New city, zero friends. Every close friend you’ll ever have was a stranger at some point.

Closeness is built, not found, and every person who matters to you started out as someone you did not know. Arriving somewhere with nobody feels like a permanent condition and it is actually a starting position. What it requires is repetition, being in the same place as the same people often enough for familiarity to do its work.

Choose one or two things that meet regularly, a team, a class, a shift, a group that gathers weekly. Go often enough to be recognized, which usually takes about a month. Conversation gets much easier once you are a familiar face.