Some girls expect to come to college and make new friends, party, meet new guys, and live it up all week long. But some of us soon learn that this isn’t the case. In high school there are 30 people in each class and most of the time that’s how you end up making friends. In college, classes can have up to 300 people and you can easily go an entire semester without ever talking to anybody. Without friends, there is no partying, and without friends and partying, there are most likely no boys. You can soon become extremely lonely and bored and may even become depressed. And with all of this free time on your hands you’ll probably start thinking about your future and your major and who you even are as a person and so on…It can become very frustrating and you may start to feel like you’re losing yourself. And by this time it may only be halfway through the semester. If this is something that has happened to you, you might even find yourself considering moving back home and transferring to your local college. Don’t do that just yet! There is hope, and there are ways that you can get out of this rut:
Join a Sorority. If you’ve never thought of yourself as the sorority-girl type, you may be surprised. There are a number of different sororities with a number of different types of girls. Getting involved in Greek Life is probably one of the easiest ways to make friends and give you something to do. Most, if not all, sororities even do spring rush! So if you missed it in the fall you still have a chance to get involved!
Take a class at the gym. No, I don’t mean just go to the gym – actually sign up for one of the classes! It may be a little scary and intimidating to go by yourself, but it won’t matter once you’re there. There are some great classes like Cardio Kickboxing, Yoga, Hip-Hop, Spinning, and even classes where you use weights to work out certain areas of your body! And you can always tell yourself, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to go back! Go to rec.ucf.edu to sign up for a class.
Get involved in an organization. There are a ton of clubs and organizations here on campus; there is bound to be at least one that you will be interested in! Joining a club will take up some of your free time and make you more productive, while simultaneously enabling you to make new friends! Go to www.getinvolveducf.com for more information.
Take a walk. Sometimes just getting out of your room and getting some fresh air can make you feel loads better. Take a walk around the Student Union, or even go sit by the Reflection Pond. Walking around will also help you learn the campus and can make you feel more connected to the school. Taking a walk can really open your eyes to the beauty of UCF. Also, you never know, you may just make a friend or two!
Contact your old friends. Unless you are from out of state, there is probably at least one person who you know from high school that goes to UCF. Text them and see how they’re doing. Ask if they want to meet up for lunch one day or see if you can tag along one night when he or she goes out. It’s very possible that you can meet new people through old friends.
Make friends with your roommates. Be friendly and open to going out with your roommates. If they ask you to hang out, even if you don’t really want to, go! It will pay off in the end, especially if you’re in need of some buddies!
College can be hard for some people. We’re on our own for the first time, and it might not always be as easy as we thought it would be to make friends. Even though it may seem hopeless in the beginning, there is always something you can try to do to make it better. Unfortunately for some of us, it just takes getting out of our comfort zones to get there. But I bet if you do, you’ll be glad you did.