One of the best parts of my university experience has been the friends I’ve met along the way. I’ve made friends through my course, through my time living in halls, and at parties to name just a few of the most common ways to meet new people at uni.
Occasionally though, I have made friends in settings slightly more unique. I met one friend because he walked into my bedroom one morning wearing a Santa hat while I was in bed writing an essay (he was a friend of my flatmate, not just a random man). I met another because I found her ID on the ground on the first night of freshers and recognised her from a pre-uni group chat we were both in. That same chat is also where I met a lot of people I still know at university today. My friend first met one of her course mates when they got involved in a debate about Harry Potter in the queue outside Blackwell’s.
There are endless different combinations of ways to meet new people at university, as almost everyone is in the same boat of wanting to socialise and befriend others. Yet I do still find myself feeling lonely, and wondering if meeting so many new people all the time leads to lots of acquaintances and few actual connections. It is very easy to get caught up in wanting to make more and more pals and then not really knowing how to maintain a level of closeness as time goes on.
I love the friends I have now, although there were lots of one-off awkward conversations and distant social media only friendships on the way to meeting the people who I actually became close to. Introduce yourself to lots of people, accept not every chat is going to lead to a connection, and try to put yourself out there. You just might meet your future bestie on the next trip to the laundry room!