How does everyone here make any friends?

Sleep around.

[Lital_The_Best]

Yeah, NYC is not like it used to make friends. Many people here are very self absorbed and worried about "doing them". Like another user said, most people here select friends based on the same interest of the goals they are after. It can be a very cold and lonely city here but its just the corporate way NYC has become. I'm more old school-I can be friends with anyone as long as we connect and they aren't negative people who don't want to do anything or nothing for themselves.

[UrbanAdventurer]

Just going to work and coming home to your apartment every day won't make you too many friends anywhere, unless some of your co-workers happen to turn into more than just co-workers.

[Oncebefore]

Have you ever tried joining a group on meetup? Meetup.com you can meet people there with similar interest in a group setting. Aside from that I have met most of my friends at work.

[Dport7674]

Making friends as an adult is a problem no matter where you live. Usually ends up being co-workers.

[pink caddy]

Walk into a nice bar. Not too big not too small in an area you want a presence. Announce to the bar in a voice that will be heard by all:

DRINKS ARE ON ME. BARTENDER SET THEM UP!

You'd be surprised how many "friends" you'll make in one nite!

[SeventhFloor]

Originally Posted by mediumrare

SO you go to work everyday, make small talk with your colleagues, who mostly complain about work related stuff. Then you go home and say hi, how are you to the various neighbors who live in your building, who mostly can't wait to get in their apartment. Finally you make your way inside your own "home" and continue to have dinner, watch TV, surf the net, walk the dog, listen to the wife/husband, before going to bed only to wake up the next day and repeat everything.

You're not originally from NYC, so all the buddies you had back in school/college are a million miles away. You realize you have been living here for ___ years, and have no real friends, just a bunch of acquaintances whose phone numbers you've never even exchanged.

What do you do to make friends? How does one break the cycle of loneliness?

I'll answer from the outside looking in, since i'm a native New Yorker.
Most people on my job who aren't originally from NYC end up becoming friends with each other. So I guess that kinda works out for them, because they have the transplant thing in common. Funny thing is, now that I look at my own life, I hardly meet new people myself. The only way I really do is through work. I'm married, from NYC and already have friends from my neighborhood, college and even high school that I'm still cool with. But it would be nice to make a new friend once in a while. Opportunities like that are rare for me.

[Bronxguyanese]

Originally Posted by SeventhFloor

I'll answer from the outside looking in, since i'm a native New Yorker.
Most people on my job who aren't originally from NYC end up becoming friends with each other. So I guess that kinda works out for them, because they have the transplant thing in common. Funny thing is, now that I look at my own life, I hardly meet new people myself. The only way I really do is through work. I'm married, from NYC and already have friends from my neighborhood, college and even high school that I'm still cool with. But it would be nice to make a new friend once in a while. Opportunities like that are rare for me.

This is very true. I noticed this with alot of Transplants is that they tend to befriend other Transplants and not local New Yorkers because of shared expierence of being an out of towner, same goes dating among transplants too.

[Henna]

I think the key is to take the initiative to invite someone to do something. If you join a meetup group and go to meetings, that's good, and you might eventually become friendly with people if you see them again and again. But someone has to take it to the next level where you hang out and call each other and make plans. I think that's the hard part.

I have one friend here in nyc who seems like a pro at making new friends. She is very social and participates in all kinds of activities - like DJ'ing at a radio station and joining in on group bike rides. She is not shy about initiating plans to do things with people once she meets them and connects.