I just recently moved to Salamanca (a city I studied in July 2003). The only thing is that I don't know anyone here and would like to make friends... it just seems that people here are interested in meeting newcomers, but very strict/wary as far as letting them into their groups.
English speakers, spanish speakers, I don't care... I would just like to have compañeros to hang out with before I drive hubby crazy being with him 24/7.
I'm very independent, so this is really getting to me not being able to go out and have to stay at home all the time.
jajaja! but haven't you noticed most people who blog seriously attach their blog address to everything they write...SpanishMonaLisa has no tag, so she is either very humble for a blogger or not the same woman!
Posts: 987 | Location: MADRID! | Registered: 09 November 2002
So it turns out that after weeks of reading the blog of the American woman you recommended, it was beginning to sound vaguely familiar to me. It turns out that she's a recent acquaintance of mine!
What a small world!
PS- I've been here for almost a year and still no luck with the friend thing... people here seem to put up walls, or is it me??
i think that the spaniards in salamanca are just so used to tons of foreigners going to study and then leaving that they may not be as open to making friends.
HOWEVER... a year is a looooong time so you may be doing something wrong
I work with only guys, and I get along with them and met some of their girlfriends but that's it. Maybe they sense my eagerness?
One of those girls is on the same boat I am (she's American, married to a Spaniard) and also finds it hard to make friends. So they've, decided to move to the U.S. because after 4 years of trying, she's had it. I don't want to end up like that!
Believe me, going for coffee, shopping, walking around the city or just doing anything by yourself gets boring after the first couple of months!
Maybe hubby is right, perhaps I haven't fully assimilated...
I can assure you that you are not alone and it is not easy.
I moved to Spain when I was 33 yrs old leaving behind my profession, my family and my friends. It's much harder at 33 to make friends than at, let's say, 21.
After a while I decided to start a dining club to attract people who had the same interests as me. The first couple of dinners there were only 4 or 5 women in attendance. Now it's a monthly initiative with men being invited to join us every 3-4 months or so. The invitation list has over 300 people and the average dinner has 15-20 women. When the men are invited the numbers jump to 35 or more. I advertised the dinners on loquo and craigslist. The rest has been by word of mouth and because we were written about in In Madrid, the English newspaper here.
My point is, don't wait to be invited out. Create the reason for people to want to be with you!
I would never say that the 300 some people on the list are my friends, just a small handful. But at least I do something socially and meet interesting people!
Good luck!
Oh, and for what it's worth...when I originally proposed the idea to my Spanish husband he said it would never work. That Spanish women just don't go out to dinner with strangers. I guess you just cannot generalize!
It's a wonderful idea! I just don't know how to cook (that part of the "housework" belongs to hubby), but perhaphs I can come up with something else, like a book club or something.
Second Chica's dining club idea - no need to cook! I also made friends by:
-doing Spanish intercambios -joining a gym -taking Spanish classes and a meditation class -joining a work-related organization, in my case a translator's network -starting a club of my own
You can put and find ads for such things in english language magazines and on websites.
I forgot all about joining a gym. I have met many people that way too. I am seen as the crazy American because I try a little bit of everything at the gym. In the spinning classes, I scream and get people into the class. I am the only male in my bellydancing class, so of course I stick out and many people tend to float towards me and ask questions. It also helps that I have an outgoing personality and that I am not shy.
Also took several meditation classes and a center here in Madrid and was, once again, the only American in the course.
So, all in all, diversify and see where you can get out and meet people in non-traditional settings, such as the ones that Juliette has mentioned. I can say that just by going to the gym, that I have met a alot of interesting people.
Suerte,
Shawn
"Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down" - SONG OF SOLOMON, Toni Morrison
Posts: 1247 | Location: Richmond, VA but in MADRID now | Registered: 10 February 2002
So, I'm in my bellydancing class and the teacher announces that we are going out to dinner on September 13th. I am all over that one. It gets me out of the house, like I already don't stay home enough, I will practice my Spanish, get to know other people in the course better and see live bellydancing. It's a win-win situation.
Shawn
"Wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down" - SONG OF SOLOMON, Toni Morrison
Posts: 1247 | Location: Richmond, VA but in MADRID now | Registered: 10 February 2002
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
and it was a lot of fun.
