It can be difficult to make friends at the best of times, let alone when you’re in a new country with different social customs and a different sense of humour.

Here we’ll offer a few tips mostly on how to make friends of your workmates or classmates. We’ll offer some advice on how to meet people, but that will really be up to you, obviously it’s essential for you to be in an environment to meet people, like at work or school, before you can really start making friends. 

If you don’t have a job or are not studying you need to get out of your house somehow and join an organised group - maybe a football club or a sewing club, it doesn’t matter, just find something you’re interested in and look for a group to join!  Usually you can find a group or a club in your local area by looking on the internet.

Volunteer work is another way to meet people.

You can also see these weekly tips at our facebook page
And on Twitter

Feel free to add any suggestions of your own here and to ask questions.

cheers

If you like sport - Find a sport to follow & a team to support - Aussies love to chat sport! If you’re in SA or Vic - footy, NSW & QLD - rugby & everyone chats cricket & has an opinion about that bloke Warney

carry extra chewies with you for Aussies in need, you can be a hero when you hear “anyone got a chewy?” and reply “yep, here you go mate” 

Don’t be too full on in the beginning - Invite people for drinks first, rather than a meal, it’s easy & casual & can be kept short if needed

aussies love a coffee; skinny cap, soy latte, flat white, short black, chai latte . . . it doesn’t matter, just get the invite right - “wanna go for a coffee?”

Direct invitations to your house for dinner can be a bit threatening for Australians, if they don’t know you well yet.

Instead start by trying to get into group outings to neutral locations. 

For example, girls, you might like to casually ask some other students or work mates:
“Where’s the best place to go shopping for dresses?”  “Where do you go most often?” 
then - “Next time you’re going let me know”

Also, asking about the city’s night life is a good topic of conversation and has a high potential outcome of getting an invite.
“What’s a good night club around here?” “Are the pub’s any good here?”

Of course, you need to be asking the right people, but do it casually and fit it in with conversation and you may be joining a group of Aussies at the local bar before you know it.

Your Neighbours:

The people who live next to you, opposite you, anywhere in your street are people you can be friendly with, or even become friends with.

Of course, you already say ‘hi’ to each other, but you can take it further; start by sharing something with them.  Aussie neighbours love to share.  If you have anything growing in your garden like fruit or veg, take some over to your neighbour and tell them you have heaps.  (An important thing to note, you share because you have ‘extra’, you don’t buy things just for your neighbours!).  For example, you can take them a bag of apples from your apple tree, or take them a jar of apple jam that you made from your apples.

If you don’t have a garden, you could grow some herbs in a pot and take them extra herbs (basil, mint, etc).

After a while, you could invite them in for a coffee or a drink.  (This is best if you have neighbours around the same age as you and you’ve had time to see that you’d like to be friends with them).

It’s true, Aussies really do like it when you try to use Aussie slang and expressions - even if you don’t get it right!

So don’t worry, don’t be scared.  Choose a few easier ones to remember and can use regularly - but naturally, don’t overdo it!

For example -
use ‘heaps’ instead of ‘very’

‘no worries’ instead of ‘my pleasure’  (add ‘mate’ on the end even better)

‘I’m stuffed’ instead of ‘I’m tired’

‘How you going?’ instead of ‘How are you?’

‘G’day’ or ‘Hi’  instead of ‘hello’

‘Cheers’ or ‘ta’ instead of ‘thank you’

Girls will think it’s cute and guys will appreciate the effort.  Everyone will be more comfortable with you and more willing to hang around you!

So go for it!

Any of these expressions that you’re not sure about - just check them out at this website by looking them up in the ‘search’ box.

Cheers

If you think you’re ready to invite a potential friend somewhere else besides a coffee, a public event is a good start, especially if you can go in a group.

There’s lots of festivals on in Australia at the moment with lots of free events that you could suggest.  For example an opening night of an art exhibition with free drinks is appealing to many people, even if they’re not huge art fans it doesn’t matter! 

If you don’t know what’s going on in your city at the moment, visit the tourist information centre or just pop in to an art gallery and find out when their next opening night is happening, usually anyone can attend but it’s good to check.

