I’ve seen your stance on meetup and sites that profit from human interaction, and I have to say I have massive respect for that. Well done for sticking by your morals, too, especially when things feel difficult like they do for you right now. That’s commendable, and not a lot of people work that way.

I moved away from all my friends and family just over three years ago, a long way away (relative to the UK), and to a place I’d never been to or even heard of.

The first night was a little nerve-wracking, but after that it was okay. I started with work, trying to be helpful there and make decent friends out of my colleagues while I was in the office. I started going out after work to the local pubs in my area, and just chilling at the bar or at a table with a drink. Eventually, I got talking to people - whether it was to borrow a lighter and then roll that into a conversation, give somebody a cigarette, or just answer a question that a small group were pondering out loud if I was nearby and it didn’t seem creepy.

It’s tough, I don’t know if you drink or smoke, but pubs are always a good place to meet people, at least in the UK. One of the local pubs here runs a chess night, which is free, you don’t even have to buy a drink, and there’s a gaming cafe a little way down the road that runs all kinds of card game nights. You do have to pay to get into those but we always have strangers turn up and I’ve met some people who have become friends from there.

It’s tough, though. You will face rejections, and you will have evenings where absolutely nothing goes right for you and you end up feeling defeated. I would say don’t be too eager to make friends. Don’t go out trying to make friends if you’re having a particularly tough night either; it won’t help. You want to be relaxed and comfortable. Bar staff are generally friendly too, at least in the UK.