[WyeOak]

I hope this is in the correct section.

I'm a first year college student who's living away from home during the week. I'm in a place where I know nobody, with no friends to fall back on it or anything. It's been three weeks and so far I haven't made a single friend. I speak to the people in my course, they're all lovely and we say hello to each other in the hallways and speak occasionally in class but I haven't really clicked with anyone. The clubs and societies have only recently started up and I've been attending but I'm having my doubts that I'll make friends.

My parents ask me how things are going and I'll lie and say I've met a few good friends because I know if they think otherwise they'll probably want me to come home if I'm not enjoying it, which I couldn't do, we're by no means rich and getting here in the first place was an expense, one I know they didn't take lightly, so the last thing I want to do is disappoint them. I actually like the college, and my course, it's one that took a lot of work to get so I'm very happy to be here, it's just disheartening to sit alone for an hour or two at lunch or to be only person in the class sitting by myself.

I like to think I'm not completely unlikable, I have plenty of friends back home and I can hold brief conversations with people here. The problem is I always run out of things to say and I feel as though I give a bad impression, or I come off as boring. It's not as though I haven't been trying hard to fit in or socialize, I'm surprised by how much I'm pushing my own boundaries because socializing is something I'd usually shy away from but I've been going out of my way to try meet people, but so far I haven't gotten anywhere beyond formalities and polite conversations. At most I'd share a coffee for 10 or 15 minutes with one of the older students in my class maybe once a week. It's starting to get somewhat upsetting.