I remember going into college with this ideal mindset that my roommate and I were going to be best friends! However, it was very upsetting when I got to college and she literally wanted nothing to do with me. Whether it was the fact that she already had friends or just didn’t like me, I felt that I was the only person who did not have friends (not a single one). Despite this, I put in some effort and I was able to find a group and make my college experience better. So here some tips for you, whether your an incoming freshman or a transfer, to help you find your group!
My first piece of advice, is quite silly actually but, talk to everyone! Get to know who everyone is: your neighbors, people you see in the cafeteria, even the random person sitting next to you in class. If you don’t end up being their best friend, it’s nice to have someone to smile and wave to around campus. It might be second semester already, but you can still introduce yourself to people.
Go to everything the school offers during that first week: student orientation, random laser tag events, the list goes on and on! UHM had one of these events almost every day of move in week my freshman year. If you don’t go to UH, hopefully your school offers some kind of events to meet all the strangers that you’ll be living with for the year. I met some really close friends of mine at these events, so don’t be shy!
Join everything! It’s the easiest way to meet a whole bunch of people who might share similar interests as yours. And it’s a great way to learn even more about your campus. If I had never joined my sorority, I would have never learned about so many more clubs around campus.
Actually sit next to someone in lecture, not three seats over from them. Ask them questions. You might find you have something you have in common. Ask them if they’d like to hang out or study for midterms together; let’s be honest, you know you’ll need a study buddy. I know it’s scary, but the worst thing that could happen is that you get someone to help you with the study guide.
Look at your school’s Facebook group! Using social media is a great way to reach out to other people. Make a post saying your major and somethings you like to do and soon you’ll have tons of potential BFFs or beach buddies.
I know some of these can be scary, especially if you are shy like me. I promise, in the end, these are some of the activities that made me love my campus and the friends I made along the way!