Thursday, September 10, 2009

For My Love of Reading

Last month, one of my goals was to make a new friend. It didn't happen. I realized that I needed to try a new approach! Most people at work keep to themselves or already seem to have their own social circles/cliques and don't seem to want to let new people like myself in, even when I try to make an effort. A lot of my closest friends moved away after graduation and now some that are around work crazy retail hours so it's difficult to get together.

Since I'd previously forayed into the world of online dating, I figured - why not try that medium to make new friends? I went for it and joined a Meetup group! I found a book club in my area and figured that would be a nice one to start out with.

My first meeting was last night and it was a blast! I joined so suddenly that I didn't even get around to reading the book for this month since the meeting was two days after I joined. However, no one seemed to mind and after the first hour of discussion, the conversation ventured to our own lives, what we do, could we relate to the book, etc. Most women were in their mid-late 20s, so I was definitely the youngest at 23. Even though we are all from various places (including someone from France!) and in different careers, we all share a love of reading! I got along with all the girls very well.

I cannot wait until next month's meetup. If you're looking for a new way to meet people, I would highly recommend the site. I definitely plan on trying out a few other ones like a social group or beach yoga! :)

PF side-note: The book club I joined does have a $1 administrative cost per meeting, and I paid $3 for parking since it was downtown. I made sure to eat before-hand and did not order anything to drink even though the location was a wine bar. So for $4 and 2.5 hours, a fantastic time was had!

5 comments:

Unknown September 10, 2009 at 7:40 PM  

I love Meet up. My friend told me about it and it gave me something to look forward to when I was single and trying to meet new friends. I have been slack on my meet ups lately. I need to go back this fall. I crochet btw so it was a crochet meet up.

Me... September 10, 2009 at 9:32 PM  

I manage a bookclub on meetup. I love it and have made so many good friends. We get together quit a bit. Good luck with you goal!

HighClassLowIncome September 11, 2009 at 12:41 AM  

Sounds fun! A friend of mine had a book club but we met once and basically never again (didn't help the book was kind of lame)! It might be better if I went to a book club where I could meet with people I don't know.. I'm definitely going to check out that site.

Distar September 11, 2009 at 5:22 PM  

bookclubs are such a good way to get to know people in depth. reactions to book would bring out such persona reactions and I found that I got to know the girls in my book club much sooner than I do other new people I meet.

The first book club I joined has 20 people and different folks showed up at each meeting. That wasn't my style, so 5 of us branched off and formed our own club where it's always the same 5 every month.

What book are you reading now?

Anonymous September 13, 2009 at 3:41 AM  

That's a great idea! Will have to see if there's anything like that in my area. I've started following some (random) local people on my real-life twitter, but definitely wouldn't feel comfortable going to a tweetup yet.

  © Blogger template 'Isolation' by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP