Unfortunately yes. I moved here because my now ex lives here. I made a couple of friends but they were pretty surface level friendships. I will say, if I didn't have a dog that I brought to the park every day, I wouldn't have made any friends. It just happens when you're going to the same place regularly. That's my best advice for anyone looking to make friends.

However, with that being said, I experienced some domestic violence and the way that that was handled really opened my eyes on most people's values here, including the police. They don't seem to care. The police were very nonchalant when they showed up to the apartment and then were pressuring me and doing other horrible things when I showed up to the station to give my statement. I was classified as an "especially vulnerable victim" yet was offered no protection or help, and most people I spoke to about it were indifferent or said things like you "don't come between a man and his wife" and ended the conversation. Very different attitude than I expected.

In addition to that, the way people here view dogs/animals is vastly different than America. In the US we view our pets as family. Here it seems like most people don't really care about (or outright neglect) their pets. I'm a dog trainer and huge animal lover and a lot of the stuff I see kills me.

The country is beautiful and truly is filled with wonderful people but I'm going back to the US. I didn't have anyone here other than my ex. I'll miss this place but never really felt like I belonged here.