Stupid town and its strangers
So you've move to a new city and you've left all your amigos behind. How do you make new friends? It's a serious question. In the past I've made friends at college but that's not an option now, and I don't do coursework anymore. Where from now? Knitting-club?
OK. You can make friends at work, but I don't really work with my fellow PhDers per se - and some of them are just plan nerdy. We have the odd beer or two every Friday evening. People ask you questions like "How are you?", "Did you find a place?" and "Are you liking Melbourne". But I get the feeling they don't really care for the answer. They never ask you questions like "Are you doing anything this evening?", "You want to go to a party this weekend?" or "Me and the lads are getting blotto tonight and gonna be crude and obnoxious bastards, you want in?" Those are the sort of questions you want to hear.
The friendliest people I've met so far have been internationals from the mountaineering club (having beers with a couple of Yanks and a German tomorrow night). Even today a Polish post-doc in this building was the first to say "Call in if you want to go for lunch sometime." Obviously, they know what it's like to be in a town full of strangers. Also, is there an age difference requirment for friends/ mates/ drinking partners? The idea of making friends with a 20-year seems slightly, I don't know, strange. Or I am just being age-elitist?
Finally, you don't have to tip-toe around certain issues when you're talking with your mates. You can offend them to your heart's content (afterall, THAT's what they're for). Some people are just too bloody sensitive/ politically-correct/ stupid to make jokes with. This whole "new town" thing is really starting to wear thin.
Lucky my flatmate likes the odd beer (and wine) and live music gig. Pity he's recently moved from Perth.
OK. You can make friends at work, but I don't really work with my fellow PhDers per se - and some of them are just plan nerdy. We have the odd beer or two every Friday evening. People ask you questions like "How are you?", "Did you find a place?" and "Are you liking Melbourne". But I get the feeling they don't really care for the answer. They never ask you questions like "Are you doing anything this evening?", "You want to go to a party this weekend?" or "Me and the lads are getting blotto tonight and gonna be crude and obnoxious bastards, you want in?" Those are the sort of questions you want to hear.
The friendliest people I've met so far have been internationals from the mountaineering club (having beers with a couple of Yanks and a German tomorrow night). Even today a Polish post-doc in this building was the first to say "Call in if you want to go for lunch sometime." Obviously, they know what it's like to be in a town full of strangers. Also, is there an age difference requirment for friends/ mates/ drinking partners? The idea of making friends with a 20-year seems slightly, I don't know, strange. Or I am just being age-elitist?
Finally, you don't have to tip-toe around certain issues when you're talking with your mates. You can offend them to your heart's content (afterall, THAT's what they're for). Some people are just too bloody sensitive/ politically-correct/ stupid to make jokes with. This whole "new town" thing is really starting to wear thin.
Lucky my flatmate likes the odd beer (and wine) and live music gig. Pity he's recently moved from Perth.
posted by Engels at 4:41 pm
3 Comments:
Engels no friends he he
http://melbourne.gumtree.com.au/melbourne/melbourne-friends_293_1.html
ha ha ha cyber friends!
Well get the forum going and you won't need any, chump
try doing it in a foreign language as well. you whinging cunts!
Cheers lads.
Grogs, I was hoping to meet some "girls" as well. The girl across the hall paid the shit out of guys who have LAN parties. And this coming from a girl who studies maths, programs (in Unix) and has a pi tattoo on the back of her neck. Savvy?
Luke, if you think I'm gonna resort to cyber friends you are clearly mistaken...
...thanks for the link.
Whitty, fuck off. Meeting people OS is ten times easier. In another language, not so sure. But there's plenty of Yanks and Swedes in Spain, I hear.
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