<p>Here is what I did my various years in dorms:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>First year they really made an effort for us to get to know eachother. We had a big RA meeting + mixer, and then we had a luau party the next day with everyone (first - fourth years live in my residential college, I lived there all four years too!) which was super great for getting to know people.</p></li>
<li><p>My dorm had a social mailing list and when I realized I was watching Project Runway and everyone else in my dorm was, too, I invited anyone who wanted to to come watch in my room on a nice TV, pop some popcorn, etc. It was great!!</p></li>
<li><p>My 3rd year I was in a different hall of the same dorm, so new people. I got this freezer towards the end of the year for ice cream/popsicles/ice/etc and put up flyers on everyone’s door that I was having a “freezer warming party” (har har) and I would have popsicles, ice cream sandwiches, etc. Cost me all of $10 for the sweets (the freezer was a bit more expensive obviously). It was great!</p></li>
<li><p>I also left my door open and I would have conversations all of the time. I made it really clear that I wanted to talk by pointing my desk towards the door and waving whenever I saw someone if they appeared friendly (again, not weirded out like previous posters have pointed out) and soon enough everyone would stop and talk on their way out or in. I also had some nice focal pieces in my room (posters, a ridiculous number of shoes) which were conversation starters. I also knew some people in the portal so when new people would come in they would find us chatting and they could join the conversation, and then eventually we had our own conversations (good tip for if you are that new person!).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You can also ask to borrow something (people borrowed everything from my boombox to Justin Timberlake CD and then little things like batteries or so on) and that is a great way to get to know someone as long as you return whatever it is if the person wants it back! Other parties we would have in my dorm would be movie screenings, DDR parties, video game parties, I mean whatever you want it is college and if it is a party someone will come.</p>
<p>I also really recommend making friends through clubs – you will actually have something in common and it’s not awkward to get to know people in clubs versus random people you live with,. Plus, as a previous poster pointed out, the last thing you want is lots of drama where you live if those are your only friends… Make sure to have a couple groups of friends, like dorm friends, clubs friends, and classes friends, so you can vary it up when you need to be drama free before a test etc. :)</p>
<p>Freshmen year my friend and I used to creep. During the middle of the year we randomly decided to start walking around our building, and talk to people whose door’s were open. Or we would just look at people’s rooms as we were walking by and judge them. Girls’ room were always WAY messier than boys’. We only did it a few times. It was fun.</p>
<p>I have spent my first 2 years of college living at home with my parents and commuting. now that Im moving to the other side of the country and transferring, I will finally be put in a dorm setting. I want to make an effort to introduce myself to the others on my floor. I might not knock on any doors but if anyone has a door open im definitely going to pop in for a minute to introduce myself. I dont see how that could ever come off as ******y. Im not going to put on a happy face and not be myself. Im very excited to be in a new place with new people and I really look forward to making new friends so if i just wait for the stars to align just to say hi to someone then I wont be making as many friends any time soon. My door will be open whenever im in my room and I would love for people to stop in</p>
<p>on a side note. I really dont care for all the censoring of text on CC. If people are over abusing their rights as adults, or upcoming adults, to speak freely then the site’s moderators should delete their posts, but removing the word “d o u c h e” in this context is just silly.</p>
<p>I did that in my freshman year dorm. Ended up having 2 people join me along the way, one of those 2 people is still one of my best friends 10 years later. It was an all freshman dorm and most people had their doors open since it was the first night there, I can’t recall anyone being less than friendly as I/we stopped by.</p>
<p>Another one of my [still] good friends I met that night, who also happened to be my RA on that floor, keeps reminding me that she thought I was going to be trouble when she met me that night as I was doing my “rounds”. It’s only funny because she couldn’t have been more wrong.</p>
<p>I think this was good experience for life after college too. I also did a similar thing when I started my current job, making the time to stop at everyone’s cube and introduce myself briefly. I started as a temp employee, with about 20 other temp employees. I made sure to develop rapport with all of the permanent staff in my department and with much of my temporary group and the staff in related departments. Turned out to be the start of a good thing, I was 1 of 2 people hired on permanently from that group of temp employees. I’m still working with most of those same people 5 years later, and they are like a little extended family to me.</p>
<p>I’d also like to note that I consider myself to be an introverted/shy person naturally. It does take an effort to put yourself out there like this and take chances socially, but if you can rise to the occasion you will benefit from the experience, no matter how it goes.</p>
<p>"tiff, perhaps you were on a floor with a bunch of jerks. Not everyone is “fake nice” and out to start drama. Introducing yourself to people is not an example of a “manic extrovert”.
It’s normal social behavior and something that one should practice and become comfortable doing. "</p>
<p>The people on my floor were weird. There’s a lot of offbeat people at my school, but my roommate was crazy. She talked a mile a minute and thought we would be bffs because we had a few things in common. The people that went door to door were strange. The guys didn’t do that on move in day, they waited a few days and would stop by after seeing the person around. I am more realistic though, I realize you probably won’t be friends with everyone on the floor, and the first week impressions are very misleading. You think a person is cool, but it turns out they’re just mean. It takes time to get to know people, and I’ve found that first impressions were extremely misleading.</p>
<p>I went to a couple of camps at college this summer, and I did this. My parents moved me in early in the move-in schedule, so I walked around the floor and introduced myself to people who were settled in with their doors open. It might be different come college, as you’ll spend a year with these people as opposed to a week, but I broke out of my awkwardness and just introduced myself.</p>
<p>I help with move in and I introduce myself to some of the freshmen I move in as well. I know it’s nice to know some upperclassmen, especially around scheduling time. =)</p>
<p>My DD who is VERY shy and not a social butterfly, got her courage together and did just this. She graduated a year ago and those same freshmen are still her really good friends today.</p>
<p>Why do this on the move-in date? Do it before that, Internet is a powerfuld tool and my DD had already hosted (arranged) a local freshman meet in the city.</p>