<p>I am worried about making friends. I was pretty popular in high school not the popularist, but popular friends and girl friends. I also come from Beverly Hills, but I am not like what I bet you are picturing now; I am down to earth. I am crossing the country to go to college on the East Coast. I am worried about something. My friends I made were all in elementary school and we stayed together moving up, so I never really needed to make new friends. Most of my friends are staying on the West Coast, UC ?, CSU ?, Pepperdine, USC, etc.
What is orientation like? How do I make friends during orientation? I picture like one of those high school auditorium sessions were the principal talks about the rules ie .no drinking at prom is it like that? How do you make friends there?</p>
<p>In addition, I saw a picture of my roommate and he looks kind of like a geek not people I would usually hang with at school. Umm I want to be nice, but what do people foresee? Im trying to go in with an open mind, but sometimes its hard. I know college is not like high school anymore. Also im not trying to be a jerk, I am just being honest.</p>
<p>On move in day would it be ok to introduce yourself to the people in the rooms next door. Ex high! Im Joe, im from the room next door. Im from California and majoring in business administration. What about you? Then they respond and I can say something like me and my roommate are going to dinner at ??Time do you guys want to come to? </p>
<p>Is that good? Im just worried in my school saying hello to people at my school sometimes got you weird looks if you didnt really now them. We were very clicky. Also I know that my questions right now seems really girly. friend this, friend that. so I would like to claify that Im a guy, so please make the tips be related to male. </p>
<p>I searched the site so I already got some tips, smile, keep the Blackberry off(keep you head out of your phone), dont IM old friends, attend events. Most of the other friend making tips seemed for girls like sharing stuff in the bathroom, etc.</p>
<p>The last few days with your parents will be the worst. All they do is nag you to death about stuff you already know.</p>
<p>Also, don't trust anybody. I suggest you stick to the people you already know. They are your best bet for social contact. Many kids attend college because "its just what you do." Few kids are as serious as I am about science.</p>
<p>And instead of the monologe you have planned, I would just say the Hi, I'm ____, then they'd answer and just go with the flow for the rest of the conversation. I would save the rest of what you wrote for later in the conversation, cause then you could spend five minutes talking about Cal. and his/her homestate and tell some stories, and when this dies out, bring up the major. if you say it all at once, they might not talk as much. </p>
<p>Also, make sure your roommate wants to have everyone (remember that they are still pretty much strangers) eating out with him. </p>
<p>i just went to a summer session(incoming freshman), but not entirely the same thing as you. i'd say that 20 people, if not more, that i knew from highschool go to the same school. bit i didn't know any of my roommates(however, somehow 3 people from my school got in the same room directly across the hall from me at random, weird.)</p>
<p>our orientation was just walking around the school, stopping in random rooms to learn about things offered on campus. then selecting classes, that was fun lol.</p>
<p>as far as meeting people on the floor, the 4 of us(from highschool, but could have been roommates) went around and knocked on every door the first saturday and asked where everyone was going that night, and told them where we we going. our floor got along really well, but were hated by the rest of the building because we were "very loud", got the most noise complaints out of any floor at the school, and were told by people on the floor below us "when i have friends come over, i tell them that you guys get back drunk at 2:30am and it's loud until 8:00am." </p>
<p>one of my roommates was like yours. he played warcraft all the time(and played with people from different timezones which meant he played at odd times), had a ds he'd play on his way to class, and the like. for the first week when we had people over we'd try and have him hang out with us, we'd ask if he wanted to go out at night with us...he didn't have any of it. so we just kind of left it be. the 3(of 4) of us got along great, and didn't not like him at all, but just had different ideas of fun.</p>
<p>Uh, just don't worry and have fun. That's what I did and it worked out fine. Go play a pick-up game of football or something.</p>
<p>Also,
[quote]
Also, don't trust anybody. I suggest you stick to the people you already know. They are your best bet for social contact. Many kids attend college because "its just what you do." Few kids are as serious as I am about science.
