"Finding Friends in Tunis" by Emma
Finding friends and community in a new city can be hard, but luckily Tunis is an amazing place to do it. Especially on a small program, there was a while at the beginning where it was so intimidating to try and meet people, and we really weren’t interacting with a ton of people naturally through school. I’m also anxious and not naturally comfortable when getting to know people, so plunging into an entirely new social world was a lot. However, since I’ve been here, I’ve been so lucky to have met some of my favorite people in the world and hopefully lifelong friends. In the beginning, I was able to meet people through the American Corner in Amideast, and then my social circle began to bubble out from there, meeting friends of friends and then their friends until I started to get to know a bit of a circle. I also know people who made friends off groups on Facebook, and I ended up making several friends at events or cafés once I started getting brave enough to ask for people’s Instagram to stay in contact. It helped me to remember that first of all, I’m new here and shouldn’t be ashamed or embarrassed to ask people to hang out, second, the worst thing they can say is no, and third, often times people do really want to hang out and get to know you. This is true for anywhere, but I honestly didn’t learn it until I put myself in the position of being completely new to the city, country, and continent. I realized I needed to stop reserving being bold for others-- moving from “Wow, they’re so brave and make friends so easily, I wish I could do that” to just holding my breath and walking in with the assumption that I can do that too changed my experience a lot. Some of my friends I made just by sending a DM, and even though that kind of thing makes me sweat, I never ended up regretting being a little embarrassed and just going for it. I feel like I’ve become a lot braver and more resilient when it comes to putting myself out there and asking, and I’m hoping to bring that skill back to the US with me, with any luck. With all of that said, here’s a bullet point summary with a few ways to get started meeting people:
PLACES TO MEET FRIENDS IN TUNIS:
Events/Cafés: You can find events on Facebook, flyers in cafés, of course by word of mouth, or on Instagram. If you want to get started, you can check out the Instagram/Facebook Guide to Tunis!
American Corner: Conveniently located in the Amideast Building, the American Corner can be a really good place to start getting to know some people. A lot of people go there to practice their English, so it can be a good place to find language partners too!
Friends of Friends: As I said before, my friends were really generous with introducing me to everyone, so it can be really helpful to meet people.
Host siblings/parents: If you have host siblings your age, they might be able to introduce you to people they know, while of course getting to know you themselves!
Emma is an Amideast EdAbroad alum and a previous intern with Education Abroad in Tunis.
