Moving to a new country can seem like an awkward dance that never ends. Between finding housing, a job, and learning a new language (if you’re one of the unfortunates), it may feel that even achieving the basic comforts is a fairytale far from reach. It’s not just about relocating; it’s enough to travel for a month on foreign land, even a week, to long for human contact that is beyond your hotel’s receptionist. Not to mention those of us who are just plain lonely in their hometown!
When it comes to making friends as an expat, the obstacles become even more apparent. You’ll imagine that the city is filled with impossible cliques, pre-established friendships and everyday barriers blocking your path to new relationships. However, there are platforms that can make the integration process just a bit smoother. These are the apps, designed just for you, that will lead you toward friendship and meaningful bonds no matter where you are in the world.
Meetup
Meetup combines old-school methods of socializing with the ever growing technology sector. This app understands that the easiest way to make friends is by joining an established event and meeting like-minded people who are also on the hunt for new friends.
Meetup gives expats an easy way to seamlessly immerse themselves in a new culture and solidify ‘a group’ along the way. Meetup operates in cities all around the world, with events ranging from hiking-oriented groups to meetups for techies.
Personally, I’ve attended dozens of meetups in London and in Tel Aviv. The experience is great, It’s just so easy to schedule, organize, meet and even speak at your own meetup. You get to piggyback the Meetup community and it saves you a lot of “advertising” your own event on your social profiles.
Butter
Want to make friends without the obligation of meeting up? Enter Butter, an app for making friends faster, but focused on connecting people from around the world. With its advanced chatting features, Butter allows you to talk to thousands of expats, travelers or residents from across the globe. If ever you are feeling lonely or homesick, Butter is the best community for sharing the observations and problems faced when living abroad.
With arranged icebreakers such as “photo questions”, where users upload images with accompanying questions attached, connecting with other expats is a smooth and fun experience. Butter is not a single one-on-one chat, but an interactive experience with people in your area or other expats from around the world.
Friendable
Friendable is an app that attempts to recreate the warm and cozy feeling of BFF with already-established friends and total strangers. This app is perfect for expats trying to find their way around a new town with a friendly group of friendship seekers.
You can arrange group gatherings or more intimate meetups using local businesses such as coffee shops and pubs as social touch-points. You’ll also have the ability to chat before you meet in person, so you can discover similar interests and make plans that suit everyone.
The 21th century is a cold, overloaded and high-tech-style era. People no longer roam the street acting nice and greeting everyone hello. While there is a lot of criticism of where technology has taken this all thing, there’s a lot of good to it too.
Thankfully, these apps provide ways of making new friends, whether it’s online or in person. With an abundance of resources, making lasting relationships in the new place you’ve settled is made simple and fun. Who knows what will they come up with next?
Do you have any favorite App you use to meet new people? Let us know in the comments.
Featured photo credit: IMFree via IMFree.com
