on my own and figuring out ways to get everywhere. I realized that unless I was comfortable doing things on my own, I would be sitting in my favorite city doing the same thing I would do at home.. I needed to get ootinaboot 😉
What I also learned, was that this would be the perfect opportunity to reinvent myself! At home I’ve always been known as a shy, quiet person and it would take me a long time to open up and really feel comfortable talking to people without being self-concious. After moving to London I realized that unless I put myself out there and force myself to meet people, I would still be that quiet shy girl that I no longer wanted to be! That’s when I decided to join meet up groups!
Meet up (www.meetup.com) is the most amazing tool for anyone looking to meet people in a new city or even in a city they’ve been living in all their lives. It’s not a dating site (although there are singles groups if you are looking for that), but it’s a website made up of hundreds of different groups to join based on your interests and things you like to do but don’t necessarily have people to do those things with! If you like to go hiking, you will find a group who also likes to go hiking. If you are into museums, there will be a group arranging a weekly trip to different museums throughout the city. Anything and everything that you want to experience in the city but don’t necessarily want to do by yourself, is available to you by clicking on the “join group” button!
The first ever meetup group I joined and event that I went to was for the Canadian Vandoos Group. It was at a pub in Oxford Circus and I was a little wary and nervous to go to something on my own. I wasn’t sure who would be there, what it would be like, or if anyone would talk to me. I would have never done that in Vancouver without having someone come with me and I was pretty proud of myself for stepping outside my comfort zone and forcing myself to step up my confidence level and strike up conversations with complete strangers! I figured what was the worst that could happen? I either go and have a lot of fun, or I go for a little while and head home if it wasn’t fun.
Turns out it was A LOT of fun! I met a lot of great people and had a lot of great conversations with other Canadians who had moved to London and could share the same experiences and frustrations that I was going through at that time. Because most of them had been in London for longer than I had, it was a great opportunity for me to get some advice on finding a job, overcoming home sickness and generally just surviving in a city that can be quite overwhelming and lonely at times. I also made a really great friend that night who I now hang out on a regular basis with outside the meetup groups!
After the success of that meetup group I started to branch out and try other groups that weren’t associated with being Canadian as I also wanted to meet a wide range of people from all over the globe! Through young business professional groups, to London drinking groups I’ve been able to try out many different hotspots and attractions around the city. I’ve gone roller-skating to 70’s disco music, had drinks in a rooftop garden, gone to a 1940’s style “blitz” party and more recently watching the Canadian Olympic hockey games (GO CANADA!!). Each meetup I go to I meet more and more interesting people with stories to tell and experiences to share! And the more I go the more I start recognizing more and more people which makes it easier to go up and talk to people 🙂
I also love the randomness that these meetup groups provide! From last minute concerts to attend and plans to see the northern lights in Sweden from a tree house, you never know who you will meet or what new plans will transpire after a pint of beer and some proper hot wings!
I’ve met a lot of new people over the past couple of months and people who I can genuinely say have become good friends! Trish & Rea (my two partners in crime for our Ootinabootinlondon blog) in particular have been really great friends and we’ve had lots of fun exploring the city together!
And the icing on the cake was going to a meet up and having someone say I came across as outgoing!!! Something I never would have heard back home because I lacked the confidence to do anything like this 🙂 Another reason why moving to London was a good idea!!
krismasinlondon 