<p>Everyone is new here, you are not trying to enter an already-established social network. You are all going to want to hang out together, go eat together, go out on the town together, and get to know each other. This will be the best dynamic the dorm will have; the failed relationships, rivalries, etc. will come later.</p>
<p>
[QUOTE]
firewalker: "Do you have the same reservations about black people?"
[/QUOTE]
</p>
<p>I am little confused of your mention of race. I don't think at anytime I mentioned my roommates race or skin color. I don't mind having a roommate of different race whether Black, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, etc. Please explain? firewalker I only discussed how me and my roommate may have different interests and hobbies.</p>
<p>Seriously, thanks for everyones contribution, keep it rolling</p>
<p>The thread starter assumed he wouldn't want be around someone because of there look. And the other guy asked the black question to make a point I guess.</p>
<p>ok its wrong for me to judge like that, but he told me he likes computer games and I don't. He says he likes those weird computer games that have weird cartoons or whatever not like madden or GTA. and when I saw his pictured i assumed "geek". and I admit thatx wrong and shallow on my part. My apologies.</p>
<p>My roommate looked like a geek, and well, he sort of was, but we got along great even though we didn't hang out much outside of the room. It was nice to have someone separate from my group of friends to just chill with from time to time and we still found common ground to talk about in the time that we were there but spent most of the time doing our own thing. He really liked math, physics, and math. But he was really nice, and that's all you really need. Your randomly assigned freshman roommate doesn't need to become your best friend.
I had a really great experience with my roommate even though, apart from going to lunch from time to time, we never hung out, because we were really compatible in the capacity of people sharing a room, if not from the same social group. I think it may have been for the best.
Just be nice, accepting, and willing to compromise. Don't be combative and expect that it's going to go bad, or convince yourself that your roommate hates you before you even meet him like that facebook nutjob who posted here a little bit ago. It will probably turn out fine.</p>
<p>Everyone is trying to make friends in orientation, that really helps. As for your planned introduction, yeah, that's the idea, but you're trying to hard if you're planning something before hand. Just walk around and talk to people and see what develops. Everyone's trying to meet people.</p>
<p>If you resolve just to be yourself, you won't feel as stressed. Just go with the flow and see what happens. Everyone is going to be somewhat nervous/anxious about meeting others.</p>
<p>mazerjoe, I can't really believe that you were "popular" and "down to earth" during high school when your post really comes off as insecure...i mean seriously, you seem like a nervous person. you just need to chill out. I was a pretty much a loner in high school and I basically had no friends because I moved around a lot....and thus I had no life...but now I am planning to go to college in California, and I am from the East Coast. So i am in a similar situation as you I guess. But i am not worried at all about making friends...i'm just worried about how to find my way to the college lol... You gotta go along with the flow, greet people, and relationships will play itself out naturally...</p>
<p>Having a geeky roommate isn't really an issue... My roommate was way more geeky than me, but we still had some in common (especially when it came to TV...), and just because they were geeky in high school doesn't mean they'll remain that way in college. A lot of people really open up in the dorms. And if he remains geeky, well, at least you have a quiet dorm room.</p>
<p>As for meeting people, I found the most effective way was to leave my door open whenever I was around, and the more friendly people will just pop in and start talking to you...</p>
<p>I haven't met my roommates yet, but I've been talking to them over the computer and it has been great. I've got girls from all many different backgrounds and I think that will bring a lot to the plate. Just relax. I thought I was worrying too much about college (I'm worrying more about the academics), but you take the cake. The last thing you want to appear is that you are trying too hard.</p>
<p>Dont sweat. Roomates are the easiest type of people to meet. Those feeling you have about meeting new people..Well they probably are having the same experience. Now the reason why I hated my first roommate was cause he was annoying and wanted to follow me everywhere. So...try to avoid wanting to hang out all the time...hearing things like "OMG get away from me" are usually signs that that person doesnt want to talk to you. But chances are you will get a roommate that is excited to meet you.</p>
<h1>1 tip for getting along with your roomate: don't decide he's a geek and someone you'd never hang out with before you even meet him! If you go into the situation thinking that you're too good to be rooming with him, then you're guaranteed not to get along, because he'll see this attitude in you and resent it. Be open to new people, not so closed minded.</h1>