Hey guys. So just one day after Christmas this year my girlfriend of 2.5 years broke up with me. She is a freshman going to UW- Eau Claire and decided that since I’ll be in Madison on an internship over the summer, and she’ll be going to New Mexico for National Student Exchange for next year, that it wouldn’t be worth it to try to keep the relationship going because we would never get to see each other. It makes sense why she would do this. What my problem is, while we were going out, I shut myself out of everything other than schooling and her. I’ve missed so much of my freshman experience because of this unhealthy tendency. While she was in school this semester, she had already made a really strong friend group and has really enjoyed her time. They’ve drank and smoked weed and went to parties and done so many fun things without me. Not that I’m saying that that’s all I want to do. I’m just saying that these are experiences I’ve never had. Now, I don’t have any friends to do fun things with, and I feel like I wasted my social life. I’m also still living in south campus with all the freshmen, which sucks. What are some things that I should do while I’m here. What am I missing? For next year, I plan on doing National Student Exchange for the Fall 2017 Semester but I don’t have any housing plans for the Spring 2018 semester. Does anyone have any good off campus housing info too? I’m just such a mess and I’m looking for help.
TL;DR I’m a pretty introverted dude, and I’m looking for friends and advice.
One thing: If you are in a location with all the freshmen, that might end up being a good thing rather than a bad thing. Freshmen are generally super eager to get to know people. Befriend some of them, and it may be a good way to get to know an entire friend group. That’s what I did this year, I am a junior. At the beginning of this semester, I was really upset because my closest friends were all going abroad and I was nervous I did not have anyone I really cared about here. I even considered taking a gap semester to do an internship or something. But I came back, I befriended some freshmen in a freshman dorm, they took me in and introduced me to their friends, and now we are super tight. So perhaps start by saying hello to some of your neighbors, or join some clubs or organizations that interest you. Both are really great ways to meet people, and trust me, many people don’t meet their closest friends until later in college.
While I do agree with @shawnspencer I just wanted to say I don’t know what age you are but if you follow the recommendations - make sure you don’t just become their older friend who can buy them alcohol.