by Justine I received the following email from a reader yesterday and thought I’d post some of my suggestions and welcome all of you to help pinpoint some good ways and/or places to make friendships in the ‘hood.
So I am new to greenpoint, moved here a few months ago from Michigan, and I happily stumbled upon your blog today. I am looking for some places in the area, particularly a good place to go and meet…
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Another way to get to know folks is to volunteer at the soup kitchen. We’ve got a great group of fun people helping out every Wednesday. Most show up after work, but you can arrive any time between 4pm and 7pm.
We serve a hot meal to approximately 60 people every Wednesday at the Greenpoint Reformed Church, located at 136 Milton St (between Franklin and Manhattan). If you have questions, feel free to call 718-383-5941 or email pastor [at] greenpointchurch [dot] org. The website is http://www.greenpointchurch.org.
all the suggestions here are good.
but gently, and I mean this as kindly as possible:
this isn’t michigan.
what i mean by that is you will need to rearrange your thinking about meeting folks that you are going to form friendships with. it’s so incredibly different. i mean, i will talk to people that i meet in bars, but my big major radar would go off in terms of being VERY careful about anyone i met out drinking. male or female. it’s a big bad city in that way.
it is very hard to meet people here (as you already know) and even if you do, to keep friendships in this city. people are insanely busy. new yorkers tend to go out, or stay home.
the cold weather doesn’t help.
the Y is inexpensive, and while the yoga classes are perhaps not the same experience as going to a yoga studio (personally i hate taking yoga classes at a gym myself), you would get out and also have opportunities to see/meet other people in the neighorhood, if that’s important to you, which it seems like it is.
but i would think larger than your zip code. meetup.com has some crazy groups but they also have some awesome ones. it works in nyc almost more than anywhere else.
you are lucky in that you are in school, so you are around people sharing similar interests every day, and who also know other people. there are also special interest clubs and the like.
it’s a crazy isolating city, isn’t it? it’s a tough thing to do. hang in there. the cold weather isn’t helping lately.
Both fantastic suggestions! Thanks and keep ’em coming peeps. 🙂
I’ve had really great experiences at Greenhouse Holistic for Yoga classes. I’m not a regular, but I drop in on classes occasionally and really enjoy the laid-back vibes there.
https://greenhouseholistic.com/yoga.php
There are also a plethora of places to find one-off classes or workshops that may spark your interest AND a friendship. Be Crafty (https://becrafty.blogspot.com/) comes to mind…
Aprenda hablar lengua polaca.