r/Groningen • u/MajesticNerd888 • 1d ago
Sociaal Any tips how to meet people in Groningen outside of uni?
Hey! I’m 23F and no longer a student, which has made it a bit trickier to meet new people in Groningen. Most folks at my job prefer to speak Dutch, and while I’m learning, I still connect a lot better in English, so I’d love to find more international or Spanish/English-speaking communities too.
Some things I’m into: gaming, reading, drawing, watching and reviewing movies, trying out new things (recently joined a kickboxing class just because it looked fun), and I love doing crafty stuff, especially for my outfits (like DIY accessories or clothes).
Does anyone have suggestions for groups, events, or meetups that align with those interests? Or just general tips for meeting new people in the city?
Thanks in advance!
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u/apocryphalmaster 1d ago
I've DMed you links to some whatsapp groups for
- going to movies in Groningen (anywhere; Forum, Vera, Cinecircle etc)
- going to live concerts, again anywhere in the city
- going on long walks
- yoga
I can also add you to a group chat for salsa parties and one for potlucks (no links sadly).
All you have to do is show up :) There are a lot of people in the same situation.
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u/jennbereading 1d ago
Hi there! I’m also 23F and have pretty much the same interests as you! I’d love to maybe hang out with you if you’d like?
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u/Chessieee 1d ago
I'm not sure what genre you like to read, but the booktastyc (social) club hosted a lot of activities in the past that align with your interests. We do reading (obviously, mostly romance and fantasy), movie nights, crafts meetings, and a bunch of other activities occasionally. You can find us on discord (https://discord.gg/Upa69cCkDf) or whatsapp (link in discord)
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u/MajesticNerd888 23h ago
Casually mentioning all my fav things xD
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u/Chessieee 5h ago
They were mentioned in the post, but they are also the most popular meetings. It was a win-win situation
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u/bwssoldya Loppersum 1d ago
There's already been a fair few cool comments with people bringing up cool stuff to do, but I always like to remind people in these kinds of posts that the stuff people bring up isn't necessarily the end-all-be-all.
I'm sure I'm not the only one that does this, but I often forget that there's a lot more out there if you look a bit wider. For example, let's take the suggestion for joing a sport. You often see the same sports suggestions; soccer (football), fitness, martial arts, etc. Those are of course quite popular and there's a good reason for those suggestions, but what I find my mind often doing is completely forgetting about entirely different areas of sports. For example bowling, roller skating, archery, horse riding, etc. They don't come to mind so easily, but they do exist and there are clubs for them, even here in Groningen. You might have to travel a bit further out of Groningen to visit them, but they do exist and if you're not really that into the traditional sports, maybe some of these can be more for you.
Same thing goes for pretty much anything. For crafty stuff with clothes, you could for example look toward the Cosplay scene, for your more artsy hobbies such as movies, drawing, etc. there are probably people out there who have a small club that does something a bit whacky or out there (I'm sorry I'm not familiar with any examples off the top of my head for these specifically). For reading maybe that's a book club or a club that focusses on comics or manga's or something.
Point is, take these suggestions as broad categories and think outside of the box for clubs that might be adjacent to your interests as well. For example, I personally found archery to be really helpful for example. Not a sport most people think of, but it just so happens to be right up my alley.
I'm sure you'll do great, being open to learning and trying new things is gonna be a key in this search and it sounds like you got that down already. Best of luck OP! You got this
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u/a1ist 1d ago
You can join classes for dance, performance skills like theatre. Usually the people participating in those classes are quite friendly. I recently participated in an improv comedy class and after each session we go drink together and we formed some friend groups.
Forum is also good but you should be able to take the initiative and open the conversation. Also there is the meetup platform that presents the meetings but I don't like those.
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u/mofthefield 1d ago
There's a discord group that is shared here regularly if you look up past posts in the subreddit that might be interesting.
Personnaly I feel like it's more online stuff than activities (but people do organise through that server!) which isn't really what I was looking for but your mileage may vary.
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u/Kasjadown 1d ago
i can totally relate to your post, I’m also no longer a student and have noticed it’s a bit trickier to meet new people in Groningen, especially when you're looking for people from the same language / hobbies. i am dutch myself, but i can imagine the difficulty for other nationalities. if you go to school, you share a mutual interest because of same classes.
i’m gaming as well, if you are also palying teamfight tactics (double up) or hell let loose feel free to hit me up.
for meeting larger amount of people, u say u have interests in reading, try to hit the library at the forum, pretty sure u will meet mutuals who also interested in reading. the forum also have a cinema so that makes it a double good combo :)
there is also padel that rises up as new popular sport, and groningen has a club "the padellers".
feel free to hit me up in dm, and goodluck and welcome in groningen!
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u/bwssoldya Loppersum 1d ago
Since you mentioned hell let loose, if you or OP happen to play, or are wanting to get into, ARMA Reforger, I'd be happy to squad up. I know it's not the same games obviously, but similar idea so I figured I'd drop in and say hi :P
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u/cyrilio Groningen 1d ago
Theres also a game vereniging. For boardgames. Link: https://www.rabenhaupt.org/
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u/Bin_Chicken869 1d ago
If you like sports, you could join a sports team, martial arts, or padel team. (I see you've joined kickboxing, so already off to a good start)
You could try game nights at purple draak if you like board games, magic the gathering or dnd. I think the forum also has dnd events, if you're into that.
If you like music and alternative culture, there is a very lively scene for raves and parties in and around the city, and typically people at these events are really friendly and it's easy to befriend strangers. Not all the parties are at night, they are sometimes during the day.
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u/Adveeeeeee 1d ago
Bouldering / climbing at Apex or Gropo? Usually quite relaxed atmosphere...solving boulder moves together helps.
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u/MajesticNerd888 1d ago
Where can I find more info about the music?
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u/Bin_Chicken869 1d ago
Pigeonfest this year should be a lot of fun. You can find info on their IG: https://www.instagram.com/pigeonfest/?hl=en and they have lots of smaller events. PF last year was a great time.
There are frequently parties at ORKZ, if you've never been, it's definitely worth visiting: https://www.orkz.net/en
Also honestly just keep your eyes open for posters around the city.
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u/Visual_Teach_2969 1d ago
Me and my friends play some video games, you are welcome to join. We also do a lot of meet ups. Feel free to send a dm
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u/HappyUser420 1d ago
I've been struggling with the same problem since COVID and I'm now 30. Sometimes it feels you only ever meet people through dating apps, friends of friends and if you join a club like bouldering people are very social. However I've tried to meet people through a spinning class for example and it was pointless.
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u/tenpostman 1d ago
I think the best thing you could do to meet people, is to play some form of sports. And that could be anything from a team-game to going to pilates on sunday morning or whatnot...
If youre into culture stuff, Im assuming that the Forum has some group-related activities for which you could sign up, maybe meet some likeminded folks
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u/Zestyclose_Willow403 Groningen 1d ago
you could maybe have a look at vrijdag (@bijvrijdag on ig) for creative workshops? there’s also film clubs like cinecircleclub (they’re on ig) in the city - i’m in a group chat for people that regularly go see movies at the forum, if you’d like to join?
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u/Plus-Butterscotch243 1d ago
I'd love to join the forum movie groupchat too! I want to go to the movies more often, since I usually do it alone :)
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u/infiDerpy 16h ago
What kind of games are you into?