I want to make some new friends outside of my current social circle. I'm looking to meet smart and open minded people. What are some activities I could do or groups I could participate in where I'm likely to meet such people?
I'm particularly interested in personal experiences meeting people, rather than speculation, e.g. "I imagine ballroom dancing would be great" is not as good as "I met my partner and best friend ballroom dancing."
Also of interest would be groups where this is bad, e.g., if ballroom dancing was no good then "I never made any friends ballroom dancing, despite what I initially thought" would be a useful comment.
(I have a small list of candidate groups already, but I want to see what other people suggest to verify my thinking.)
Without knowing about your interest and the kind of people you want to meet it's hard to give targeted advice.
It also depends a lot on local customs. One meditation has a culture where the people who attend the event bond together, others don't.
As far as dancing goes, the default interaction is physical. If you want to make friends you also have to talk. If talking comes hard to you then dancing won't produce strong friendships.
If your goal is to build a social circle it's also vital to attend events together with other people. Constantly going alone to events doesn't fit that purpose.
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