contributing to FOSS is a good place to make friends. other forms of volunteering too.
the difficulty is to do that without having 'to make friends' as the primary goal. that just makes you impatient because not every contact will turn into a friend.
to approach the office work problem, try finding people who would like to share a video connection while working. there are websites to facilitate that.
another way is mentoring. find juniors in your field, and guide them with your experience. i made a bunch of friends as a gsoc mentor and elsewhere.
any hobbies that you might have often also have online communities. join them.
post your interests right here. someone might respond.
as someone else here said, the light at the end of the tunnel is you.
put up that light and use it to find friends
contributing to FOSS is a good place to make friends. other forms of volunteering too.
the difficulty is to do that without having 'to make friends' as the primary goal. that just makes you impatient because not every contact will turn into a friend.
to approach the office work problem, try finding people who would like to share a video connection while working. there are websites to facilitate that.
another way is mentoring. find juniors in your field, and guide them with your experience. i made a bunch of friends as a gsoc mentor and elsewhere.
any hobbies that you might have often also have online communities. join them.
post your interests right here. someone might respond.
as someone else here said, the light at the end of the tunnel is you. put up that light and use it to find friends