New in Town - The Chicago Guide to Making Friends

#1 Friends of Friends

When I first moved to Chicago I didn’t know a single person here. I lived in a studio apartment by myself, and everyone at my internship was a lot older than me. It’s no fun to explore the city on your own, so I turned to my friends for help. Chicago is a big city and I would bet my pink polka dot pj’s that some of your friends know people living here. I called one of my best friends from college and she gave me names of three people that I could find on facebook and lived in Chi-town.

You have to be somewhat bold to get in touch with strangers and ask them for their hand in friendship… but you have no friends, right? So here’s your chance to make some. I sent each friend-recommended stranger a friend request and a short message letting them know that our mutual friend thought we should meet. All three of them replied and were happy to meet up and hang out. Two of the three are still good friends of mine a year later. Voila! Instant friendships with just a splash of awkward.
Facebook Friend Request Etiquette

#2 Meetup.com

Have you ever used this site? If not, you should definately check it out. The idea is to form/join groups of people with similar interests (cooking, hunting, wine-tasting, etc.) and have meetups that incorporate those interests. It is pretty big in Chicago and there are over 1,000 groups to choose from!

#3 Volunteer

If you have some free time (and I’m sure you do since you have no friends) and you want karma points then look into volunteering. It is an excellent way to meet really great people and help out a cause at the same time. Since Chicago is such a huge city, there are a lot of volunteer opportunities. Here are some links to get you started.

#4 Sports bars

Sports bars aren’t a bad place to make friends if you go to watch a sporting event that you actually care about. And no one will think you are weird for being there by yourself. Just show up in your team jersey and sit at the bar. Make small talk with the people sitting around you during commercials. If you are successful making a friend or two, you’ll have someone to watch the game with next week! Then refer to #1, and make friends with their friends!

#5 Church Groups

If you are even semi-religious, this is a great and super easy way to meet people in the area. You can probably find a church group for nearly every denomination that is made up of a twenty something crowd. These groups generally plan activities outside of the weekly meeting so there are lots of opportunities to get involved.

#6 Take Classes!

No, I’m not saying you have to go back to school. (Although its not a bad idea.) I’m talking about fun classes that have to do with your old or new interests… cooking, karate, dance, pottery, writing… just to name a few. Work out classes at gyms are also great, but a little harder to meet people at. Find something that you would enjoy doing regardless of who else will be taking the class so that it isn’t a waste of your time if you end up not making any friends. (But you probably will!)

#7 Be MY friend!

I love making new friends AND I live in Chicago. So if you haven’t already, join Guidespot and give me a shout out! You can also follow me on Twitter if you have it. My Twitter name is jesswrites.

Cheers to not being all alone in the world!

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