How to make friends in Croatia

Hello!
Assuming you are a foreigner that moved to Croatia for work you will make friends very quickly at the work place. Croatian are very open and curious so don't be surprised if they ask you questions that are in some parts of World considered as private. For example they might ask you about your family, marriage status, salary, religion, etc. We like gatherings, like dinners and weekend events that usually take place at ones home.
It is not uncommon to have unannounced visitors at your home, someone just dropping by to say hi or have a coffee. We are not formal.
If you like sports going to a bar before match is good way to meet people, but suggest for the 1st time to go with a local person, just to show you around. Otherwise, if you glue to someone you just saw for the 1st time they might consider you crazy or having one too much :-)
cheers!

I think signing up for a language class is a good idea. Many of the participants will be non-Croatian too, but I think it's a great way to get to know others.
Croatian Crescent

Hi everyone!
I'm new here (to Croatia and this forum).
I've found that forums do help me to build up some networks. But it very much depends on how active the forum is. Unfortunately not many Croatian forums for expats are active. Hope this forum gets a little more activity!
The other way is through blogs and other social media like Facebook.
Cheers!

Hi everyone. Im new on this blog. Croatian from Rijeka who lived abroad for a loooong time. It's been a year since I moved from Tokyo to Zagreb, I have my little business. Is there a place where expats meet and where I can go alone, because I haven't been able to make friends here?  It's maybe easier for 100% foreign foreigners, but Im kind of something between.

mirabel wrote:

Hi everyone. Im new on this blog. Croatian from Rijeka who lived abroad for a loooong time. It's been a year since I moved from Tokyo to Zagreb, I have my little business. Is there a place where expats meet and where I can go alone, because I haven't been able to make friends here?  It's maybe easier for 100% foreign foreigners, but Im kind of something between.

Hello Mirabel!
I've been in Rijeka for more than a year now.

Are you in Facebook? There's a group for Expats in Zagreb. Try this link. http://www.new.facebook.com/groups.php? … 1415719768

Sretno!!

hi there I am a Bolivian, living in the US, I am trying to find relatives in Croatia, my grandfather was born there....

Hi,

Are there some people who are living in Osijek, region Slavonia & Baranja..
Would be nice to meet some english speaking people

Greetingz

ryan wrote:

Hi,

Are there some people who are living in Osijek, region Slavonia & Baranja..
Would be nice to meet some english speaking people

Greetingz

Hi Ryan,
I just moved in Osijek.
I am a working in Valpovo, 25km east from Osijek.
I arrived from France one month ago and I am very poor in croatian so I will be glad to meet you.
I give you my mobil phone to arrange a meeting in Osijek if you are up to:
09 98 08 19 83

Bye

Howdie all,

just moved down to Zadar, so if any of u r in or from Zadar, then please let me know, so that we can perhaps catch up for a coffee...

regards, Tony.

I am always up for a beer in Jelsa on Hvar.
(Moderated: No free Advertising, Please) 

Cheers Paul

hahaha... jelsa is too far man.. besides, islands do not count... as they r full of tourists...

Hola soy de origen hispano y vivo en Rijeka croacia,estoy casada.
quiero tener amigas que hablen mi lengua(español).
soy una joven sinsera, alegre, repetuosa...

Hello Eliabet

If you have a strong preference for Spanish language, i would suggest that you write in Spanish in the Spanish forum.

This is the Anglophone forum, we only accept posts written in English.

Thanking you for your comprehension.

Regards,
Sheetul

hello forums i asking about languages ? Croatian people can speak english ? i mean many people can or i will suffer 
another question sorry , learning hravstiki how long does it take ? is it easy or diff language ?

hello Mostafa
Croatian is a very difficult language to learn, especially if your mother tongue is Arabic. I posted in another thread about courses. You can take courses at the University of Zagreb, they range from 200-700euros a semester. 
People do speak English but it all depends where you are. If your going to be in Zagreb, Split or Dubrovnik, many of the young people speak English but in smaller towns many people do not speak English. Also, much of the older generation dont speak English. 
Another point, since you don't know the language i suggest to do all your shopping at store instead of open markets because if you shop at markets your more likely to pay double or even triple for your stuff.  Also, about rent make sure you have a Croatian check out the price first because your most likely to pay double if you are a foreigner.  Its a Croatian thing they always assume that if you are a foreigner you are then wealthy. 

