Almost everyone I know has had a conversation die out and had to sit with an awkward silence with the other person. For me, this is almost a daily occurrence, but the average has definitely increased since I got to school.
Something I didn’t foresee when deciding to come to a college hundreds of miles away from home is that making friends would be a lot harder than I thought. With desks spaced out six or more feet away from each other, people wearing masks that make it hard to hear, and barely any in person social events, meeting new people is really dependent on how well you hold a conversation.
Since I’m not the best at doing this, I figured there would be a lot of people who felt similarly. So, I decided to compile a list of questions that one could ask when a conversation dwindles or if you’re trying to get to know someone better! Without further ado, here’s a list of 20 questions to ask when you have no questions to ask.
1. What was your favorite thing you did last week?
2. What are you looking forward to this week?
3. What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?
4. What song do you associate most with your childhood?
5. What is the scariest nightmare you’ve had?
6. What was your dream profession when you were 5? 10? now?
7. If you had to be a Criminal Minds character, who would you be?
8. If you could choose one mythological creature to be real, which one would you choose?
9. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
10. Where did you think you would be 10 years ago?
11. What is your weirdest irrational fear?
12. If you could pick 10 songs for your “life album,” which ones would you pick?
13. Where would you take someone if they visited your hometown?
14. If you could teach a class at a college, what would you teach?
15. What are you most grateful for?
16. What is your favorite conspiracy theory?
17. Who is your favorite singer/band/artist?
18. If you could establish a new “norm” for the world, what would it be and why?
19. What is the first thing you notice about other people?
20. If you could relive one day, which day would you pick?