#WeAreMayoClinic
← Return to Making Friends in Rochester
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@solucky ,
I have been there. We have relocated two times and it does take a while to get settled in and engaged in the community. One way that you could get to know more people at work is by becoming a Well-Being Champion. http://intranet.mayo.edu/charlie/well-being/well-being-champion/. This is a wonderful network of engaged Mayo Employees who get to lead fun activities within their work groups. It is an awesome way to get to know your colleagues and get to know other Mayo Employees outside of your work area. Some other things to try would be, volunteering, if you have a dog- going to the dog park or joining a church. I am curious, what do you wish there was in place to help you enhance your social bonds at work and within the community?
Replies to "@solucky , I have been there. We have relocated two times and it does take a..."
Hi @gretlcain! I realize you didn't ask me specifically but I'm also new to Rochester and experiencing the same social challenges as @solucky; and what I would like to see is an social group for people new to Mayo/Rochester. I've tried MeetUp, and have had some success there; but compared to a larger city, there aren't a lot of people on MeetUp in Rochester (yet). Thanks for asking for suggestions!
Welcome, @jmichael! I am so glad you found the New Employee Connections group. While there isn't a lot of activity here yet, we hope this will serve your purposes of connecting with others. This group isn't specific to Rochester, but we do try to specify in posts where the discussions are most relevant when necessary.
I would highly encourage you to post questions here, or peruse the other groups (e.g., if you are into local restaurants or music, those two groups post things specific to locations). 🙂
Encourage others to join the conversation. Happy to have you at Mayo!
Hi @gretlcain. Thanks so much for your very helpful response!
Actually, we did join a health club and we regularly take our pups to the dog park. I am also involved in a few groups through Mayo and my husband joined a hunting club. The point that I am trying to make is that, even with work and community involvement, the folks we meet don't make any effort beyond those activities to include "new" people into their circle. Case in point, 6 years ago my job transferred me and my husband to The Woodlands, Texas. Within the first week of our being there we had been invited to people's homes for drinks and/or cook-outs. That continued for the two years that we lived there. To this day, we travel to Texas to see those friends and have had them visit us.
I had mentioned in my message above that I have no expectations of results from my post, but I simply wanted to point out to people that it is very tough to make friends in this environment and hopefully, pointing that out will make people more aware of helping and including new folks to the community.
We absolutely love Rochester and have a very strong bond with the city. We make it a point to attend most of the wonderful events offered, such as Thursdays on 1st and 3rd, Social Ice, Farmer's Markets, Concerts in the park, etc. to name just a few. We are always among the first to try the many new restaurants that have come to town since we moved here 2 years ago. We have found it incredibly exciting to watch this city grow. That growth will bring thousands of newbies and I'm hopeful that they will find our city warm and welcoming.