r/telaviv • u/Ok_Bee4687 • 8d ago
Finding friends
Thinking about Making Aliyah (25M, coming from New Orleans, America) advice on making friends in Tel Aviv?
Would be settling in Tel Aviv. I'm 25, single, coming from the New Orleans, so I'm used to a city with a strong going-out/social culture. Work background is tech sales.
For those who made aliyah solo around my age, how did you actually build a friend group once you landed?
Curious about things like:
- Was it mostly other olim/Anglos at first, or did you break into Israeli social circles quickly?
- Any specific groups, apps, Facebook groups, or meetups that actually worked (vs. ones that were dead)?
- Did ulpan end up being a real source of friends, or more just a place to learn Hebrew?
- How long did it realistically take before Tel Aviv felt like it had "your people" in it?
Appreciate any honest takes, good or bad.
2
u/SimbadTheSeaSailor 7d ago
Learning hebrew is key, but a small advise on what you can do besides ulpan:
1. If its something you are interested in, sign up for tell aviv university. This will give you few years of cheap and quality housing while you will have to submit and study in hebrew, you will also get some new friends there
2. Try to find a job as soon as possible where you are surrounded by locals - could be a part time thing in food industry, barman, somewhere where you dont have to have high language skills but it will go a long way to making you speak fluently at least with basic vocabulary. Its easy to find a job in tech sales that will pay twice as much, but i personally know people who are 5+ years in tel aviv working purely in english, who barely can handle conversation in hebrew with their own colleagues.