Ways to Settle Into a New City
May 1, 2013
Transitioning into a new city can be tough. After all the physical moving is done, and the shoes are taken off, what comes next? Maybe you already have friends and family in the area, and so the next step is calling them over and catching up, but maybe, you don’t. In that case, what are some ways to get you and or your family situated in a place that feels like home?
Ways to Settle Into Milwaukee:
1. Volunteer: the best way to get to know a city is to help out. It may sound hokey, but the ways in which you show your involvement within a city is the same ways you get to feel involved within your city.
2. Find a spot and or Eat Out: whether you’re a coffee drinker, or a yoga enthusiast, or beer-fanatic, find one place within the city that you go to weekly. This is now your spot. Others will be here, and be doing the same things you are, which allows you to reach out and connect, or just feel a part of a culture.
3. Walks: even if it’s not the most common way to get around, there’s no way better to stumble into new place, or new people, then to simply go for a walk. You might be surprised how exploring a new city can also become exciting again, and makes the people you find and do talk to, a part of that new venture.
4. Take a risk: if some flyer says yard sale, or there’s a pottery class, take a chance and go there. You never lose anything by having an experience. Maybe you will find a new interest, or, maybe you will find out something you don’t like…but this is also part of the fun about discovery, the uncertainty and then the certainty of self or newfound self.
5. Talk to your coworkers outside of work: perhaps you work in an office, or at home, or at a cafe where you have the same barista every day…if the opportunity pops up to inquire about who they are, what they do, let it. Don’t let the boundaries of work, and check-lists prevent you from seeing who else is around you, what they are doing, and how too, you want to communicate your wants and dreams.
6. Invite a friend to visit: there’s no better way to feel like you belong in your city than to take on the duty of playing host for a friend. Having a friend visits gives you a chance to show what parts of the cities you’ve learned and to share that new knowledge with a friend. Let them see what you see, and challenge you to explore further outside your comfort zone.
Moving is never an easy task, but that doesn’t mean the work involved has to be boring or disheartening.
(Photo attributed to Flickr member @ANDR3WA via the Creative Commons license.)
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