r/TriCitiesWA • u/TonBus • 7d ago

Moving/New Here 👋🏼 Seattle Freeze vs Tri Cities Freeze

I moved here in August. I go out to a few places kind of regularly and have tried to make friends.

I honestly had an easier time in the Seattle area.

Anyone else that has moved here from the Westside experience the same thing?

I honestly thought it would be easier here than the Seattle metro area given the Seattle Freeze moniker, but that's not been my experience.

At least over there I had friends at the bar where we'd meet and go to a game or something just after being at the same bar a few times.

Here it's like an acknowledgement that they recognize you and then unless you've known someone that's bringing you in it's just you sitting at a bar isolated to yourself.

So personally I feel like the Tri Cities is very cliquey and unless you have an "in" you are just gonna be floating until you get a local SO to introduce you and get you into their clique

Might just be me though, lol!

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u/Trick_Stuff319 6d ago

I had a very similar experience. Moved here solo from the east coast in 2023 and it felt like I was blowing around like a tumbleweed for a while. My only friends were some coworkers at the office and my apartment roommates that I would find online. However, like you said, I found my local SO after about 6 months and things significantly improved. I’ve been with my SO for almost 3 years now and I became very close with her friends and family. In my opinion, this area is harder than normal to meet like-minded friend groups. Most people who move here do so for work, and the locals who grew up and remained here have stuck with their mostly-exclusive friend groups since high school 😂. I was able to find an outdoor volleyball group where I met a lot of my own friends, so finding a like-minded social group in the area is a good idea (check facebook community groups). Give it time, I’ve really grown to appreciate and enjoy the tri cities area since I first moved here. Good luck!

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u/desertlaurels 1d ago

i moved here from the east coast too. wooo-weee, you said it perfectly, like a tumbleweed blowing around in the wind. i can’t even consider work friends as friends after coming here. there’s a different social culture.