Help me find a German.

June 20, 2006 2:37 PM

How can I find an old German friend of mine?

She probably still lives in Germany, for what it's worth. I've got a name, nationality, and age. Also, she was an exchange student here so I may be able to get a birthdate.

posted by taumeson to human relations (6 comments total)

I know this is really obvious but have you tried googling her with a combination of keywords that include her field, last city she lived in etc.? You should also search a bunch of social networking sites (like friendster, myspace etc.) if you havent already.
posted by special-k at 2:53 PM on June 20, 2006

http://www.dastelefonbuch.de might be worth a try.
It's, um, you know, white pages.
posted by ClarissaWAM at 3:11 PM on June 20, 2006

I know this is really obvious but have you tried googling her with a combination of keywords that include her field, last city she lived in etc.? You should also search a bunch of social networking sites (like friendster, myspace etc.) if you havent already.

Yes. Man, it's exasperating, considering how many people I HAVE found.

http://www.dastelefonbuch.de might be worth a try.
It's, um, you know, white pages.
posted by ClarissaWAM a

Thanks, but the only "Eva ZIMPELMANN" they have is the one I can find in google, and the pictures that are included (if her) aren't the Eva I'm looking for.

Are there German social networking sites?

Also, I think I found her parent's work. Am I a freak if I call them up out of the blue?
posted by taumeson at 3:58 PM on June 20, 2006

taumeson: I think its perfectly ok to contact her parents. Make sure you provide lots of context so they know you're not some kind of stalker.
posted by special-k at 4:16 PM on June 20, 2006

Probably your best bet is to contact the parents...If she is an OLD friend she may be married by now and with adifferent name, difficult to Goog
posted by Gungho at 6:51 AM on June 21, 2006

I'm sure nobody's gonna read this, but for posterity's sake:

The phone book didn't help. She's getting married next month and so I'd have REALLY been S.O.L.

I ended up contacting her parents. There were a couple of references to their company on the internet, and I kept calling them until I got somebody. Germany added an extra digit to their phone numbers, apparently, so all of the old phone numbers I had didn't work anymore.

Her dad is awesome, like I remember. He remembered me, too.
posted by taumeson at 7:43 AM on June 27, 2006