Hi everyone! My name is Weronika and I’m a second
year student of Economics at University College London.
And today I’m coming to you to talk about a topic that we probably all can relate to,
and could use some advice in, even myself.
And that topic is making friends at uni.
As a second year student myself I’ve had quite a bit of experience with that,
I’m currently finishing my second year so
it’s been two years of more or less intense social life, depending on lockdowns and everything.
I feel like this whole topic is kinda not talked about enough because everyone just
assumes that you’re gonna to make friends naturally
and that it never takes effort, and it just happens. But
I know it can be quite overwhelming, especially if you don’t know anyone in the city.
If you move here from abroad like me, I’m an international student.
You know they say, uni is the time that you can make friends for life,
friends that, you know, you share a lot of hobbies and passions with.
And also in your first year you usually find
people who you maybe want to rent a flat with next year.
So it’s obviously a huge part of the experience and, at least to me.
My friends are what makes studying in London so fun.
We’re kind of like going through it all together.
I just think it’s very important to,
kind of like, build that network of friendships and people you can explore the city with together.
Go out and have fun and also, like, go through the ups and downs of uni life together.
So today I’m just gonna share my tips on how to make genuine friendships,
how to make friends in uni,
how to start talking to people because, as I said, I know it can be very overwhelming
when you just come to the new city and you just literally don’t know
anyone and you don’t even know where to start.
Tip #1 - probably the most important one is be proactive about your friendships.
I know, you know, people say like everything is going to fall into your lap if it’s meant to be.
But, you know, sometimes you just gotta make it happen and,
for example, if you meet someone at a party
or in your accommodation who you kinda vibe with and you’re like
“I see you, you seem interesting, I wanna talk to you more”
just don’t be scared to ask about their Instagram, their Whatsapp.
Set up a meeting with them, ask them if they wanna grab coffee or lunch, like it’s so casual.
And I know it can be scary to be the person to like put yourself out there and ask,
but I feel like if you’re gonna be just waiting around for people to ask you out
you may be lucky, and, you know, you may have all of
your friends come to you but you also may end up just not really going out
because you’re just waiting around which I would not recommend honestly. Like
take matters into your own hands and I’m pretty sure the people who you ask will
be grateful to you, just as you would be if someone came up to you, if that makes sense.
So for example, if you’re planning to go to Hyde Park for the first time just like find someone who
maybe also hasn’t been and just ask them to go on a little park date with you.
I think it’s like the best way to meet people and
have like that kind of like more one-on-one conversation because
often in uni you meet people in groups, you don’t really spend that much time talking to one person.
But if you are kind of like looking for those one-on-one connections and closer friends,
then I think that would be honestly a great idea.
Another thing I wanna mention is that,
especially at the beginning, when you’re meeting just so many people
whether that’s through accommodation, your course, or societies, it can be quite overwhelming
to like kind of decide who you wanna spend your time with and who your real friends are.
And I feel like people often feel
rushed into friendships because it feels like everyone already made friends,
people are already like in groups together in, like, second week of uni.
And you just feel like you’re behind all the time and like
I know it can feel like that at times,
but these friendship groups usually don’t last that long.
Friendships shift so much through uni, whether that’s first year or even second year.
And obviously when it comes to friends and relationships in general,
quality over quantity is always the answer.
The best thing is to find one,
two, or three people who you really connect with on, like, a deeper level
and then once you establish those connections,
it kinda becomes easier because you’ll meet friends of their friends
and you’re probably more likely to get along with them already because
you know you share mutual friends so you have some common ground.
So I would just not try to split your attention,
focus between making like five or ten friends at the same time because
if you make that many friends these connections are probably not likely to be as deep and genuine,
as if you make smaller amount of friends, but make these bonds closer, if that makes sense.
Now when it comes to a bit more practical ideas of places where you can meet people,
there’s obviously societies at UCL.
There’s plenty, plenty of societies to choose from,
whether that’s academic societies, related to your interests, hobbies,
creative pursuits, sports, nationalities
like there’s plenty of societies to join.
And the good thing about it is that once you meet people who are also a part of a society,
you already have that kind of shared interests that can be,
you know, a starting point for a conversation.
You often find that these people share your values, for example.
The second thing which is quite obvious is your accommodation.
If you’re a first year living in an accommodation,
this is where I met all of my best friends in my first year,
because you spent so much time with these people.
You may end up making connections and friendships that you would not expect to,
which is kind of like exciting in some way.
And yeah, basically you can make friends everywhere whether that’s your course
but even like unexpected places such as cafés or libraries on campus.
There were so many times when I just like started
talking or someone approached me in like the Student Centre
or, like, some cafés and we just like started talking.
Just don’t close yourself off to the possibility of making making
friends in the most unexpected places I would say.
And my last point is, again, if you’re an international student, just as I am,
I would really recommend at the beginning joining your, kind of like national societies.
Every nationality, every country will usually have its society at UCL,
so I joined the Polish society.
Right when I came in and it was a very comforting thing I would say.
Once you meet people from your country,
you already share that kind of big chunk of life experiences of like coming from abroad,
moving here on your own, and studying here in London.
It’s very easy to quickly make friends but also another point to that is,
please don’t limit yourself to that. Like
there is a reason London is such an international, exciting city
and you can just meet people from all around the world.
So as nice as it is to, you know, make friends with people from home,
it’s also like you should use the opportunity of making friends with
people from all around to the fullest cause that’s like quite
a unique opportunity that London gives you and
don’t limit yourself to that small circle of people of the
same nationality who speak the same language.
So that will be everything for this video,
I’m sure you’ll find friends sooner or later.
I don’t think I’ve met anyone who never found their people.
It may come sooner or later but, like don’t stress about it too much.
If you feel like your energies are matching with someone just,
you know, come up to them and ask them for a coffee.
Fortunately I was very optimistic about making friends and it just somehow all fell into place.
And yeah so, good luck on your endeavours of making friends at UCL or in London in general.
And yeah, thank you very much for watching.
Bye!