Meeting new people – great icebreakers for your first week at university!
By Jo Shelbourne on August 22nd, 2017
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So you’ve unpacked your bags, set up your work station and settled into your new home… what’s next??
Ah… friends!
Part of the university experience is to meet new people and make new friends (as well as learning some stuff!), but there are some of us who find it much harder than others. It can sometimes seem tricky to make that first human contact needed to start a conversation, but fear not, we’ve got some great ideas to start making friends! Try our great icebreaker ideas to ensure that you don’t spend freshers week sitting in your room eating leftover Dominos takeaway (that you bought with the intention of sharing but then thought….nah I can eat a large pizza on my own right?).
Make new friends before you arrive!
We’ve set up a private Facebook group for each of our student accommodation properties – so once you book your room, you can join your group, find your new flatmates and say hello before you even pack your bags.
It’s a great forum throughout your whole time at university for asking group advice, inviting your neighbours to a party, and most importantly – borrowing some milk when you’ve run out!
Use the common rooms!
Once you have learnt the names of your neighbours, you can put the common room to good use and get everyone together for a few sociable games. Here are some examples:
‘Would you rather’. A funny and simple verbal game where you give the group two choices, and ask which they would rather. For example; would you rather fight one horse-sized duck, or ten duck-sized horses? These questions can get more hilarious, elaborate and unconventional the better you get to know your new acquaintances.
Why not make the most of the games room and challenge your flatmates to a game of pool or table football? Why not set up a league or tournament to see who has to tidy the kitchen that week!
Buy an inexpensive pack of cards. There are many, many card games that can be played with varying sized groups, from 2-player ‘Snap’, to large games of ‘Cheat’ or ‘Go fish’.
Introduce people to your culture/cooking!
If you like the quieter life, you could also cook a group dinner. If you fancy yourself a master chef you can treat the flat to a gourmet meal! You could cook your favourite dish from home, and if you are an international student, why not cook a traditional dish from your country. Just make sure that they do the washing up!
Get out and about!
It is also important to socialise outside of your flat or accommodation, so make sure that you join some university societies. There are societies for everything at uni; sport, drama, medieval re-enactment, even cloud appreciation! Most of these societies offer free taster sessions and it’s always a laugh to go to the first ultimate frisbee session with your new flatmates! There are also your more conventional class societies where you can meet other people on your course who may have similar interests to you. After all, they did choose the same course at the same uni as you, so you’ll have lots in common!
To conclude, our best advice is to just get out there, everyone is in the same boat as you, they’re all new and nervous so all it takes is the opportunity to get to know someone and as soon as the conversation is instigated, you can work on becoming lifelong friends!
