These are the best and worst countries for making friends

There are 13 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 4,743 times. The latest Post () was by UK Man.

1st Official Post

    That is a good new. In fact, I have more friends here which are strangers or expats than my own countrymen.

    Perhaps we are friendly because we are too far from the center of the world, which is in the northern hemisphere.

    When we first came to Argentina, I kept reading that it was difficult to make friends, because people maintained their close friendships from high school throughout life, and weren’t interested in getting to know strangers.


    We have never found this to be the case. Our friends in Argentina were welcoming and open with us from the very beginning, and over the past 14 years, these cherished friendships have grown deeper and even more comfortable.


    In my book, Argentina is definitely #1 in this and other areas!

    Yes no complaints from me about Argentina on this subject. Never stay in the capital long enough to make friends but out here in the small provincial town we live in people have made me feel very welcome ever since I first came to visit 18 years ago as well as the last 10 years of living here permanently.

    Good thing is they are friends who respect our privacy so aren't in the habit of knocking at the door whenever they've been ''passing by''.

    It does of course help that my wife has kept a lot of friends since her schooldays and work.

    Being foreign does attract more attention.

    Quote from Carlos

    UK man wrote:

    "Being foreign does attract more attention."


    This reinforce my argument about the feeling of loneliness and being far from the rest of the world that this country has because of geographical reasons.

    When a graduate student, I spent 6 months in Oxford, where the UK students’ attitudes towards other foreign students ranged from indifference to icy superiority. Living there, in the Mother Country of my own language, I felt the isolation and loneliness you describe, Carlos , while still in the northern hemisphere. I have never had that disconsolate, solitary feeling in Argentina, where people actively welcome those from other countries.

    Rice wrote:

    ...felt the isolation and loneliness you describe, Carlos , while still in the northern hemisphere. I have never had that disconsolate, solitary feeling in Argentina, where people actively welcome those from other countries.


    Well, among many bias we have at least to show a good feature of our national character.

    Not to being just fine with you, but I must tell you that when I was working as a professor in the USA, I never felt any hint of iced superiority in my colleagues upthere. On the contrary, I felt like at home, very at ease.

    One thing I do like about living here is if you're into four legged friends instead of two you don't have to go far to find one.

    I have many 'street' dog friends who bring a smile to my face every time I see them. In fact we have several who we adopted and now live with us.

    Quote from UK Man

    One thing I do like about living here is if you're into four legged friends instead of two you don't have to go far to find one.

    I have many 'street' dog friends who bring a smile to my face every time I see them. In fact we have several who we adopted and now live with us.

    I understand from your statement, using the metaphor "four legged friends", you are meaning persons which are only "occasional friends" and not really friends.

    I agree, but I must mention that a true friendship needs time, patience, clemency, sympathy and a benevolent attitude. Especially time, a thing that always lacks, as we nowadays wish "inmediate satisfaction" and "inmediate outcomes". And this is valid for all countries in the world.

    Quote from serafina

    I think he actually meant dogs, since they are roaming freely and are easy to make friend with... and bring home! ;)

    Of course, that was my first interpretation of the "four legged friends", but I also foresee a more sophisticated version: the four legged friends are those which are not permanent, as they fade away in a short period of time.

    A tourist or a short time visitor cannot expect to acquire a long time friendship in any foreign country, When you return to your homeland, you are "out of sight", and then "out of mind".