Looking for new friends in Regensburg

Hello everyone! Welcome to my next post! Last time I recounted you my Tandem journeys across Germany. This time I’d like to tell you something about my life here in Regensburg.

Maybe you have ever moved to a new city and have been looking for new friends just like me in Regensburg. This time can be a real challenge, especially if you don’t know anyone in the city. That was exactly my case. After I arrived in Regensburg, I first had to take care of organisational matters – for example, moving into my flat or finding out where I could go shopping nearby. Then I allowed myself to relax a bit. Next, I went to discover the most famous places in Regensburg, such as the Cathedral of st. Peter, the Stone Bridge, the House of Bavarian History and Bismarckplatz. Once, when I was watching the sunset from the Stone Bridge, I imagined how great it would be to share this beautiful moment with a good friend. From that moment on, I tried actively to make new friends in Regensburg.

Internet and WhatsApp: modern friend finders

Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Meet.up – nowadays there are many online ways how to get informed what’s going on in the city. Whether it’s a concert, a festival or a hike. Every event like this can be a good opportunity to talk to new people and make new contacts. That’s why I took part in various events such as lectures, jointly organised excursions or city tours – always hoping to experience as much of Regensburg as possible and make new friends. I had imagined that I would make new friends in Regensburg super quickly this way. It didn’t quite work out that way, but I didn’t let that discourage me and just kept trying. After I had spent about a month in Regensburg, I met a young woman on a city tour – the Regensburg Free Walking Tour – who told me about the language café “Um die Ecke”.

Language café “Around the corner”: Where great people and great languages meet

The language café “Um die Ecke” takes place twice a month. There are several tables, each with a small card indicating which language is spoken at that table. One person is the moderator and tries to involve everyone at the table in the ongoing conversation. Once, the main organiser of the language café asked me if I could moderate the Czech or Slovakian table. “Of course, both,” I replied enthusiastically. And so she gave me the “Czech” and “Slovak” cards and I was able to moderate my table bilingually – what a nice language compromise! 🙂 It was really great to see people from Germany as well as from other countries coming round to practise my two mother tongues. 🙂

According to my experience, it’s really beneficial when an event takes place regularly because it increases the likelihood of meeting like-minded people and making new friends. I met a German couple at the English table who I also met up with outside the language café. They taught me the card game “Solo”, which is very similar to my favourite card game – the Czech “Mariáš” card game!

I can only recommend the language café “Um die Ecke”. Not only does it give you the opportunity to practise different languages, but you can also meet interesting people from all over the world. In the beginning, the language café took place in the Alte Mälzerei in Regensburg. There you could also enjoy rock and metal music, as various bands rehearsed there at the same time in neighbouring rooms. The language café now takes place once a month on a Friday evening at the “W1 – Centre for Young Culture” near Regensburg’s Haidplatz. The next date is 19.07.2024 from 18:30.

Another way to make new friends is the language courses offered at the University of Regensburg. One of the many things I appreciate about my volunteer service at Tandem is the opportunity to attend language courses at the university. Not only I was able to improve my language skills there, but I also made some friends.  I have met other great people throughout Germany, for example in Nuremberg, Berlin, Altenhof and Leipzig, where I have recently travelled.

Chance meeting of destiny

“Chance meeting of destiny” – that’s what another friend of mine and me agreed on in relation to our meeting. The fact that I met her a few weeks ago was a coincidence because, for once, I took a different route home. And our meeting was also one destiny itself, because it means a lot to both of us that we became friends. I was walking home through a park that day and was on the verge of tears because I was going through a difficult time in my personal life at the time and felt incredibly lonely. Suddenly I heard someone singing in the park. I looked round and saw a young woman sitting on the grass. I hesitated for a while to go to address her, but after a few minutes I plucked up the courage to speak to her. And that was a very good decision. She told me that I can to sit with her and sing along if I like. Besides singing, we talked a lot. And then it turned out that she was my neighbour – she lives just two blocks away!

Sometimes random passers-by can become our friend. And sometimes difficult moments lead us to wonderful experiences that would otherwise never happen.

You can read more about other wonderful moments in Regensburg in my next blog post! 🙂