u/bayhack

Saw a question like this in the SF subreddit and was inspired to do it for Oakland as well!

What are more regular things to do around Oakland, especially stuff that’s easy to drop into and doesn’t require a huge commitment.

Thinking things like free or cheap pickleball meetups, trivia nights, run clubs, board game nights, community classes, pickup sports, recurring markets, hobby groups, etc.

Would especially love:

• Free or cheap
• Weekly/monthly
• Social and easy to join solo
• Oakland specifically (or very nearby)

Personally, I'm doing pickleball but the one I go to for Bushrod park is pretty inaccessible if you are not a WFH beginner. I am also interested in the Civic Code meet ups in Downtown Oakland, hoping to join that next month as I am a coder. But yeah anything else that's just a good spot to find community and low inertia to start going to?

When I lived in Dublin, there were language exchanges advertised all over at bars, bookstores, cafés, community spaces, etc.

Does San Francisco have anything similar?

I'm looking for either recurring language exchange meetups or more informal conversation groups. I'm not sure if they're called something different here.

For anyone unfamiliar, a language exchange is where people learning a language meet with native speakers (or other learners) to practice together. It's a nice intersection between people wanting to improve a language and people who simply miss speaking their native language. But can also be solely a group of language learners.

I'm open to anything. Weekly meetups, cafés, bars, bookstores, libraries, universities.

Any recommendations?