Good luck!!!!! you are very lucky to have found a job in Croatia, I am still in the process of finalizing my job in Croatia.

Coming To Zagreb and Dubrovnik to check ou wherein the world I may want to retire!

hey guys..anyone who knows where croatian embassy is in kenya?nairobi?anyone from kenya living in croatia?

Hello there!

I'm Nhelmz from Philippines and am working here in Croatia, i am currently in the town called Varazdin, want to know people from around the world who lives here, its very comfortable to think you're in the same phase at least when talking...see ya!

Anyone in the Zadar area? Or close to that area? I am from Sydney Australia.

Tony,

Are you still in Zadar? My husband and Son just moved here a week ago.

Cheers,

Hi there! My Name is Nhelmz and i came from Manila, Philippines. Currently living in Croatia at the town called, Varazdin. Hope to see and meet some English Speaking expats here and a little bit of Croatian language..Lets learn together!  thank you and see you..

Hi to all forum and topic members from Zagreb, Croatia.
Very glad to see that many of you like our beautiful country and some of you considering moving in. Hope that you will meet a lot of our peoples and make many friendships here, as well as take time to visit Croatia and enjoy beautiful inner parts of country as well as wonderful sea and beaches on our coastal area.
If interested in any of additional information on country, culture and regulations I will be more than happy to try and answer your questions.
Croatia is a small country but big enough to welcome all of our friends from all over the world.

Hi, I just arrived back from Zadar, and am looking to live there next year with my wife and children.
We have a place near the city.
I'm back there in January -

Hold a box of Cigarets in your hand while u walking in the street..u will got good number of croatian friends in a week

nhelmz wrote:

Hi there! My Name is Nhelmz and i came from Manila, Philippines. Currently living in Croatia at the town called, Varazdin. Hope to see and meet some English Speaking expats here and a little bit of Croatian language..Lets learn together!  thank you and see you..

Hey. my wife from Varazdin..i go there sometimes what u doing over there

Yay! Please do stay in touch. You can find us at chasingthedonkey dot com.

Will do

Hello Helena,
My heart goes out to you- we have a similar story/experience, i think-
Can i make some suggestions? Have you thought of  going to a travel agency touring company and  if they have no paid job, volunteer as a helper for tourists that are english , french or spanish? When   one becomes a volunteer the organization usually offers free gifts instead of being paid. . You get to meet new people. Do you know about the rosetta stone language course? Its A very fast way to learn any language.. If you have your days alone could you  explore the area to learn more.?  Is there adds in the community paper for volunteers of many kinds? 
Now i tell you my story too. My husband and i sold all our furniture , belongings and moved to munich 2 years  ago from Vancouver canada. I was in a magical bubble for a short time exploring the many attractions of munich and surrounding areas. I went to german school  to learn german. It was stressful as i was with 17 other foreigners. we were only to speak, read and write  german. As a professional life and health coach i thought it would be so easy to integrate to germany , make new friends. . I did not do my research. It was not true-:(after a short time,  i was lonely , felt isolated and missed all my family and  friends  we left behnd in vancouver . When i would meet and try to make friends, the message to me was oh, my english is not good. I never see them again. My way of coping was to join a fitness outlet swim club or yoga class. The germans are too comfortable with their own people. I got it!! My dear husband is german, speaks croatian, english, french, Portugese and some spanish. What a life saver- We realzed this is not where we want to live.
The good news!! We are  coming to croatia the end of september to live a few months in Split/podstrana. We are renting A nice beach house 7 klm from split. If we like it there, we will settle part time there and spend  the summers in vancouver. We are in the process- maybe you and your husband woukd be interested to meet us in split. We have stayed in dubrovnick and loved it too. Every mission is possibke when you inow what you want.

Hope this helps-
Gloria
Life coach

Thank you Gloria.

Your hoping words help a lot!
Yes, it's difficult. It's even worse because we live in an Island actually, in front of Dubrovnik and people are really close-minded.
Hope this changes when we move to Dubrovnik in September.
I think that rosetta stone does not have Croatian between their listed languages. But also I think it would be better to find a physical place to learn in Dubrovnik, this would enlarge the chances of meeting some people!

