Congrats! You made the move! But, wait, who is there to celebrate with? If you're like me, you made a huge career leap across the country, only to find yourself in a fabulous new city with no friends to do things with.

Here are some activities that are perfect for a solo person to avoid lonliness and explore their new city.

Visit a museum

Solo visits to museums are a fantastic way to focus on art you enjoy and brush past art that you don’t enjoy! Take extra time to view, sketch, and revisit the works you appreciate without worrying about anyone else's opinions, schedule, or judgment.

Take a walk

Learn different parts of the city by choosing different neighborhoods and walking to them. When I first moved to San Francisco, I would go on one long walk each weekend to explore different neighborhoods, landmarks, and parks. Bring a snack!

Try new restaurants

Pick a restaurant that has seating with great people watching and even better food; if you're eating alone, you might as well eat something delicious! I ask for a window seat and bring a book to read while I eat.

Adopt an art project

Give yourself a reason to explore the city by challenging yourself to capture a specific topic in sketches, photography, or journal entries. See how much variety you can find. This activity will help you appreciate the details of a city, whether you're looking at front doors, abandoned buildings, graffiti, flowers, etc.

Take public transit

After I moved, I had a lot of small errands to complete, so I decided to learn the city through public transportation. Yes, ride share apps would have been much more convenient, but I learned so much more about the city by taking busses. I learned about the different routes, connection hubs, and personalities of each area of the city (safe vs not). I would also bookmark interesting restaurants and landmarks that I passed to visit later.

Attend local events

Check out your local farmer's market, seasonal events, craft fairs, street markets, and live music events.

Remember that you made the choice to move- lean into it! There are definitely going to be lonely times at the start, but you grow so much when you live outside of your comfort zone.

You will get through the hard times and learn so much about yourself and your city along the way.