While living as an Expat in Germany: Have you ever tried to get in contact or even become friend with a German?
Maybe you have already heard things like “Germans are reserved, cool and unapproachable”?
Maybe there is some truth in it, but when you get in touch with a German and finally become friend with a German, the real friendship will probably last for a long time and can easily overcome international borders after moving back home. Normally it takes some time for a German to open up, but Germans do take friendship very serious, they are loyal and whenever you call them, even at 3am to ask for anything, they will be there for you.
So how do you get in contact with Germans?
First of all, just take action and enjoy your own hobbies, be active, go outside, attend events…just keep it simple and do things that you like, so then you’ll almost automatically attract persons that have a similar mindset and enjoy the same free time activities. So when you are already at the place of happening, just talk to someone, be talkative and if you already speak some words in german, just spread it out. Certainly they’ll love to hear what you already know and the good thing: almost every german attended english classes for at least 9 years in school. So you can easily switch to english when your german knowledge is already taken 😉
If you feel a little nervous about getting in contact right away, take a step back and go for some research on the Internet. What about looking for a language tandem (Sprachtandem) on Facebook? I’m sure that you can offer at least one foreign language. So what about having an exchange of languages with a German? He or she can teach you some german and you could give him or her some insights regarding your mother language. Maybe you can first get in touch online and if there is some sympathy, just go for a meeting in the real world afterwards.
On Facebook there is also the great opportunity to find events. You can choose between various categories and also choose a date. Just give it a try and enjoy 🙂
Another possibility to get in touch with likeminded people are events published on Meetup. Here you can select some topics you are interested in and then you will get a list of events that are happening in your immediate surrounding. I’ve already been to various events in Hamburg, and it’s always been a pleasure to meet new people. Me too, I also made some new friends this way. So just check it out on https://www.meetup.com/. And even if you are going to live in an other country, this is an international platform, so you can use it everywhere in the world 🙂 but remember, if you are going to attend an event especially for Expats you’ll probably not become friend with a german.
Last but not least on Eventbrite you have a similar offering like on Meetup, but from my insights it’s more for the business space. So that could also be a good opportunity to get in touch and expand your network. Just check it out on https://www.eventbrite.com/ and type in your region and/or city of living.
Last but not least there is also the possibility to go to sports club (Sportverein) you can find them everywhere in Germany. They offer various types of sport courses in your surrounding. Mostly they offer them in sports halls of public schools and are quiet favourably priced. Personally I prefer these kinds of sports activities because you can easily get in touch with the attendees. Due to my experiences to get in contact with the people in the gym it’s a lot more difficult. And the best: you can just give it a free try, because normally you can go to at least one or two courses to test it.
to become friend with a german, remember:
I would love to hear, if some of these tips helped you getting in touch with Germans and maybe you even made a new friend somewhere. Let me know!
All the best,
Doris
