How to make friends in London

who the fug

bluedolphin wrote: »

Totally agree. I went along to lots of the Freshers events where everyone was at a very different stage. I can understand, I mean when I started my UG I was like that too. I found the workload pretty heavy going as well, and I was quite sick for most of the second term earlier this year, so I just didn't have time to make additional effort than I already was. I'm doing an internship at the moment and there are plenty of other interns who are predominantly final year UG or PG students, but I just can't seem to connect with them! I'm beginning to wonder if it's me...but they're all just so serious! It's not that they're not nice people - they are kind and lovely - but they're very closed off and serious where as I'd be quite ...the opposite! I take my work seriously, of course, but I enjoy letting my hair down and having a good laugh. Our senses of humour are just polar opposite I think. I reckon they probably think I'm a bit eccentric because I'm always making jokes/sarcastic comments in the office and they often just don't know what to do. Maybe I'm not funny. :eek: I'm hoping that work will introduce me to some new people, too! I'm also looking to do a language evening class this coming year, and maybe a photography one if I can afford it. I want to do both of those things for myself anyway, so if I met people that'd be a bonus!

There is a big humor gap between the Ireland and the UK, (we are much darker) you may have to learn to bite that tongue in the office.


But on the plus side I do find them more open than the Irish and less in your face

silvervixen84

Just saw this thread now. I moved to London two weeks ago with a friend of mine, we've nearly sorted our flat out thank goodness (we'll be up in NW London).

I'd be well up for meeting London boardsies at a beers in the near future, I've went to one back home and it was great putting faces to usernames, and I had a great night.

LadyMayBelle

silvervixen84 wrote: »

Just saw this thread now. I moved to London two weeks ago with a friend of mine, we've nearly sorted our flat out thank goodness (we'll be up in NW London).

I'd be well up for meeting London boardsies at a beers in the near future, I've went to one back home and it was great putting faces to usernames, and I had a great night.

Great stuff. I'm in NW London, until Christmas anyway, as I got a job across East so will probably move closer for a shorter commute. Hope to make this beers

bluedolphin

Just sorted out my new flat in SE London, so leaving my NW place during the week, but I hope that I might make it to the beers on Friday and maybe meet you folks!

Dr.Giggles

My work people told me to do online dating to get to know people, they are from the North of England and that's what they did when they moved. Don't do this. I have about 17 messages from men telling me how big their tools are. At first I thought I was on some sort of DIY fetish site.

LadyMayBelle

I'll thinking of heading to the Betsey Smith in Kilburn tomorrow afternoon for a cuppa if anyone fancies joining me..If not no worries, I'll be happy out with my book and laptop.

The Betsey Smith is a new bar which is just lovely, and I suggest it as a venue for a meet up at some stage. Their site is in process:

http://www.thebetsysmith.co.uk/press_release.htm

PM if interested

maggiep2010

Hi everyone..this is my first post on boards..how exciting!!!
I just moved over here last month, I'm another postgrad student:), and have to say i've found it pretty tough meeting people ( i know its early days yet!!)... I was getting worried until I saw this thread, it's reassuring to know it's not just me!! If I was working it would probably be different, but I'm finding there are so many people on my course, and the work load is so full on I'm not getting the time to connect to people the way I normally do... Have to say I'm loving being in London though..there is so much to see and do I'm keeping myself occupied!!
Anyhoo, good to hear that I'm not alone, and to finally be an official boardsie

Dr.Giggles

Welcome Maggiepie, i am new here myself You don't know it yet but you have joined a cult. We have a secret forum and everything.


Maybe I should be banned from welcoming people.

I just moved here too, about two months ago, its pretty daunting. What part of Ireland are you from?

maggiep2010

a cult???
secret forums???
I dunno if i'm ready for all that..mammy did warn me about the dangers of a big city all right;)
I'm from waterford (kilkenny originally, a technicality but very mportant come the hurling season!!), I'm over here doing the primary teaching pgce, living in docklands, its a bit like a sprawling industrial park with a college dropped into the middle of it!!..how about you dr. giggles?

