How long does it take...

[Rosencrantz]

Or rather, in your experience, how long did it take...

For a stranger to feel familiar/like a friend when you started dating them?

I've met a man, introduced by a mutual friend, and we have gone on a couple of dates. I like him very much, but it's still such a new thing that it still feels like going out for a drink with a stranger.

How long before we feel like friends? How long did it take for your stranger (met online, for example) to feel like a pal?

I've only ever had partners who were friends first! All this 'meeting someone from scratch' is foreign to me!

It takes as long as it takes. Getting to know someone is what dating is all about, as is differentiating between the 'real them' and them when they're on their best behaviour trying to impress you. Where do you go for these dates? If you've only been out for a drink so far, maybe change the setting for the next meet-up to something a bit different... I think you get to know someone really well on a long country walk, for example. See how he looks against a different backdrop.