Maybe it’s me, but I’ll have to disagree with people here. I’m a little anxious but generally I’m pretty gregarious and I did very well socially in Chicago and New Orleans. I have had a devastatingly hard time finding friends here and it’s been very straining on my mental health and is making me consider moving back to my hometown. I joined Volo, I take a weekly language class, I’m in a book club, I have a cool job where I meet a lot of people, I go to the rock climbing gym the same time every week, I hang out at the same dive bar when I go out and try to be a regular. I’m doing all the things you’re supposed to do, and every time it seems like people are just friends with the same people they grew up with or they’re a Hopkins/TFA person and they’re just passing through.

Maybe this is just an easy coast thing and it’s easier to make friends in the south, but I really don’t feel like this is a friendly or welcoming city (in fact, it’s by a very long measure the rudest and least friendly place I’ve lived).

That said, there’s so much I like about it and I’m really trying to make it work, but I just can’t seem too.