Groningen
Student City, Zero Desi Events. Groningen, We're Fixing That.
Groningen has a growing South Asian community of students and professionals contributing to the city's international character
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Groningen is the student capital of the north, and the University of Groningen's strong engineering and science programmes pull in a consistent cohort of Indian students every year. The city is small, about 230,000, and half of those people are somehow connected to the university. That creates a vibe that's young, international, and social in a very specific college town way. The Indian student community is concentrated around Zernike Campus and in shared housing in the Paddepoel and Selwerd neighbourhoods.
The format from New York: real contestants go on live dates on stage while the room watches and reacts. Afterward, the whole crowd mingles. In Groningen, this format is designed to concentrate the scattered desi community into one room for one night, creating connections that the apps and expat mixers never deliver.
The university attracts students from across India, and the Hanze University of Applied Sciences adds to the international mix. There's a handful of Indian restaurants on Oosterstraat and Gelkingestraat, and the annual Diwali celebration organized by the Indian student association draws a crowd. But those are community events, not dating events. The distinction matters when you're twenty five and single.
Groningen's nightlife is lively for its size. The Grote Markt and Poelestraat are packed on weekends, and the live music and comedy scene benefits from a population that's young and bored enough to try anything new. The live desi dating show would be the most interesting thing to happen in Groningen on any given night.
Waitlist is open. Groningen is part of our Dutch expansion. or apply to be a contestant.
The north's student capital runs on its own clock
Groningen is the Netherlands' youngest city by demographics and its most self-contained: two hours from the Randstad, powered by a university whose international recruitment fills the town with masters students, including a solid desi cohort, who build their entire social lives locally. The Dutch student associations stay Dutch, the internationals improvise and the desi students improvise hardest.
A local show gives the north's desi students their own fixture in a town whose legendary no-closing-time nightlife will treat the mixer as a starting gun.
What a Garam Masala night in Groningen looks like
A biomedical masters student and an AI researcher who have never met, on stage, going on a first date while the north's student energy fills a room with no legal reason to close. Comedian hosts, live votes and a Vismarkt mixer that tests the sunrise hypothesis.
for first access to Groningen dates, or apply to be a contestant and headline the north's first.
No Groningen dates are live yet. The show tours nationally and sells out every stop. Watch full episodes while we make our way to you!
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Questions About Groningen Shows
When is Garam Masala Dating coming to Groningen?
No date confirmed yet. Groningen is on our Europe expansion radar. to be notified first.
Will the show be in English?
Yes. The show runs in English, which works because the South Asian professional and student community in Groningen is comfortable in English.
Can I apply to be a contestant?
Yes. Apply now. Applications stay active for 12 months. Groningen applicants will be prioritized when we confirm a date.
Is there Indian speed dating in Groningen?
The north's student capital has a party street, a huge international cohort and zero desi events. Groningen's isolation from the Randstad makes a local show the only realistic option, so we are it.
Where do desi students in Groningen actually meet?
The university's faculties, the Vismarkt and Grote Markt circuits and student houses where the international crowd clusters. The Randstad is two hours away, the scene is here or nowhere.
Will the show survive a student-heavy crowd?
Groningen's students have Europe's best nightlife stamina and no closing hour, literally, the bars have no mandated closing time. The mixer's only risk is sunrise.
From the Journal
Also coming to: Amsterdam , Eindhoven , Hamburg , Delft , The Hague