Korean Job Discussion Forums

sillywilly · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Canada.

It's quite possible that I'm a social moron but I need some advice. What's a good way to make friends in Seoul? I don't mind if they're Koreans or foreigners as long as they aren't too churchy or boring. I am lonely. Could someone suggest venues or strategies? Anyone made real friends doing language exchange, for example? (Don't really want to be used for English) I know most friendships happen organically but that hasn't been the case for me this year, so I need to take the bull by the horns. Just not sure where to start.

rungoodinc · Joined: 13 Apr 2011

i literally got here a few days ago and i'm in the midst of trying to build my social circle also. some good advice about making friends in a new place was: "It takes as long as it takes. I've never set out to for example, find new friends by such and such period. You just do your thing and by doing your thing the friends stuff tends to fall into line."

so be active, take some trips with adventurekorea, use meetup.com, use social networking to find other people who have the same interests and hobbies as you. there is so much to do in this city it would be a shame to not make the most of it!

anyway where in seoul do you live? i'm down for some dinner/drinks this week if you wanna meet up, i'm in apgujeong.

def PD · Joined: 24 Nov 2010

I'm always down to meet new heads also. I'm not sure how long I'll be here for ('til at least end of June) or where I'm staying (my housing arrangements got messed up ATM so I'm trying to figure that out).

I'll be sure to check in here and I got my brother and some college friends working/teaching out here as well. I could always use a good drinking buddy and wingman! Razz

Hokie21 · Joined: 01 Mar 2011

Facebook has tons of sites for this. How did you meet people in your home country? Go out! Talk to people!

sallymonster · Joined: 06 Feb 2010 Location: Seattle area

This question comes up all the time on this forum, you should do a search next time. Try going to Google and typing in "site:http://eslcafe.com/korea" then your search query.

Now that I've got that out of the way, I'm going to take this opportunity to advertise my group. I'm the leader of a meetup group in Seoul. The group is completely non-profit and exists to help you meet new people and enjoy the coolest things Korea has to offer. We do local stuff in Seoul/Gyeonggi and occasionally take trips around Korea. Here's our websites:

http://www.meetup.com/lost-in-seoul
http://www.facebook.com/lostinseoul

Most of our members are signed up through Meetup.

While you're on Meetup and/or Facebook, you should take a look around and check out the other groups in Seoul and see if any of them interest you; we're by no means the only one around.

Good luck!

sillywilly · Joined: 20 Jan 2003 Location: Canada.

Thanks for the advice. You guys ar enice. This wasn't the flaming I was expecting. Laughing

Xylox · Joined: 09 Jul 2010

Find someone you know, even just barely and head down to a get-together with them, or just hit up a bar yourself. Talk to everyone just a little bit, hit as many people as you can. Continue going no matter how much you hate bars/smokers/whatever, keep talking to people.

Locate 5 or so that you can actually stand. Then skim down that to one or two actual friends. They will introduce you to more people. This is how I built my social net when I got here.

nathanrutledge · Joined: 01 May 2008 Location: Marakesh

Try Toastmasters. Another fellow on here, Trip, is always pushing his club, and I'll push mine. Toastmasters International is a non profit organization for public speaking and leadership. I initially joined just to meet people, and it's been fantastic. Great way to meet people, Korean and foreign alike, who speak English (and many are willing to do language exchange if you want to practice Korean). I can't recommend it enough. Meetings are 1.5-2 hours long, and afterward, we usually head to a cafe or a bar for drinking and socializing.

Off the top of my head -

KHTM in Hyewha meets Tuesdays at 8 PM
Seoul TM meets Thursdays at 7:30 PM at Jonggak
Yeouido TM (formerly LGA) meets Fridays at 7:30 at the HP Building on Yeouido
Pacific Sunset TM meets Wednesdays at 7:30(?) at Yongsan Garrison

If you go to Toastmasters International website and search for a club, it will give you a whole list of them (25+) in Korea.

If you want more info, PM me. We'd love to have you come by and check it out!

RangerMcGreggor · Joined: 12 Jan 2011 Location: Somewhere in Korea

meetup.com has numerous events. Languagecast has a meeting every week in Sinchon where you can meet numerous people. There are also numerous "language exchange" parties on weekends where people meet and drink.

Going early to bars/clubs is also a good way to meet people. Club FF in Hongdae and Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon are my personal favorites. Go too late and it might be a bit harder though when everyone is drunk and in groups.