Hello everyone.

I just moved for a short-term opportunity to a new town where I've never been and know nobody. I'm making this thread to solicit some advice on the best ways to boot-strap an existence in a new place. Everything from good ways to meet new people to learning a new town and good ways to make a place feel more like home.

Thanks.

Visit the local park with a rented dog, or go to the local cafe/pub.
You could also discuss cooking with customers at the local mart, or litterature at the library?

There are tonnes of excellent ways to meet new people!
Good luck!

You can... rent dogs!?

Hahah... - Nahh. Just kidding about the dogrenting. I think I saw something about it, but don't do it.
Depending on your current social tendencies, pick a cafe or a bar.

You can... rent dogs!?

Yeah of course, you just rent the dog, and when you're 'done' with it, you just slide it through the little return slot at the dog rental place.

In all seriousness though, you'd be surprised what you can rent if you look hard enough. Used to know someone who would rent out a really fancy apartment that looked lived in for people to bring friends/dates home to to make it look like they have good taste in their every day lives.

See if there are any local programming user groups.

Assuming that meeting people at the local pub isn't your thing and you don't have kids going to school (which would probably have events for parents to volunteer at), there's probably a local community paper or bulletin board somewhere that will advertise local events. If you don't already know where to find that sort of thing, try asking your neighbor or someone at the local convenience store.

You can probably find some sort of rec league sport or social club of some sort if you need to be forced into social situations. Rec leagues are nice because you get lots of opportunities to meet a bunch of people while at the same time getting to know a handful of people really well.

• Take up knitting. Go to your local wool shop, buy some yarn and needles and ask for a demonstration. Come back the next day for another demonstration. In just 3 or four days you will have more female friends than you ever imagined possible. Also, Church's thesis shows that knitting is linearly transformable into any computable problem.
  
• Find religion. Join a church.
  
• Join a political party and attend their local meetings. There's always some kind of politicking going on, maybe even a sit-in or a riot (people always pull together in the tank afterwards).
  
• Take a continuing interest education course. Renew that old watercolour hobby. Even better, cooking; members of the appropriate sex always like someone who can cook. Better still, wine appreciation; guaranteed to break the ice and you can practice alone to get really good if all else fails.
  
• Help out at a local soup kitchen, food bank, or outreach program.
  

[quote name='GeneralQuery' timestamp='1349107590' post='4985781']
You can... rent dogs!?

Yeah of course, you just rent the dog, and when you're 'done' with it, you just slide it through the little return slot at the dog rental place.

In all seriousness though, you'd be surprised what you can rent if you look hard enough. Used to know someone who would rent out a really fancy apartment that looked lived in for people to bring friends/dates home to to make it look like they have good taste in their every day lives.
[/quote]

Making a new home by taking fake personality? That's the worst thing i can think of. Yet many people do this. I just don't get it.

Anyhoo, I was living in a foreign country for a year and I knew absolutely no one when I moved there. After 4-5 months of solitude (luckily I'm fine with solitude as long as I can do stuff), I went out to a bar and meet a girl, then her friends. This was quite an achievement because I'm shy and awkward. But at least I didn't talk too much. So there were a few people I could call friends.
I also had a flatmate after 6 months, but he wasn't too social outside of school, so I wasn1t introduced the local life by him.


So no advice here apart from: Don't take fake personalities just to make some friends. (But I guess in America it's the normal)