Maybe…
Growing up in multicultural environments and living in different societies, something I’ve recently learned about myself is people intrigue me. I’m not really what you call a social butterfly but I do enjoy the interesting and needless to say, sometimes weird side of people when they’re out of their comfort zone.
Living in Berlin, Germany I’ve met so many variations of personalities- some that amazed me, bored me, and some that left me confused. As I am chronically online the majority of the time (I work in Marketing so I can blame my job for that), I came across an interesting platform- Time Left.
Post-pandemic, there has been an interest and a need for more niche communities as many people gave up on dating and just wanted actual friends (that they didn’t go on a date with).
So I did what any curious person would do. I signed up to try out this experiment as I found it intriguing and also something outside my comfort zone. From my understanding, they are slowly launching in a lot of major cities in Europe and America, as studies have shown that loneliness has grown in capital cities and people don’t know how to socialise anymore or even say ‘Hello’.
So what is Time Left?
It’s a platform at allows you to meet 5 strangers for dinner, on a Wednesday evening and get to know each other. I recently went to dinner with 4 strangers (sadly 1 person didn’t show), but it was better than I expected. As I live in Germany, and was meeting 4 strangers for the first time, I wanted to make a good impression by being punctual… and I was.
I’ll admit, it was scary at first when everyone finally showed up.
We began with simple small talk, ‘What’s your name?’ ‘How was your day?’ ‘why did you move here?’, which was a bit worrying cause ice breakers can be difficult. But eventually we were comfortable and ordered some drinks and began to play an icebreaker game from the TimeLeft app, and then the tea started spilling. I just love how everyone became so comfortable, myself included.
Studies show people are more open to sharing their personal lives when they’re having a conversation with random strangers as your chances of seeing each other again are very slim.
That being said, the conversations were flowing and so were the drinks to the point we were the last people in the restaurant when they closed. As it was a weekday (I’m an adult I know) and as a working woman, I needed my sleep, but 3 members of the group continued the fun and went to a nearby bar. We exchanged contacts and already planned to meet again for our next dinner party, and hopefully, the same energy is still there.
So if you don’t have friends or just want to make new ones, give it a try.
Also, check out my TikTok!