Dr.Giggles

The docklands is that south east? i have no idea! I was hoping to do my masters over here but its so expensive! Instead I got offered a job and two days later I was living in London eep. Even though I have been here two months (feels a lot less) I am still all over the place, trying to get used to everything.
I live in the south west, which I quite like. what is college like here?

maggiep2010

docklands is east end, just north of the thames..i'm in the uni accomodation and its about 100m from the runway of london city airport, so i'm becoming a plane spotter, like it or not!
college is good, very full on though cos they gotta get you from 0-teacher in a year so lots of hours in and out of college..my brother lives down south west too, round streatham..i like it down there, although its a bit of a trek..you find it's been easy meet people through work?

ballsymchugh

ye should try the alex opposite clapham common on a saturday night. you'll find plenty of irish people in their in the same boat as ye, either over studying or working. somehow most of them seem to be college grads, nothing against the tradesmen that work there, but they tended not to go to the alex.

if you really want to go the whole hog, there's the swan in stockwell, which is probably like going out in small town cavan where there's only one place to go to for 20 miles. it's a last resort though!!

you could also join erm.. a gaa club? they're spread out across london. the one i joined was based in brixton, but there's plenty esp in north west. some of the soundest people i met in london were on the team i played with, and they had a grand circle of friends too. quite a few clubs have ladies teams. i wouldn't worry about skill either, i played my first ever game of hurling at 28.

D-Generate

Do not go to the swan! It is exactly as described, a nightclub from Carlow in London. it comes with all the trimmings that you would expect, cheesy music, sticky dancefloor and tonnes of Irish people wearing county jerseys. If you are particularly fond of he cheese, then you can also buy some ridiculous hats and stuff, the place is cheesier than a tour of Kilmeaden cheese factory.

The Alex is a good laugh if you are in to sport. Its good for watching any games of Irish interest although I am not sure if they have Leinster V Munster tomorrow night. Clapham is generally quite good with a wide variety of things to do, Alex if you are in an Irish mood, Infernos if you are in a boogeying mood and everywhere else if you are in a normal mood.

I suggest an SW12, SW4, SW17 meetup soon enough. We should at least meet up before venturing up to NW since so many are up there already. I will put this out there whilst I am still tipsy,
Friday 15th, Belleveu 7 p.m. Lets meet up there, grab one (no more!) and head up north to Kilburn.

ballsymchugh

D-Generate wrote: »

Do not go to the swan! It is exactly as described, a nightclub from Carlow in London. it comes with all the trimmings that you would expect, cheesy music, sticky dancefloor and tonnes of Irish people wearing county jerseys. If you are particularly fond of he cheese, then you can also buy some ridiculous hats and stuff, the place is cheesier than a tour of Kilmeaden cheese factory.

The Alex is a good laugh if you are in to sport. Its good for watching any games of Irish interest although I am not sure if they have Leinster V Munster tomorrow night. Clapham is generally quite good with a wide variety of things to do, Alex if you are in an Irish mood, Infernos if you are in a boogeying mood and everywhere else if you are in a normal mood.

I suggest an SW12, SW4, SW17 meetup soon enough. We should at least meet up before venturing up to NW since so many are up there already. I will put this out there whilst I am still tipsy,
Friday 15th, Belleveu 7 p.m. Lets meet up there, grab one (no more!) and head up north to Kilburn.

don't forget the chips and onion rings that you can get in the swan either!!
jaysis though, infernos? that's just an up to date version of the swan for the locals, and there's no chips there either!! the bedford in balham would be a better place to head out after the pub if you're interested.

one thing that you could do is pub quizzes. there's a fair amount of places that have them on a sunday or monday night as they'd normally be quiet then. there's always a few people that won't have enough for a team and you could join them. given the days they tend to be on, boozing isn't a big deal.

hmmm. just looking at my posts and they're all pub orientated. and i'm teetotal.

Fysh

maggiep2010 wrote: »

Hi everyone..this is my first post on boards..how exciting!!!
I just moved over here last month, I'm another postgrad student:), and have to say i've found it pretty tough meeting people ( i know its early days yet!!)... I was getting worried until I saw this thread, it's reassuring to know it's not just me!! If I was working it would probably be different, but I'm finding there are so many people on my course, and the work load is so full on I'm not getting the time to connect to people the way I normally do... Have to say I'm loving being in London though..there is so much to see and do I'm keeping myself occupied!!
Anyhoo, good to hear that I'm not alone, and to finally be an official boardsie

Hello, welcome to boards! Glad to hear you're enjoying London life so far

D-Generate wrote: »

Do not go to the swan! It is exactly as described, a nightclub from Carlow in London. it comes with all the trimmings that you would expect, cheesy music, sticky dancefloor and tonnes of Irish people wearing county jerseys. If you are particularly fond of he cheese, then you can also buy some ridiculous hats and stuff, the place is cheesier than a tour of Kilmeaden cheese factory.

There's an important question remaining: Do they play the national anthem at the end of the night? It's not a truly Irish nightclub if they don't.

D-Generate wrote: »

I suggest an SW12, SW4, SW17 meetup soon enough. We should at least meet up before venturing up to NW since so many are up there already. I will put this out there whilst I am still tipsy,
Friday 15th, Belleveu 7 p.m. Lets meet up there, grab one (no more!) and head up north to Kilburn.

