I start college soon, and I have a
question regarding eating in a college
dining hall; How do I make friends in a dining hall? In my high school, each
grade had a steady lunch period (Ex. The seniors ate last year at 11:30) so
it was easy to find all of my friends at
one time. However, my college
schedule is different everyday, so I
might be running into different groups
of people everyday at the dining halls. Thanks!
We used to sit with people from our dorm. At lunch maybe ask people in your class (if it is near lunch) if they are going to lunch.
You might go to your room first and then go with a dorm mate or group to the dining hall. Or you might just run into the people you know from the dorm (or eventually from your classes) at the dining hall.
Dorm friends are usually the best bet.
In my experience, if you wanted to eat with your friends, you text/message them beforehand. This might be different at smaller schools, but I did not go to the dining area and expect to “find” friends already eating.
I’ve never tried to make friends in a dining hall, but I guess you can ask someone if you can sit with them? (Nowadays I would think it would be a little odd, but if I was a freshman I think I would be glad someone wanted to sit with me)
Colleges often have “foreign language tables” that have dinner at a scheduled time. You can join those by just showing up. There is usually a leader that you might want to text first in case there are schedule changes.
Well, you can definitely schedule meals with some people, or if you fall into a certain schedule (i.e. you have class right before and right after), you’ll end up seeing the same people. But really, I kind of liked the randomness. Especially as a freshman, there’s really nothing weird about going up to someone, asking if you can sit with them, and just talking.
These are all good suggestions, but if you ever find that none of your friends from the dorm/class aren’t eating at the same time as you, don’t be afraid to eat by yourself. I do it all the time, and it can be nice to get a chance to just relax by yourself (maybe listen to music or look over class notes) without having to worry about coordinating with other people. Some might think it’s weird to eat alone, but whatever, it’s just a meal.
Eating by yourself is totally normal during college. Everyone has a different class schedule and there are lots of places to eat, so don’t feel bad about eating alone. No one will judge you, and if you feel awkward, just bring some homework, listen to music, etc.
During the first couple weeks of college I’d say that if the dining hall is crowded during lunchtime, it’s perfectly ‘normal’ and acceptable to ask if you can sit next to someone else or a group of other students and make light conversation. If the dining hall is nearly empty or the student(s) doesn’t look like they want company, then that’s another story.
Thanks guys! I’m going to a GIANT university, so it would take me longer to settle in, but at least I won’t be the only one feeling weird there. I was just talking to my second-year college friend and she said that I could ask a random group of seemingly friendly people to sit with them if I wanted and just go from there. Thanks!
I agree with posts 7 & 8. I ate meals by myself almost every day last year and I really enjoyed it, especially lunch. I would have all my classes in the morning and be going at full speed but then could just take a break and breathe and eat and check Facebook for a while by myself in the dining hall. Nobody cares if you eat by yourself. If anyone judges you, he/she is a jerk.
I see plenty of people eating lunch by themselves. Towards the end of last semester, I used to go to the gym after class let out and I’d go get a bite to eat afterwards; most of my friends were either in class or already at home, so I used to just pull out my iPad Mini and watch Netflix while I ate. No one thought anything of it and I sure as hell didn’t care.
Thanks guys! I agree with the theme of these previous comments of lunch being the “me time” period while dinner could be more of the social hour.
When school starts you’ll get to know everyone’s schedules and it’ll kinda just work itself out from there.