Bar-hopping and friendship-making

I've now been in Frankfurt for nearly two months, though it feels like I've been here a lot longer. While in London, I got my new life sorted in about 2 weeks, there's still things I'm trying to get together here such as my phone situation, bank account, health insurance and visa. The language barrier certainly makes things a lot slower, as does the fact that many German companies, including immigration, don't have a waiting line when you call and they're busy - it's just engaged and you have to try again. And again. And again. I will certainly never complain about getting an automated voice telling me they care and to be patient, in fact I'll be very appreciative of the fact that they exist!

One of the things that took a long time in London though was making friends. I knew three people who lived in London when I first got there, and my boyfriend at the time, but after coming from Melbourne where I had plans all the time and friends who were always out and offering entertainment if I felt like joining, to suddenly have nothing to do on a Saturday night left me feeling a little lonely on occasion to begin with.

After around six months, I felt a lot more settled, and have since found that many other people moving to London (and looking to have a career rather than do the bar/backpacking thing) feel the same. As I made friends, they often had a lot in common with me, as many Aussies are in the same boat, taking the two year tourist visa to work in the city, and it felt a lot like a university town in that no one was from London originally (I only met two people in my whole time there whose family were from London). But in Frankfurt it's extremely different.

I feel like I have absolutely no measure of how long it will take to feel settled here, because I don't know of anybody who has lived here before me. Looking up an internet forum on the subject, I couldn't find one Aussie who had posted, and I certainly don't think this city has the same university vibe as London, despite there being a lot of universities here and my boy still studying.

This unknown has surprisingly left me feeling relaxed about the idea of making friends. I'm working from home, so meeting people at work is out of the question - and as a result, my social interactions have been quite limited recently as I concentrate on getting the basics of my life sorted.

With that in mind, this week I decided to get a bit proactive in my friendship-making. And a couple of things have led to me being so hungover that I've spent all of today in bed.

1. I joined an internet forum on toytowngermany.com for a girls cocktail night. I've never done anything like this before, and while it was rather nerve-racking in those first few minutes of meeting the other girls who go out for cocktails and food each week, I very quickly felt comfortable. They are all in very similar situations to me - have moved here for their partners, without any knowledge of German and with little knowledge of Frankfurt at the beginning. We went to two bars over the course of the night, including Helium and Bar Celona which were both really nice though I did prefer the latter - particularly that a glass of wine came with extra in a karaf and still only cost around 6 euros :)

Bar Celona does actually remind me of being in Barcelona

We all swapped numbers by the end of the night, and one of the girls led me to my next social contribution for the week...

2. I'm hoping to volunteer for an English speaking theatre group, to help out with lighting and things backstage (not acting!). Thanks to a tip from one of the girls at the cocktail night, I'm now getting in touch with a group called TSL. I've always been a fan of the theatre, and getting to help out behind the scenes will give me a whole new understanding of the art. It's something I would never have had time for in London, and I feel like living in Germany is already proving to be a much more cultural experience (there's a castle at the end of my street for christ sake) than as I say, living in what felt like a university town.

Yep - that's around the corner from my house!

3. I joined my flatmates for a night out last night at Gibson club in Hauptwache, around a 10 minute walk from our house, and got insanely drunk in Frankfurt for the first time since I moved here. Neither of my flatmates had ever had or even knew what a jagerbomb was, and I corrected that for them very quickly. The club was really cool, with a set up that reminded me a bit of the clubs in Ibiza, and the music was the perfect mixture of house and songs I know well from England and Aus. The Currywurst on the way home was also a definite highlight - beats McDonalds for sure.

Gibson club has feelings apparently

4. I made some tentative plans to go with one of the girls to a Latin club in Frankfurt soon, and am hoping to find some salsa classes while I'm here too.

5. Also from the tips of the girls, I now know the cheapest and good-quality German language schools, and will be looking into this as well, though I'm finding I'm learning quite a bit just being surrounded by the language everywhere I go. I figure with a full time job, I can do a class of around five hours a week, and am sure I'll meet more like-minded people there too.

So within two months I'm certainly feeling like Frankfurt has a lot to offer in terms of social things to do. I came here for work, travel and my boy, but I think the city has a lot more to help me settle in, possibly for the long term. I'm also now well aware of never underestimating the power of an online forum - the girls I met on Thursday certainly know a lot more about this city than I do, and it's great to have a reference point, particularly in English!

xx