<p>Is this normal?</p>
<p>I did not know anyone when I was a freshman in high school, now I have made TONs of friends throughout my high school years. But I am still worried about getting to know people in college!! Is it just me or does anyone have the same concern?</p>
<p>Sorry, This is a little bit off from what we have been talking.</p>
<p>If you’re a conversation killer, why is this nearly at 4 pages?</p>
<p>[/end thread]</p>
<p>Three random suggestions</p>
<p>1) A friend told me that his son (who was shy) was told that a useful thing to say when you feel like you’d like to say a bit more and are feeling stuck is “I like your shirt.” This can strike up a bit of a pleasant conversation. The person wearing the shirt probably likes his shirt too, and this may lead him to tell you where he got it or why he likes it.</p>
<p>2) Don’t walk across campus with your earbuds in. :)</p>
<p>3) If you have nothing going on right now, use the future.
“What’s up?”
“Nothing! I am seriously looking forward to the xxx concert in October/my trip to Chicago over fall break/fill in the blank. Do <em>you</em> have plans for fun coming up sooner?”</p>
<p>OP, I am introvert, so I read thru the thread and went to orientation today. I didn’t make any friends yet, but I found it was really easy to strike up a conversation with other people. I met both nervous and friendly people, both of which were interesting to talk too. Just follow this advice with a positive attitude and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I would like to sit next to you and not say a word. Seriously. I think some of the best relationships are one’s where you don’t feel the need to talk about everything. Just the presence of the other person near is what really matters, in my opinion. </p>
<p>But anyways, I can sometimes be extremely introverted or extroverted… (weird huh?). </p>
<p>Good things in college to talk about when meeting new people:</p>
<p>What courses are you taking?
What’s your major?
Where are you from?
Why did you come here?
What clubs have you looked into?
What dorm do you live in?
Do you know so and so?</p>
<p>Everybody in college I feel is nervous to some extent. Some more than others, but all are. You are not alone!</p>
<p>
I’d like that too, but I haven’t met anybody yet who’s comfortable with that.</p>
<p>Keep searching, they are there!
Here’s one right here!</p>
<p>Let me boil down all of the above advice: be interested and be confident. </p>
<p>Being interested is a piece of cake. It’s just a matter of asking questions and relating to what the other person has to say. Force it for a while and it will come naturally. </p>
<p>Be confident. No confidence? Fake it until you make it. I have literally made friends at parties by walking up to them and asking a friend “Who the f*** are they?”. I’m not saying doing that, because I’m just harsh like that, but you’ll find your own style if you force yourself out there. </p>
<p>Start with making eye contact with everyone you meet - don’t look away until they do. Talk to EVERYONE you meet, even if you just walk up and speak in total gibberish - it doesn’t matter, just say SOMETHING. Rejection is better than regret. You’ll find that making friends becomes a piece of cake.</p>
<p>I think almost everyone is nervous going to college and meeting friends. I think it’s just important to realize that everyone going into college is in the same boat as you and is looking for new friends too. I found that living in a dorm really helped me meet new people. I think if you still feel like you haven’t made as many friends as you’d hoped by your sophomore year, look into joining a sorority because greek life is a great way to branch out and meet others. Here’s an article from ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ that I think might help: [Seven</a> Simple Steps to Freshman Year Survival](<a href=“■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■”>http://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/college-success/article-27/)</p>
<p>The two main things I do are 1) Ask questions and 2) Remember things. For example, someone mentioned to me that they were having an orchestra performance that night, and later on I asked him about it. This allowed him to talk about something he was interested in and let him know that I had been paying attention to the earlier conversation. It makes you feel special when people seem interested in you so just do that to people! It can be awkward but try to find where you can connect on. For example, if you ask them about high school, maybe you were in similar organizations at your schools. Ask them about their experiences and try to find common ground.</p>
<p>I’m not a freshman, but I am somewhat nervous as a transfer student. I’d say to make a good conversation with someone you just need to pay attention to them but not in a stalkerish way. </p>
<p>I am usually reserved and will wait a bit to see how people are. I don’t usually go on first impressions.</p>
<p>A lot of students will have gone on preorientation programs at my school, which I didn’t do b/c I was out of the country for most of the summer. As a result, I’m worried that when I arrive on campus, everyone will travel in packs and most will already have people they want to hang out with. Do you guys have any advice on how to approach students who already formed a group? Just go up to one of them and say hi? That seems a bit awkward. 
So nervous about it all.</p>
<p>I’m a lot worse than that. I usually just trade hellos and what’s up’s with people I know, and that’s it. The only people I talk to for long conversations is my best childhood friends, which are like 4 of them. In college, well i’m not that bad, I had daily conversations with 3 different girls from my summer class this year. Not on like hitting on them kind of way, just normal conversations when they gave us class breaks or after class ends. And I would say i’m definitely shy. It was only a 1 month class. Actually you would notice I would slowly go from shy to a motormouth in like 3-4 weeks of knowing you.</p>
<p>@sunshine02 yeah I didn’t go to any preorientation things either but because I’m a transfer and submitted my deposit a bit later. I was wondering the same thing too.</p>
<p>Ask questions and hold eye contact. The key to a good conversation.</p>
<p>I have the same problem, so its great to read this advice. Its been like this since preschool. I believe, I think my memory might be shaky though. Don’t worry there are others like you (There is one right here, going through orientation as I write this)
Thanks to all who gave the amazing advice</p>