Moving abroad can be daunting for many reasons and living in a large city such as Paris can certainly feel lonely at times. Here are a few ways to meet your new bezzies.
Au Pair Picnic
Ahhhh the au pair picnic, infamous now for those familiar with the start of the au pair season. With all the best intentions they are often terribly organised with people unable to find one another in the large parks of Paris. The last one I attended I ended up sitting in a split off from the main event, next to a nice girl but we discovered pretty quickly that we had nothing in common yet I felt too embarrassed to move around the group. For me personally I struggle in large groups like that but for many people they find it easier. Be prepared to answer the same few questions A LOT to begin with (Where are you from? Where do you live in Paris? What are your family like? Have you been an au pair before? etc,) but hang on to the people where the conversation goes beyond this. As one of the events below points out, there’s nothing worse than being alone in Paris.
Here’s a couple I found on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1640560486219716/
I love the name of this one ‘Yet another au pair picnic’:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1640560486219716/
Friend Date
As someone who has never been on a proper date ‘friend dating’ was all very new to me but judging from all the reliable knowledge I’ve procured from Mizz and Cosmo over the years there seems to be many similarities. Most of the friends I ‘dated’ last year were people who I had contacted, or vice versa, on Facebook because from their pages it seemed like we had similar interests. It might feel a bit weird sending that first message or friend request but that’s how socialising in 2015 rolls and social media actually comes into its own when you’ve moved to a new country. I had a few bad dates way back in the fog of last September, where on parting we both agreed to meet up again knowing full well that we wouldn’t, but it was always mutual and no feelings were hurt.
MeetUp
There’s even an app for making friends now and the joy of MeetUp is that often the groups are based on ‘interests’ and so the mutual ground for making conversation is already there. It’s also hard to keep up conversation when you’re riding a bike and so it’s good for the quieter types. There are international groups, running groups, language exchanges, dance classes, book clubs…http://www.meetup.com/cities/fr/paris/
French Friends
Yes it’s all well and good meeting a load of English-speaking people but we are in France and so ideally we want to make French friends and practice our language skills. Making friends with the locals is much harder but I do know people who have a great group of Francophone peeps. A language exchange is a good way to do this, also if your French is up to it and you have the time then get a part-time job in a cafe or bar. You just have to really put yourself out there and it can be daunting.
Be Brave
If you hear someone outside your kids’ school chatting on the phone or someone in a cafe orders in English (or in a language you can comprehend) then introduce yourself. What’s the worst thing that can happen? They think you’re weird or they’re rude to you? Well then it’s their loss and you wouldn’t want to be friends with them anyway.
Drunk In The Toilets
Easiest way to make friends ever. If only it was like that in the light of day.
