Advice on how to make new friends this summer

Phoebe Simcock, 1st Jul 2021
Tags: Life Blog Anxiety Education Friendship University

I love summer, even though it makes me nervous. Does that make sense? Hold on, I’ll explain.

Summer for me means changes, moving to a new year at school, starting college, starting university, all big life changes that I had to prepare myself for over summer. All of these things I found became a lot easier and enjoyable when I had made friends.

Making friends sounds easy. It’s only two words how hard can it be? But sometimes it can be daunting if you don’t know where to start, so let me share some tips that have worked for me.

How’s your day been?

My biggest success when meeting new people has been questions. Stick to open questions such as ‘how are you?’ over ‘are you okay?’ because this encourages someone to give more information.

Bring out your inner Sherlock and deduct what to ask when you first meet someone based on what you see. You could spot their work uniform, a badge on their jacket, or their facial expression, and use those to strike up a conversation.

Alternatively, ask them things related to your situation: Have you been here before? Are you excited to start this course? Do you live in this area?

Would you like to get some dinner?

The best question of them all! A good way to build your social circle is not just asking the questions, but answering yes when asked to do something.

If someone asks you to join their friends at the cinema or at a church group, they’re hoping that you’ll become part of their friendship group. After hanging with them, you could suggest the next one for them to try something that you enjoy doing too.

Shall we ask your other friend too?

If you’re looking to widen your friend group, encourage your current friends to invite their other friends to social events. If they like them, you probably will too.

You like that too?!

Joining a new school, college, or university can mean the opportunity of meeting hundreds of new potential friends, and some will share interests with you.

Be open about your interests, and introduce others to enjoy them with you.

Can I sign up?

The best way to enjoy a current hobby or start a new one is by joining a club or group. This is also a fab way to make friends with people who enjoy what you enjoy.

If you’re starting college or university, they usually have open days where all the social clubs come together to see who wants to sign up. So get yourself over there!

I feel confident enough to do this, don’t I?

Building self-confidence is not an easy thing to do, but when it comes to making friends it can be a game-changer. Self-confidence in your abilities could enable you to chat to others more easily, which is perfect for making friends. 

Also, if you give off confidence, you’ll make others feel confident in your presence, this will make both parties more comfortable.

Don’t push yourself too hard to be confident straight away. Life changes are scary however big or small, and everyone will be nervous so they’ll all be wanting to make friends too.

Smile!

You may have noticed that this one isn’t a question, it’s a statement.Exactly like your smile.

When you smile it lights up your face and says more about you than words could ever do.

Have you tried any of these tips before? If not, give them a go!