It’s been almost seven months now that I’ve been living in Bergen and I wanted to share a few things that I’ve learned that I wish I knew when I arrived here rather than all this time later. To be honest, I really can’t believe that the time went by so fast.
Back in August 2010 when I first arrived here, I only knew one single person in the entire city and that was my girlfriend Maria who was just as new here as I was. She was starting a new school but I had no network here at all. I didn’t yet have my working visa and I wasn’t going to school so I really didn’t have any established ways of meeting people. I’m not the kind of person who is brash enough to just walk up to random strangers and strike up conversations. Nor do I drink often at bars (even if I could afford it in Norway!) so that is out of the question.
It took some time, but I now feel pretty well established here and this is how I did it.
1. Find out about clubs, meetings, groups that are of interest to you. I started by going to a weekly meeting to play Magic cards (call me a nerd haha) but when that didn’t pan out and my unemployment fund dwindled, I looked into film clubs. Eventually I decided to
2. Volunteer for something. That’s when I found out that the local film festival was about to begin. So I volunteered. I worked a couple days, met some people with similar interests, got some free movies, free drinks/parties in the city. It was a great time. Now I’m also volunteering for another film festival and have met some great people in the process.
3. Get a job. This one is pretty obvious, but now that I’m able to work it’s a great way to establish a network.
4. Use email and the internet. It’s not always the easiest thing in the world to find out about events, volunteer opportunities, jobs, etc but using the internet is a huge help. Don’t be afraid to call or email people directly and when looking for jobs or volunteer opportunities, realize that most of the time people will ignore your emails so contact as many people as possible and use call their phones when possible. Or better yet, go in in person.
Also utilize social networks to get in contact with people of similar interests.
5. Don’t be a shitty friend. Making new friends and contacts is definitely a challenge, especially when you’re not such a social butterfly, but what’s even more challenging is being a good friend. Keep up with your new friends, remember their names, return their calls/texts, and take initiative. It’s easy to have a lot of people that you’ve met once, but turning those acquaintances into actual friends is where the real work comes in. I remember after hanging out with a couple of guys from the film festival, it felt really awkward asking for their phone numbers so we could keep in contact, but it’s totally worth it. Unless you work with them, chances are people that you meet will just disappear into obscurity unless you maintain contact. Facebook can be useful for that too.
The most important thing is not to be afraid to take chances. You’re in a new place and there are most likely plenty of people around who would make great potential friends and contacts. Worst case scenario, you meet someone and you don’t click or whatever, you never have to see them again. Best case, you make a new friend who might introduce you to their network and eventually you have a whole bunch of new friends.
This is my first time ever moving to a new place without the safety net of being placed into a network from the start. Because the last time I moved to a new city I made a lot of friends quickly through my school, I just assumed it would be the same here, but it really took a lot of work this time. Even still, I only have a few friends that I keep in contact with consistently. I’m still working on it too, but these are just things I wish I had known going into it all.
Cheers.
