How To Make Friends In Greece
If you recently shifted to Greece or are planning to move to Greece, you will be interested to know whether it will be easy to make friends in greece or not. Let me tell you that it’s not hard if it’s not easy to make friends there. According to a survey conducted in 2021, Greece stands at 32nd on the list of 65 friendliest countries for ex-pats. So it means Greece is falling somewhere in the middle of this list.
To make friends in Greece, you need to know the culture, share interests with the people, and lastly, people who want to socialize.
Three Tips To Make Greek Friends
Learn The Greek Language
Greeks are very hospitable and welcoming towards foreigners. They can go to any extent to make you feel comfortable, but to become their good friend, you must also learn Greek. You don’t need to learn greek thoroughly, but you need to speak a little bit of greek. They also love it if you adopt their cultures and traditions.
Be Patient When Making Friends In Greece
Greek people need time to open up, so if you want to make friends quickly, this place is not for you. In a matter of some months’ time, you will find out that you are in genuine friendship with many. So have patience, and you will have many good friends with you.
Stick To Your Word
Trust is the primary thing that greek people look for. The only thing they need is that you stand by your words. They consider it wrong if you commit something and then at the last minute you cancel your plan. So once you plan, make sure you will be available at that time and day.
13 Ways To Make Friends In Greece
In the modern age, it is rare that you meet someone on the street and become friends with each other. You have some common interests with each other whether you want to have friendship with a local national or some foreigner.
It is always recommended to learn the local language first wherever you have to travel internationally. In Greece, 99 percent of the population speaks modern Greek, and the rest of the Greek people speak non-official languages. So it’s good to learn Greek to interact with greek citizens. Some other spoken languages are English, Albanian, Macedonian, Turkish, German, and Italian.
Meet People At Work
If you are relocating to greece, your workspace is the best suitable place to start making friends. Greeks love to drink coffee, so you can easily accompany them even when they go to get coffee in the office and start doing some chit-chat over there. They enjoy it even at any time of the day. Even if you are doing work from home, you can ask your colleague to join you in any coffee shop. I made some of my friends through work.
Introduce Yourself To The Neighbours
Once you have shifted to the new place in greece, you should personally go and meet your neighbors. Take some sweets or cake with you to accompany the coffee you can have at their place. Once you meet them, they might introduce you to their friends and family, so your friend circle will expand. They may feel proud to introduce their new foreign friend to their greek friends. A few years back, when I was there, we celebrated birthdays with the neighbors. It was so much fun to do celebrations together.
Join Facebook Groups
If you have a social media account, it will be fun to know that your old friend is in the same city. In greece, more than 70 percent of the population has a Facebook account. Similarly, Instagram and Twitter users make up an excellent percentage to cover the rest of the population. People understand each other and their mutual interests through these social streams. You can even find out ex-pat groups on social media.
Sign Up For Meetup
One of the top meetup platforms in greece is Tinder. You can easily find many foreigners, whether they are ex-pats, tourists, or even locals registered on the app, available for friendship. Bumble is another app famous in greece for meetups that ultimately takes you to long-term relations.
Join For A Get Together
Whenever any greek or your colleague asks for a get-together, never miss a chance. It creates strong bonding between you and your future friends. Informal get-togethers are always suitable for making future friends. You can join for indoor or outdoor activities with them.
Short-Term Courses
You can always enroll yourself in many short courses like art, baking, language courses, fitness classes, or even cooking classes as well. If you are short on budget, don’t worry; they offer these classes at nominal charges. It is one of the perfect times and places to meet new people with the same interest and make new friends.
Take Lessons To Learn A New Skill
If you are keen to learn some new art but want to avoid joining any institution, then you always have the option to learn it from private individuals. You can get painting, baking, yoga, and even dancing classes. Once, we just took salsa and steak lessons from a chef. We have yet to make new friends from these classes, but we have met new people.
Tavernas And Street Cafes
Tavernas are one of the best places to meet greek people and ex-pats. We suggest you do not hide behind your mobile phone, tablet, or laptop; instead, keep eye contact with the rest of the people sitting there. Taverns are the best place to find new people with traditional greek food.
Volunteer
Volunteering always has a positive impact whenever you meet new people. Saying “Yassas” while being formal and “Yiasoo” while being informal among friends are the phrases used to say hi or hello. Further, ‘Keerios’ is used for men, while ‘Keeria’ is used for women. It feels more respectful when you say these greek words while meeting any local.
If you are working with animals or with the refugees to teach them English or any new skill, you will meet other volunteers and chit-chat with them. There are online websites that provide a platform for volunteers. The opportunities include volunteering to help with marine life or teaching refugee kids and adults the international language. There are many private organizations and online sources that you can search for near your residence.
Sell Your Skill
Everyone has some particular skill and should use that skill to teach the rest of the community. Of course, they will feel satisfied when they learn something from the native speaker. This is up to you whether you want to give these lessons free of cost or you want to change something.
Visit The Town Hall
All big cities like Athens, Corfu, Mykonos, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, and Patras have town halls where different artists perform in local drama groups. Different exhibitions take place in its vast halls, where you can get ideas about different products.
I met an artist in an art exhibition, and that person was so kind that he took me to his friends and all were so kind-hearted. We always spent quality time whenever we met at different art exhibitions.
Smoking With Greeks:
Greece has the highest smoking rate in spite of the fact that it is illegal in all indoor public spaces. More than 33 percent of the greek population do smoking. As smoking has an influential cultural association with Greeks, they enjoy it with friends and associate it with pleasure, satisfaction, and enjoyment. This is undoubtedly an accepted tradition of the greeks, so if you are a smoker, there is a good chance that you will actually have friends in your smoking community.
Nightlife In Greece:
Greece and its islands are very famous for their lively nightlife. Greeks love to dance, drink and have parties. So if you are a party person, you will make new friends for long-term relationships.
So, all in all, the key to friendship in Greece is to be more open and keep smiling.