Moving away from your parents and friends for college can be kind of a shock, and unless you're some kind of "social butterfly" -- it might take a while for you to find interesting people you can connect with. So, here are a few ways to cure some of those in-between"home-town blues" while still meeting great new people.
Take a walk around campus (even if you don't have class)
I know this sounds a little obvious, but we've all had friends that, if they're not eating or going to class -- they're more than likely sitting in their dorm room alone. If I just described you, Get Out for God Sakes! Sitting around doing nothing is the leading cause of the dreaded Freshman Fifteen! Let me put it this way, I met the girl I've spent the last 5 years of my life with on a bus on the way back from "The Freshman Lot" (a place where Freshman have to park their cars if they live on campus). That moment was as random and coincidental as you can possibly get and it has shaped everything about my life ever since. You're never going to find what your looking for where you've already searched, so why not go out and have a look around somewhere else for once.
Leave your Hometown at Home
It's hard to leave people you care about and go on to something new, and I'm not saying you need to cut ties completely -- but if talking with your family and old friends consumes your life at college, you will never be able to form the new friendships and bonds your college years can create. It's alright to Skype a friend every once and a while, or even keep a long distance relationship working -- but you can't let it run your life. Make time for old friends as well as new ones. Being frank about it, if you loved home so much -- then why did you leave it to go to school in the first place? There is such a thing as online classes you know.
Join a club or organization
Joining a school club or organization is by far the easiest way to meet new people and make new friends (that is if you actually make time for it). You don't even need to sign up! When I was a Freshman living in the dorms, there was a Baptist Student Organization that always met at the bottom of College Hill and played Ultimate Frisbee every Wednesday afternoon. I never signed a paper or went to a single meeting with the group, but every Wednesday for a couple of months I would head down there and play a few games with them.
Go to school sporting event's
At my Alma Mater of East Carolina University, if there was ever a place you could meet new people, it was at a sporting event (specifically Football & Baseball games). Sports at ECU (in my eyes at least) seem to always have a different aura about them. Football games felt more like going to one giant party rather than a game, and if you had forgotten to join the Student Pirate Club before it filled up(9,700 Members this year), you were on the outside looking in. There's just something about that "us" versus "them" mentality that really brings people together, and even if your university doesn't have this same atmosphere about athletics yet, Still Go! It doen't matter if it's 50 or 50,000 -- one more person besides yourself is someone to get to know and cheer with.
Get Wild
Ok.....I say this with the utmost of caution, Go Party! I don't mean create "The Hangover Pt. 3" or anything, I'm just saying go out and have a good time. You're never going to feel better moping around feeling sorry for yourself, so get on out there and take part in a little college debauchery -- it will do you some good (until the morning of course).
Share This Story
