College Life

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I just wanted to know how people's first semesters went in the dorms. I am transferring to a four year college for spring semester and I want to hear people's experiences. Did you make friends? That is what I am worrying about the most. I just want to fit in and be apart of a group. I just don't really want to get caught in a situation when I am alone and don't have a group to hang around and develop friendships with. Just want to hear stories. Success stories would be best. Thanks.

Making friends on my floor wasn't hard, just had to hang out in the common area, and then I met people through them.

Well, I lived in a single dorm for my first two years and had a roommate for my junior and senior year (Spring 2011, yaaay?). I made friends through my classes, attending clubs, the people I met would invite me to sit with their friends at dinner/lunch and that's how it went down. It just happened but you have to put the effort forward first.

The only real way I got friends in my dorm this semester was by spending all of my time in the commons area. People eventually got uncomfortable with NOT knowing me, so they took the initiative to basically ask "who are you and why do you spend all your time out here alone". It worked pretty well (I think) – late night Family Guy and munchies has become a dorm floor tradition of sorts.

I'm in my first semester in a dorm right now. I haven't made any friends, but I admit I haven't put in much effort. Occasionally I spend time in the common area, but that usually makes me feel further away from people instead of closer to them.

That's kind of been my experience, but I tend to spend most of my time in my room. I'm beginning to get to know the girl in the room next to me though- she's German and is trying to learn English so she finds it a bit overwhelming in the common areas too (I kept meeting her accidentally in the language labs) and she seems really nice, although she's got her own friends from the international society so she's not around in halls much. It's nice to have someone to talk to sometimes though, especially since I'm learning German so I can try to practise (it's easier to talk to someone you don't know well if you're focussing on the language, lol!). Good luck, hope it goes well.

I was in the dorms for a year and it was honestly the worst year of my life.I could not get a single room, and although my first roommate was WONDERFUL,she was only there in transition.After a few weeks she got a dorm apartment with friends...and a week later my real roommate showed up.She had grown up with servants and left messes all over,not to mention boiling Shitake mushrooms when she thought she was sick.She never studied,only went out,would come back and start talking to me in a stupor at 2 am..and expect me to care about what stupid frat boy she was crushing on. What irked me most was her constantly slapping my butt when I would be lying on my bed reading.I wanted to slap her back but of course never did.
I had no privacy,no space, the walls were practically made of plywood.I did not deal well at all with living on the university.The only things I liked were the few (less than three) friends I had,and being able to wake up at 5 am and go running in a beautiful hilly neighborhood.
Near the end of the first semester I had a pretty bad breakdown, and although I did not mean any harm to my roommate left various crazed notes to her,which induced her to reach my friend and then reach my sister,who came and harassed me.I was not aware of my Asperger's at all at that time,I did not understand anything and failed to understand those who did not understand me or my sensitivities.
My second roommate was hardly ever around, and was a real sweet person. In general I spent most of my time in the library reading,in my room or sneaking out for a run.On weekends I would awaken early and go for day long walking expeditions.People were amazed when I'd tell them where I'd walked, saying it was "so far" when 5 miles didn't seem far at all to me.
I existed in a kind of a shell...I did make one acquaintance in a Spanish class,and made a few friends in other classes,but was not interested in the college social life at all.I would arrive last and leave first in all my classes; eventually I recognized a friend in an art historical class and would sit with her and her friends. I never went to bars/clubs on my own,but when my very social boyfriend visited he would make me go to them with me,which was always an ordeal for the both of us.

I've never got the real college experience. I went to a junior college for 5 years to learn what I didn't learn in high school and then I transferred to a hipster and Asian infested hellhole. I made a handful of friends - more like acquaintences but I have 3 people I talk on a regular basis.