So Who Are We? A little something about Avani

Now that Liz has explained what our goal is in developing this blog, I thought I could start by telling you a little bit about myself so you understand why we think this type of a group could be fun. I moved to Cincinnati from Florida in 2003. As you can imagine, it was a major shock to my system. First of all, I didn't own any coats or closed-toed shoes. Wearing sandals in the middle of winter: not a good idea. Second, I only knew 1 person in Cincinnati when I moved here and he was a medical resident (medical resident=no time), so really my social circle was zilch in Cincy. Third, midwest culture is really different from southern culture (i grew up in Georgia and North Carolina). The first time I went to Kroger, I said hello to the person in front of me and asked them how they were doing, and the person stared at me in utter disbelief....I am not saying that is how everyone is in the Midwest, I am just saying that it is more commonplace to talk to people at grocery stores in the South. So all of these things combined, it was clear that I needed to make some efforts to meet new and interesting people.

I was very lucky because I made several great friends from work, but as we all know, it is important to hang out with people outside of your work environment otherwise you wind up talking about work all the time. So, this led me to pursue several different options, which I will list below, along with the results of the endevour:

1. College alumni association - Went to one event where everyone was either an incoming freshman or a 40-50 year old alumni. I was 28 at the time so I did not fit in....

2. I was single (and still am by the way), so I tried online dating. Now remember, online dating was a bit taboo and new in 2003, but I will say I met several really wonderful and not so wonderful guys. I had many first dates (i could have my own separate blog about that) but very few second dates. This was mostly due to the fact that I or the other person just "wasn't feeling it."

3. Party in the Park - I went to that with some co-workers and thought I had stepped into a meat market and felt that everyone hung with their own cliques. I am not saying this is not worth trying again at some point, but it just wasn't for me at the time.

4. Bars in Hyde Park - I lived on Hyde Park Square (above the Vineyard Cafe) when I first moved here. Always nice to live above a wine bar. Great drinks but conversations often started with questions about where I went to high school. When I would answer "North Springs," people become curious about where that was in Cincinnati. After explaining that the high school was actually in Atlanta, GA, people became dumb-founded...

So such was my experience. I tell you this so that you will know that if you are new to Cincinnati and have experienced any of these situations, you are not alone. This is the whole purpose of Cincinnati Imports....

Well, back to work for me...

This is just a few of the many things I tried to do to meet new people.