Making friends

In India, I never felt lack of friends. Making new friends was effortless. I was always surrounded by people; those attending the same classes, those staying in the same hostel. Constant proximity and the fact that Indians open up easily brought us together. I made a great many friends like that.

It changed drastically when I came to Dresden. I didn't know people outside my office and the reserved nature of Germans meant that relations in the office were limited to being colleagues. In general, I missed people so much that I used to visit the central shopping area every weekend just to be among the crowd. The first turning point was Holi celebrations by the Indian Association. There I met new guys who were going through the same phase. We instantly hit it off and started meeting on the weekends. When I joined the German course, I found myself among people from all over the world. I eagerly looked forward to attending the course and interacting with them (still do). But the interactions were still limited to the course hours. I realized that the people here are more private. It's hard to be outgoing without risking coming across as imposing yourself on them. Meanwhile my colleagues and I had warmed up to each other. We started meeting beyond work hours to play sports or go to a movie. I also joined the activities of university's Welcome Center like walking tours and visits to museums. Finally after 6-7 months in Dresden, there were people in the campus who nodded and smiled upon eye contact.

Breakthrough came with the next level of German course. There were new faces but also familiar ones from the previous class. As familiarity grew, we started hanging out more often. I met their friends, friends of their friends and so on. That chain hasn't stopped yet and I wish it never does. Earlier my weekends were spent idling around in bed, now there isn't enough time to execute all plans with friends. This is a familiar territory and I'm thankful to my friends who have made Dresden closer to home for me. 

Nevertheless, I still miss the friends back home, chatting with them every night while sipping tea, going on walks. And I miss (stray) dogs. But things will never be exactly the same. 

Till next time, tschüss.