Finding Friends

Name, Place, Studying??? That’s the basis for how most of your conversations will start with new people at university. By the time you’re in your second week of freshers, you’ve probably met about 100 new people using that very template. Now, although this is a pretty full-proof way of starting a conversation with new people, what happens if it goes no where from there? From personal experience, most freshers expect to be best friends forever with their flatmates, but this is far from the case. Although some students may be lucky enough to be randomly put into a flat with like-minded people, who they really would choose to hang out with if given the choice, many students are not so lucky. So, whether your flatmates are an absolute nightmare, or if you just want to find a few new people to add to your ever growing list of new friends, here is my list of ‘The Best Places to Meet New Friends’.

Societies

Joining a society is by far the best place to meet people who are interested in the same things you are. Whether it be sports, religion, charity or academic, societies are full of people who you are guaranteed to be able to have a conversation with deeper than ‘what are you having for dinner?’. If you want to browse and join a society, the best place to do it is at the Freshers Fair, which takes place at the beginning of the year on campus. However, you can also find an exhausted list on the Student Union website.

Tutorials/Seminars

Sitting in a silent lecture hall for an hour is probably one of the worst places to meet new people, but if you want to find some new friends on your course, tutorials and seminars are a great place to do so. You’re usually in a small group of students, where discussion is more encouraged than in a lecture hall, so it’s easier to get to know people. It’s also a great idea to keep these friends around because you’ll want as many course friends as possible around exam time!

Pres

Although you can meet a lot of people on a night out, it’s highly unlikely you’ll remember any of them at 10am the next the day. However, pre drinks (pres) is an easy way to make friends. If you’re at the same pres, you’ll almost definitely have some mutual friends and be staying in the same area, which is a great basis for a friendship.  Just make sure to start the conversation and exchange names/numbers before you drink too much of the ‘cocktail’ you’re friends made up for under £10.

Flatmates

Despite me saying earlier that this was going to be list for finding friends outside of your flat, I think it’s also important to make some friends in your accommodation area. These are the people you’re going to be spending a huge amount of time around, so you don’t want to be so unfriendly that they won’t even let you borrow milk for your tea in the morning. I didn’t meet the people who lived above me in my first year accommodation until after Christmas, and they’ve ended up being some of my best friends still in third year.  So, make sure to properly explore your area; invite people over for a movie night or organise a joint pres.

I know starting university can be super scary, it’s probably the first time you’ve been forced to make new friends since starting secondary school (a whole seven years ago!). But just because you haven’t meet your new bff’s in the first week, doesn’t mean you won’t over the next year. Just stay positive, sociable and smile once in a while, you’ll be absolutely fine