One of the things that it’s hard for me to socialize in New York is dealing with foreign groups. In my personal experience, I used to go to french meetups to improve the language (and still going after the COVID-19 outbreak). It’s a good plan to meet new people with a couple of drinks, OH YEAH! because when I’m tipsy I feel like I’m more fluent and intelligent, lol! However, french groups are not too friendly with a person who don’t have the trust enough and if you don’t speak the language like a native, you’re screwed! And also it happens with other language groups; not my case, but I heard similar stories like this.