How to make friends in uni 101

Making friends is one of the hardest and most awkward things in life, especially in university where you have hundreds of people.

In my six months of university I have discovered a lot of things about myself that I never knew about, that is in regards to friendships in this particular blog. One is that the people who seem to have nothing in common with you outside of your course of study ( which i think is enough to get a conversation started) will shock you at how similar you are.

Secondly, is that it is a lot easier to make friends than you might think, it can either start with a compliment you gave that girl because you thought her turban was cute or the guy who you heard speak in a tone you are familiar with and turns out you belong to the same tribe (talking from experience).

Third is that a lot of things don’t matter when it comes to friends , such as age, race, religion, gender and other things that usually cause a divide and even course of study. Don’t get me wrong, it is important to have a friend or 20 (not a limit) from your course of study as you will realise that the saying ‘no man is an island’ is true. I have realised that some of the best friendships are the ones that are formed in the most unplanned circumstances, either by meeting through societies, sitting next to each other in a 9am lecture or bumping into each other on curry mile as you are about to get a shawarma.

One thing that I found helps when you are an international student is making friends with someone who is from the same country as you, trust me this will help a lot when the December home sickness kicks in.

So in conclusion, when it comes to making friends in university, you just have to get out of your comfort zone and talk to people. It is important for your mental health that you do not isolate yourself from others.

Rabiyatu

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