Then just say something like “hey do you want to (wanna) go to this (name it)?  There’s free drinks . . .”  or “hey we should get some people together and go to this for drinks after work, what do you think?”

Remember - in the beginning a few people together may be more likely to get a ‘yes’ and don’t be put off if you get a ‘no thanks’, it’s all about finding the right event for the right person - and remembering to tell them about the free stuff!

Have you joined a group or club yet?

It’s a great way to meet new people because they have the same interests as you!

If you don’t know what sort of club to join let me suggest a photography club.  Everyone has some interest in photography  and you probably have some sort of camera already right?  Photography clubs usually are a pretty good mix of ages
- some younger people, some older people, they have regular meetings and even workshops that take you out and around the city or even further to take photos AND they are not expensive to join.

So do a google search for photography clubs in your city and get going!

Study something in the evening. Enroll in a part-time evening course in something that interests you - maybe a video technique course or learn how to make picture frames - and you’ll definitely find people in your age group.

These courses are great for making friends because everyone is keen and interested and you are usually forcedto work together in groups so there’s no excuses!

TAFE offers lots of different courses to study once a week in the evening, but there are cheaper options around -

In SA:  WEA Adult Education http://www.wea-sa.com.au/

In NSW: Adult and Community Education http://www.ace.nsw.gov.au/

In Vic: Centre for Adult Education http://www.cae.edu.au/web/

and I’m sure you can google the rest

Happy learning!

It’s Easter time!  So give people Easter eggs!

Work mates, students, neighbours - everyone loves chocolate, but here’s an extra good idea - make them yourself!  Then people you give them to will be extra impressed and it creates a chance for a conversation rather than just a ‘thank you’. 

People will want to know how you did it, how long it took, they may even want the recipe which means you’ll need
to get their email address or phone number . . . you get the idea!

And don’t worry if you’re not a good cook, Easter eggs are pretty easy.  Look up a recipe on the internet or from a recent magazine and buy some plastic molds - no worries!

Happy Easter! 

A wedding is always a good excuse for drinks!

So the biggest wedding of the year should be a good, safe excuse for you to invite the girls round for champagne
to watch William and Kate get hitched! (yes this is probably one just for the girls)

It’s not too late to organise something, just ask ‘hey, what about champagne at mine to watch the royal wedding?’,
it doesn’t matter if nobody likes the royals, it’s just a nice excuse for champas (champagne).

Friends on the bus?

We’ve said already that a good way to meet people is to join a club or a group of some sort - a hobby club or take up a class in the evening, something like that.

Meeting people to make friends can be difficult if you don’t put yourself in new social situations like that, but here’s a different one, one that I would usually not advise you to do, however just sometimes it can work:

Generally when I catch the bus or the train, I don’t speak to anyone I don’t know - unless someone starts a conversation with me.

But sometimes you see the same people on the bus everyday and you might like to start a small friendship or at least a conversation, a classic way to do this is to ask for the time - ‘excuse me, do you have the time?’  but this is very generic and usually the conversation will stop when you get the answer.

Here’s what my brother did a few years ago - at the bus stop he was eating almonds and he offered one to everyone standing there, they all said no except for one girl who said yes.  So they started a conversation, became friends and a few years later, they got married!

So I know that sometimes it can work, at least to make a friend!

I joined a group of swimmers before. I met this man..and today, he is now my husband! It’s really good that somehow you meet people! You’ll never know what’s in store for you!

Visit to an Australian’s house - for dinner, barbecue or drinks

If you get invited to someone’s house - BRING SOMETHING

When you get the invitation (which will usually be informal - over the phone, by email or when you see them at work), and you accept - the next thing you should ask is ‘What can I bring?’ or ‘Can I bring anything?’ - this is very polite.  Your friend may say yes or no, it doesn’t matter.  If they say yes, they will tell you what is needed - it’s usually only one thing to share - something to drink, a salad, a dessert or some meat for the barbecue.  If they say no (and this is very important) - BRING SOMETHING ANYWAY!  Don’t arrive with empty hands! A gift of a bottle of wine or some flowers or chocolates are good. 

It’s a small way to be remembered as a good guest - I appreciate my friends that bring something even when I don’t ask them to.