How do I make friends in Chicago?

23 year old British girl moving to Chicago, any tips? What's it like to make friends, where are the best places to live etc?

• Answer:

  Neighborhood breakdown of those worth considering: Pilsen - Artsy, but run down. Very slowly up an coming. Cheap, but not always the safest. No really grocery store options. Logan Square - Hipster central for now. A ton of nice restaurants, cocktail bars, dive bars and nice coffee shops. This is where I live and I love it, even though I'm pretty far from a hipster.  A couple grocery store options, but nothing in the heart of the neighborhood.  Lots of nightlife.  Just try to be within a ten minute walk of the Logan Square train station and you'll be pretty happy. Wrigleyville (part of Lakeview) - Despite the other answer, Wrigleyville is all bros and sorority girl types. Lots of barf and broken bottle covered streets Th-Sat. Lots of sports bars.  Lots of nightlife.  Cubs fans are the worst also. Plenty of grocery options. Southport Corridor (part of Lakeview) - Nice little shopping area and restaurants. It's not a bad neighborhood, but it's character has remained the same the whole time I've lived here. Plenty of grocery options.  Lots of nightlife. Boystown (part of Lakeview) - This is a great neighborhood if you're looking for partying from Th-Sun straight. I think the top 2 largest neighborhood festivals take place here as well.  (Gay pride parade and Market Days.) Plenty of grocery options.  So much freaking nightlife. Wicker Park - Used to be where most of the hipsters and artists live. There's still some of that, but mostly yuppies now. More expensive than it's worth, in my opinion. But not a bad neighborhood.  There are some small, interesting, expensive markets here and one substantial, more normal priced grocery store.  Lots of nightlife on the weekends. Lincoln Park - Clean and full of stuff to do. Predominantly college aged neighborhood.  But much more expensive than it deserves to be. It's the neighborhood people move to when they first move to the city for some reason. And just very competitive needlessly for apartments.  Plenty of grocery options, including my favorite grocery store in the city. A flagship Whole Foods.  Plenty of nightlife. Gold Coast - Nice area, but mostly yuppies.  Lots of old lawyers with young ladies attached to them.  But some of the better restaurants of the city are here. Limited, but existent grocery store options.  Some nightlife, though I feel like things start winding down around 11 or 12 here. Edgewater - One of the more diverse neighborhoods.  Very small townish in feel. Near the lake, which is always nice.  Quite a ways north, though.  Not aware of the grocery situation.  More family oriented, so the nightlife is minimal. Andersonville and Lincoln Square - They are not the same neighborhood, though they are near each other.  But the descriptions are the same. Nice. Fun. Lots of restaurants and bars. Lots of families.  Terrible parking options.  Cost effective apartments. Long CTA commutes.  Minimal nightlife, though Andersonville has more than Lincoln Square. Downtown - Don't live here.  It's expensive. Everything closes at 7 p.m. except for Sunday. Sunday things don't open at all.  You may end up with a job downtown.  Just commute. Trust me.  No nightlife. Grocery situation is not terrible, but not the best and you'll have to figure out how to transport your groceries. Avondale - Maybe up and coming? It's up for debate. You'd be a bit of a pioneer living here. Some nice restaurants. A few good bars. Not all that unsafe, but certainly not the safest neighborhood on this list.  Cheap rent, though.  Nightlife is minimal, but existent. West Loop - Of the top rated restaurants in Chicago, a disproportionate amount of them reside here.  It's the only neighborhood you are likely to find a loft apartment.  But it's gonna cost you.  Families, white collar workers mostly.  Similar to Gold Coast in nightlife. Definitely exists, but people have day jobs and go to bed. Greektown - Perfectly fine neighborhood, but kind of one note.  Good greek food. And uhm... Yeah that's about it.  Not really much nightlife. University Village - This area has really had a great revival in the last few years. Younger age demographic. Fun restaurants and bars. I don't actually know the prices of apartments here, but it's probably on the higher end of things. Though I doubt it's in the top 5 of the neighborhoods already listed here.  Decent nightlife. River North - Yuppie central. Good restaurants.  Probably some of the best shopping in the city. Expensive apartments. Above average nightlife.  Decent grocery selection. Ravenswood - I think this is where the mayor lives. Quiet, safe neighborhood with decent apartment prices.  You might live here to save money and then commute to the neighborhoods where you intend on socializing.  There's not a ton going on here, but some stuff. My friends live here and consider it to be the best kept secret in the city.  Not sure about the grocery situation. Old Town - Ehn. It's fine. I feel like it's a suburb in the middle of the city. Also very expensive. I remember getting a gyro there one and it cost me $13. A gyro anywhere else would run me $7 or less.  I've seen more celebrities in Old Town than anywhere else, though. Not sure what that indicates.  Grocery store selection is good. There are a ton of other neighborhoods in Chicago, but either I don't know them well enough to have an opinion or you probably don't want to live there. As far as meeting people, I hear Chicago is one of the friendlier places in America. Very polite. Even the homeless people are mostly polite.  As long as you make an effort, you'll make friends easily enough.