Meeting new people in Hamburg

So, I know that everybody is different and each person has their own way of doing things, still I thought that it might be useful for some of you, if I share my own story how I made new friends when I first moved to Hamburg. 

While I was living in Berlin during my first two years in Germany, I was studying and was taking German lessons in my spare time. So it was much easier for me to meet new people and make new friends. When I moved to Hamburg and started working, I was in a completely different situation. I was lucky enough to meet a group of wonderful people through work, whom I am friends with till this day, but it was difficult for me to find friends outside of work.
 

Even though I am a very open and communicative person, it is still difficult for me to go up to people that I don’t know and start up a conversation. What really helped me was that I joined several groups on different social networks.
 

There a lot of different groups today, where one can meet likeminded people. There are groups for people who are new in the city, there are book clubs, photography clubs, groups for people who like to do sports and so on and so forth. The people in the groups are usually very welcoming, sharing the same interest as them can help you to start a conversation and going to different events is a great way to explore Hamburg.
 

Even after living for more than five years in Hamburg and having a number of wonderful friends, I am still active in some of the groups. For me now it is more of a way to discover new restaurants, to explore Hamburg and to learn about different events and activities happening in Hamburg. Meeting new people is now an added bonus.
 

Currently I use the following three social networks: Meetup, Internations and Facebook . My personal favorite groups at the moment are Hamburg: Girl Gone International (only for women), Hamburg Active and International Photo Club Hamburg, but there are so many to choose from. 

I would love to hear about your experiences. What helped you to meet new people in the city?