Hope you really find Croatia a nice place. It actually is...just need some more time I think...
And if you're going to Split, hope to see you someday.

Hello Helena,
You are welcome!
It will be so much better when you move to the city. There should be a facebook page.. Expats in dubrovnik. 
I googled this for split  and met a wonderful african/english woman who is married to a croatian.  they own a travel agency. They would need to speak english for tourists, this is why i suggested this-  They gave  me so many tips and were so sympatic and invited us to meet them when we come to split. They know all the ins and outs. I ask, how can i help them be more successful.
Most restautants servers in dubrovnik speak english. Its such a popular tourist area. I met a waitress in may in podstrana when my husband and i went for dinner. There was such a good connection between us
And when we returned to munich she emailed me to ask when we could return. When i said it was too
Expensive in august , she replied, no i will get you the best lowest price because  i am the chef in this village.  So funny. I coach on the law of attraction and when she found this out she told me she was reading  the book, the seacret- we attracted each other. We accepted her offer to find out her brother owns the pansion. How great that was!! 30 euros a night. What a wonderful week we had with her. Germany was the training ground for greater adventures. i say this to you  to encourage you- now we are considering moving there. It just takes one good connection.
To complete i would like to add this thought.
The law of attraction responds to whatever vibration you are sending by giving you more of it, whether it is positive or negative. It will respond to your vibration.
You will know if you are sending out a positive or negative vibration by taking a look at the results
You are getting  in that area of your life. They are a perfect reflection of what you are vibrating.
Most important to ask yourself, so.. What do i want? What will that get  you? If you apply  this principle
I know  you will be successful!
Have a great day!
Gloria-

Hello Gloria,

Thanks SO much for your message.  I appreciate your suggestions and encouragement. Your suggestion about the travel agency is great.  Who knows where that leads...? 

I'd love to hear how it goes for you these next few months.  Weather?  Social connections?  Etc. etc etc.  I'm single so the social aspect is really important.  I did feel quite isolated last trip much as you did in Germany.    If I could 'handle' that part it would make a huge difference.

I'm not sure when I'll be back in Croatia but hope it's soon and yes, thanks for reminding me of how things go there...everywhere!   I found a superb place on Korcula through a waitress I saw daily...had a good connection with.  She connected my with her friend and off I went!   It was perfect.

I live in Sonoma County near San Franciso so I suspect we share some of the same culture and understanding.   It would be great if we were both in Split at the same time! 

Best of luck to you for your adventure in Croatia!

Helena

the best tips is to get the contacts and meet people, starting at a coffee bar and then meeting for lunch time, or home for barbecues....

If anything is easy in Croatia, it is to make friends. Go in sports clubs for pilates or aerobic, or start learning new language. After few meetings, go out for cup of coffee and that is it!

please i want to be sending massage to my sister, Thanks for allowing me to send massage to my sister;

I initially contacted some people through CouchSurfing and things have spread from there. It seems true that people in Croatia are generally not reticent about starting new friendships or chatting to strangers.I have already been invited into the house of my next door neighbour, something that has never happened in over 2 years of living in Hungary. Another neighbour came to the house to welcome me to the village but to be fair, he's another foreigner, a refugee from Bosnia when the war was on there.

Is anybody living in Pula? Can't find any foreigners here except the tourists ..

I lived in Severic, Drnis in Croatia in the house of Mr Vujadin. I remain ever grateful for the care he and his family took during  my stay with them some years ago. I would appreciate if any of you living in and around know Mr Vujadin, father of Milana and help me contact  them. Thanks

Reach ou to me and I'll put you in touch with the community there : http://www.chasingthedonkey.com/a-local … donkey.com

Hey don't know how active this thread is at the moment but I'll give it a go
I'm living in Zagreb for the foreseeable future and looking for a few people to meet for friendship as I don't really know anyone right now and I'm still trying to get my bearings. I'm in the process of looking for a job (IT and English teaching) if anyone fancies meeting up for coffee or a drink etc that would be great or even a bit of advice, it all helps.
A bit about me:
26, English, travelled a lot, speaks English, basic German and a little Mandarin. Would also be interested in an English/Croatian language swap. Give me a shout if you're interested. Thanks