Edited By: Aditi Jain
University is exciting. It’s full of dreams, goals, aspirations and, most importantly, new things. Most of us are afraid of what university would lead to. For instance, in terms of new subjects, living situations, places, interests, experiences, and, often forgotten and unrealised, new friends. Many of us have lived in the same place since we were toddlers, which means we went to the same school and lived in the same locality for years, wherein everyone knew everyone. It was relatively easier to make friends since you would have either known of each other or have mutual friends, experiences or interests to bond over. However, in a University, there are people from all over the world, with extremely different experiences, knowledge, interests, and backgrounds. It is new for everyone and marks a major change in our lives. Hence, making friends is also something very new and a little challenging, sometimes.
Even though, I have always been a very shy person, I like conversing with interesting people. Recently, I have started using a trick to improve my communication skills. These pointers can help you converse with any person easily. What you need to remember is the abbreviation “FORD”.
Family: It is proven that when an individual confides in another about his personal family, he feels closer to that person. You can start by saying something like “My brother is a very goal-orientated and hard working person. Do you have any siblings?” If they don’t have any, you could say “Would you like to have a sibling and why?”
Occupation: This is the easiest and most effective topic to converse on. However, instead of asking, “What is your major?” or “ Oh, you want to be a teacher? Where and for which subject?” which are rather one -ended questions, you could add your own input such as “ Oh, you want to be a teacher? I always thought of it as an incredible and very noble profession. What do you enjoy most about it?”
Recreation: It refers to hobbies, interests and passions. When asked about this, people feel like they are being listened to and it creates a close bond between the speakers.
Dreams: This is the toughest one to converse on. 80% of people in the world don’t pursue their field of interest. Although, you could ask the person about their actual dreams and how they hope to pursue them in the near future, people are not comfortable talking about this topic. Hence, its best to keep it as a last minute resort.
Of course, this is not a set list or a guideline that everyone must follow. It is merely a suggestion. At the end of the day, it is up to you how you create new connections, memories and hopefully life long friendships.