5 Ways to Make New Friends When You Move Abroad

When I moved abroad to Germany in 2020, my worst fear was not being able to find people to call friends. Growing up we make friends at school or at after school jobs. Sometimes we have friendships that are build in from birth through family friends. The things about friends is that they are important. Whether it’s a friend who tells you how it is or a friend who is your hype girl every step of the way.

When I moved to Heidelberg, I knew eventually I would find friends, but honestly I didn’t know where and how. Moving to a strange place wasn’t something new for me at all. Through every move I have made in my life, I have been able to connect with people through work. It wasn’t until I moved here that I began to recognize that all my life I have found friends through odd ways. In this post, I will talk about 5 ways to make new friends when you move abroad.

Here are 5 Ways to Make Friends Abroad

I’m new to the abroad life, but after 6 months I decided to take looking for friendships seriously. These are the ways that I’ve been able to make genuine connections with people in Germany.

01. Facebook Groups

When I was evaluating how I met my friends, I was shocked by how many of my close friends I met on Facebook. When I was moving to California for a travel nursing assignment, my housing fell through last minute. My husband and I were on our honeymoon. So basically in 2 weeks, I would be homeless. I went to a facebook housing page, searched California., found temporary housing and I bravely messaged someone “Hey, I saw you were looking for housing. I know a place and I am looking for a roommate.” I know crazy right. Like who decides to live with a complete stranger. 3 years later, we have traveled together, lived 2 years together, and she is one of my closest friends. Also the temporary living situation led me to meeting another friend. The three of us went to Santa Barbara before my big move.

Tips for Finding Friends on Facebook:

1. Join Expat or Local Facebook Groups
2. Be brave and post that you are looking for friends and add some of the things you enjoy along with things you are looking for in a new friend.
3. Chat on Facebook prior to giving any specific information
4. Make sure the person has a real profile and it is not a scam
   1. Do they have pictures on their profile?
   2. Do they have friends?
   3. Are they active on Facebook?
   4. Do they point or interact?
   5. Look at their albums
5. When meeting up make sure to meet in a public place where someone know where and with whom you are meeting me.

02. Friends of Friends

When I met my German husband (click here for the full story), all of a sudden someone knew someone who knew someone who was German. It was like a coincidence that kept on happening. It actually wasn’t…. my friends, family, and co workers were remembering these random people because they connected German with me, so they wanted to tell me about people they new. I also randomly found out that I had family that used to live in Germany too. The point is, ask people you know if they know people in the area you are headed. Friends of friends are a great place to start.

03. Instagram

Of course, this was going to be on the list. If you’re new here, I was not into social media until 2020. I started using my instagram to start my blog before my big move. I’ve made so many online friends that turned into in real life (IRL) friends. I know you’re probably thinking, “How the heck do I make friends on Instagram.”

Tips to Make friends on Instagram

1. Use hashtags for the location that you are headed
2. Interact though likes, comments, and dms with those who you want to build a relationship with
3. Search location and see who comes up
4. DM someone who you know lives near the area. Ask them if they would like to meet up
5. Make sure to be safe.

04. Bumble BFF

When I first heard of bumble bff, I was like wait if this a joke? Bumble is not only for dating. You will download the bumble app & set up your Bumble BFF profile. On the profile you can add questions, Instagram feed, Spotify, etc. You feed will show people and you will swipe left (no) or right (yes). After you have a match (meaning the both of you swiped right), you will have 24 hours to contact each other. You can rematch afterwords. This world we now live in. haha. At first, I was suspicious about this app, but now I am a fan. On the app, you can be specific and say what type of friend you are looking for.

05. Meet up

I’ve heard only good things about Meet Up. You can download the app or use the desktop version. Meet up helps people with similar interest meet up by allowing you to search your location. If you are on Meet Up and do not see any in your location, you can create a group. Each group has its own rules, for instance, groups near me can only join the group if they have a profile picture.