That sounds like a good idea. I'll ping the details into the beers thread. Of course you realise you're now the point of contact for Southern folk...

Sinall

maggiep2010 wrote: »

a cult???
secret forums???
I dunno if i'm ready for all that..mammy did warn me about the dangers of a big city all right;)
I'm from waterford (kilkenny originally, a technicality but very mportant come the hurling season!!), I'm over here doing the primary teaching pgce, living in docklands, its a bit like a sprawling industrial park with a college dropped into the middle of it!!..how about you dr. giggles?

I'm from Waterford as well (county) and the only time we noticed that people were from Kilkenny was during the hurling season! I think there's a Waterford society/club floating around London somewhere, but I also suspect that it's main members are people who came over in the 60s/70s.

maggiep2010

Sinall wrote: »

I'm from Waterford as well (county) and the only time we noticed that people were from Kilkenny was during the hurling season! I think there's a Waterford society/club floating around London somewhere, but I also suspect that it's main members are people who came over in the 60s/70s.

well there's not much else to shout about being from kilkenny other than the hurling ...i do love the banter every year as i worked and lived in waterford for many years, although glad i had left before the final this year, or would have copped a bucket load of stick!!!

1fm

maggiep2010 wrote: »

well there's not much else to shout about being from kilkenny other than the hurling ...i do love the banter every year as i worked and lived in waterford for many years, although glad i had left before the final this year, or would have copped a bucket load of stick!!!

Good to hear I'm not the only Cat to move across this year!:D

Moving over for my first proper job,starting in a couple of weeks. Know the city very well but still its all a bit daunting when you stop and think about it all! It stills beats moving to Dublin in my opinion.:)



Anyway I'm based up in NW London myself for the next few months so hopefully get to say hello to a few of ye at the beers soon enough!! As long as the Met line is working I should be there. Don't think theres any nightbuses in my area so I just might have to bail early before the tube shuts.

Playboy

maggiep2010 wrote: »

docklands is east end, just north of the thames..i'm in the uni accomodation and its about 100m from the runway of london city airport, so i'm becoming a plane spotter, like it or not!
college is good, very full on though cos they gotta get you from 0-teacher in a year so lots of hours in and out of college..my brother lives down south west too, round streatham..i like it down there, although its a bit of a trek..you find it's been easy meet people through work?

I know the UEL campus! Its very isolated out there in East London with the ASDA in Beckton the nearest Shop! You can get a night bus from Trafalgar Square to the Roundabout at Gallions Reach beside the Uni accomadation. There is usually a good few irish in the Uni doing the teaching course so there should be plenty of people in the same boat as you.

Fysh

LadyMayBelle wrote: »

I'll thinking of heading to the Betsey Smith in Kilburn tomorrow afternoon for a cuppa if anyone fancies joining me..If not no worries, I'll be happy out with my book and laptop.

The Betsey Smith is a new bar which is just lovely, and I suggest it as a venue for a meet up at some stage. Their site is in process:

http://www.thebetsysmith.co.uk/press_release.htm

PM if interested

How was the Betsy Smith btw? It looks nice enough in passing, it might be a good place to head for the beers in a couple of weeks (There's another place near the Kilburn library that has a pool table and might do food, so I'm quite tempted. The only thing that could make it better would be a pinball machine.)

LadyMayBelle

Twas nice.. def recommend it for a meet up, as it's reachable from the Kilburn High Road Rail (it's right across the road) and then a ten minute walk from either the Brondesbury or Kilburn Underground. And lot of buses too!

Service was a bit slack but I have no complaints Haven't been there at night at the weekend so I'm not sure what music they play, but from their facebook it seems to be a bit of funk, soul and house... would be a good spot to start off in (serves food/pizzas till late), then head upwards towards Good Ship or the Kings Head etc..

Roll on more meet ups

Irish Halo

If anyone is looking for that most stereotypical of things to do to meet friends i.e. "join a club" can I suggest Tower Hamlets Canoe Club, myself and Miss Halo did the beginners course last May and the club is full of nice people and is great fun

afatbollix

Should we set up a buddy thread?

I mean is there is an event you want to go to you could post here if anyone else would like to go? join up and go together..

Id like to go to that freeze event at battersea tomorrow but dont think my housemate would like it so I would have no one to go with..

silvervixen84

That's a great idea, especially if people can't make the beers. Citysocialising.com does something similar, however you have to pay to use it, so this would be great for short-notice events.

IamtheWalrus

Hello all..

I've just recently moved over here from the isle for work so thought I'd say hi!

Walrus

silvervixen84

Welcome welcome!