At the ripe old age of twenty-four, I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t have many friends. Since COVID restrictions have loosened, most of my friends have moved overseas and the ones I have left are saving up to join them.
When I was younger, I knew I could rely on the next party, gig or birthday dinner to meet new people. Now that my friendship circle is rapidly decreasing, unfortunately, so are the invitations to social events.
After spending an embarrassing amount of money on books about socialising, I learned that the easiest way to meet people is by being in a similar space as them. One of my biggest passions is social media, I love interacting with people online.
When I was single, I was obsessed with dating apps. Chatting with people on apps is fun, low risk and a great way to meet new people. After all, I did meet my boyfriend of three years through Tinder so surely I could find a new friend!
I downloaded Bumble for Friends and five minutes later, my profile was complete. When I first started swiping I was pretty embarrassed but after seeing so many people in the same situation as me, I felt validated.
Turns out there are a ton of people like me struggling to make friends at my age.
Most of the girls I saw on there were in long-term relationships with their partners, but lost friends due to people going overseas or moving to other parts of the country. Others were new to the country and were eager to make friends with locals.
I had over twenty conversations with different people around the country but struggled to find someone I was super compatible with. That was until I stumbled upon an Au Pair named Lily.
Lily was visiting New Zealand from Germany and both of our profiles were as silly as each other. After exchanging terrible hook-up stories we quickly became friends. We’d voice message each other on Bumble for an hour straight. I was stoked to have made an online friend but was curious to see if it could become the real deal.
After a few weeks of talking on and off, we decided to make the move and meet up to get bubble tea. I’d been on plenty of first dates in the past, but this friendship date was the scariest one.
We sat and chatted for over an hour and a half. Since we’d been sending voice memos for weeks, it didn’t feel as awkward since I already knew that she had a great chat! I was surprised at how easy it was to translate our online chemistry into real-life banter.
Our friendship date didn’t turn into anything more but I’m still super pumped that I put myself out there! As terrifying as it was, it was completely worth it knowing that I could have such a positive interaction off of a friendship app.
I know that if our schedules aligned we could’ve been close friends!
If you’re struggling to meet new people I'd highly recommend Bumble For Friends. You never know where you’ll meet your new best friend so why not give it a go? Just make sure that if you see my profile on there you swipe right!
