Late to freshers, fear of not making any friends

I am an international student and will begin my first year undergraduate studies. Due to visa problems I won't be able to attend university until 4 days after the freshers week has begun. Will I miss out the 'prime time' of making friends? I am an introvert, and being extremely shy & having social anxiety doesn't help the situation. I am not the best in small talks so I'm worried that things will go really awkward and no friendships will develop beyond that awkwardness. And I assume small groups will have formed by then, so it will make it harder to blend in when everyone has their own friends. Please tell me there is still hope. I don't want to spend all 3 years being lonely and miserable.

Reply 1

Eternalflames

17

Original post by yin97825

I am an international student and will begin my first year undergraduate studies. Due to visa problems I won't be able to attend university until 4 days after the freshers week has begun. Will I miss out the 'prime time' of making friends? I am an introvert, and being extremely shy & having social anxiety doesn't help the situation. I am not the best in small talks so I'm worried that things will go really awkward and no friendships will develop beyond that awkwardness. And I assume small groups will have formed by then, so it will make it harder to blend in when everyone has their own friends. Please tell me there is still hope. I don't want to spend all 3 years being lonely and miserable.

I'm shy and introverted too
When I started uni, two years ago. I only made one friend in fresher's week, that too on the last day - Friday. I didn't see much of her outside of lectures until week 3, and I saw her outside the Library we had lunch together and I met our other course mates. After that they became my friends too. So don't worry, you'll make friends

Reply 2

Alisaurus Cats

4

I know it is scary but to reassure you, I struggled in my first few weeks too:
I was put in the STAFF block and given the layout of my halls it was really difficult to get into any other blocks without a pass. My SU was also really hard to find haha and I lost motivation after the first couple of days.

BUT I was able to meet people on my induction day and made friends straight away. I'm still friends with some of the people from my course and I've left uni now.

If there is a dorm room or communal space you can still meet people there and I'm sure lots will still want to make friends. I became friends with one of my best friends in 2nd term of first year. You just need to put yourself out there and try. Not everyone will want to be friends but some will :smile: