It's over a year now since I first arrived in New Zealand. I've changed where I live, I've changed jobs, but the one thing that remains the same is the difficulty in making friends. It's a very hard thing to try to do....to deliberately try to meet and make friends with people of the same sex. How do you do it without them thinking you're a lesbian and are trying to hit on them? The situation is becoming increasingly difficult as my boyfriend's social life becomes more and more active, whilst mine is non existant. I'm getting to the stage now where the constant meeting of strangers and trying to make conversation is very tiring. I long to walk into a place where everyone knows my name.