20 year old with job in Loop - meeting people my age (Chicago: home, school)

[Schnauzer Freund]

Hi All,

I am a 20 year old male who graduated college early and just started a full-time job in the Loop. It is great for my goals, but I am having a hard time finding people my age to do...anything...with.

I live with my parents near the WI border, so I have a bit of a commute. My friends from the past, by and large, live far away. I cannot get into bars. I have interests across the outdoors, gaming, food, music, and art. I can't take classes near me because of how late I get home. I'm not into sports much, but I will watch a game if it is on and if getting more into it is the cost of making friends, I'd gladly pay it.

People have recommended sitting around coffee shops and hookah lounges, or Meetup.com. However, I'd like to meet people my age, and my experience is that these things tend towards older people - even the Meetup young adult groups seem to cluster around late-20s early 30s.

Some have suggested I move to the city but frankly I am not sure what I'd gain...still no bars and most people being way older than me.

College wasn't a walk in the park socially but ever since I got home in May I have been honestly deeply depressed and alone, with 90% of my social contact being family way older than me or coworkers/business contacts way older than me. As a matter of fact, I am considering eating the debt of a second college degree because I am having a pretty negative time lately.

Any recommendations? Thank you all so much!

[Gemini1963]

I am sure others will have better suggestions than this, but to start:

It sounds like a rough situation, but I do think that if you can somehow lose that commute, things will improve a lot. That seems to me to be the top priority. You mention that you can't take classes near where you live because of how late you get home, but if you were living close to work, you could definitely take classes in the city after work or on weekends. It need not be a full-blown second college degree, either - just some class that is full of people your age learning about something that interests you. You might check whether you could take one course at a time at UIC, Roosevelt, or Columbia, for instance, in any area that interests you even a bit.

You could start now with putting out the word at work that you are looking for housing (including being open to having roommates -- they don't need to be your best friends, just responsible bill-payers with compatible mess-levels and sleep schedules), and start the process of consolidating your work and home life into one area.

If we have a snowy winter ( = bad commutes), I think you're going to feel this stress even more, so I'd start working on it now.

Good luck. It does sound hard.

[Fishroll23]

Move to the city

[NealIRC]

Why not go back to college after saving up a little from your current job?

[Peacebro25]

MeetUp.com can provide some fun and sometimes free options that can help in meeting new people that have shared interests/background. I'd say you have a huge leg up in regards to building a network since you are from the midwest. East coast people new to Chicago have a tough time here (unless they went to a Big 10 school).

Good luck.