Yes, it does make it quite a bit easier, though I am certain that if they were not here, with the kind welcome I have been receiving from others that I would have been fine.
[She would have been friends despite her initial loneliness.]
As for books, I read all sorts of things, however I admit to preferring those on histories and geographies. For fictional genres, I prefer fantasies and romance. [...the clean romance novels, not the adult ones...]