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I think this is an epidemic right now frankly. A lot of people your age are struggling to find and maintain any kind of social connection and live a totally isolated life. It isn’t surprising, we aren’t used to having to go out of our way to find any social situation. It’s entirely possible to live without talking to anyone. Unfortunately for some reason it quickly becomes misanthropic too, especially if you have depression: you start to not want to be around people or not want to talk to people, you forget what they can offer you. I think there is absolutely a major widespread problem of growing social isolation right now

I am in Germany so even in the office people are cold. Native Germans (especially from the north) take months to years to warm up to you, so it takes a long time for them to warm up to you



I agree about your assessments of north-Germans, but I haven't found south-Germans (or at least Austrians, which everyone tell me are ± the same as Bavarians) any better - in fact in my 8 years in Vienna I found the natives a lot less friendly/colder than in my now 9 years in Berlin.


Berlin isn't "north-German" culturally, it is a very distinct cultural sphere and probably good for making some friends.

Note that behind the aparent coldness of Germans lies a promise of eternal, deep friendship once you break through :-)


Yeah I live in Hamburg and you basically have to stick with non Germans if you want to make friends in a reasonable timeframe. Many native Germans seem to guard friendship as an extremely precious thing that should only be given after much deliberation, while in a lot of other cultures it is given out relatively freely, after just one or two meetings even


> you start to not want to be around people or not want to talk to people, you forget what they can offer you.

The current political and cultural battles, in addition to a lingering #MeToo atmosphere, may also make this harder.




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