Making new friends… at the uni bar
If you went along to O-Week, then you’ll probably be able to walk to the uni bar with your eyes closed. Over the course of your degree you’re going to be spending a fair amount of time here, even if you’re not a big drinker. But the bar can be more than a great place to hang out with old friends – it can be an easy place to make new ones as well. The fact that there are socially lubricating liquids involved is an added bonus, making the bar one of the best places to meet new people without feeling shy and super awkward.
A word from the wise
This is an obligatory warning that we all wish we’d been given at one stage or another: don’t be a total drunk idiot if you’re drinking on campus. First impressions last a long time, and apart from anything else, if you get banned from the uni bar your degree is going to feel like it’s lasting a lifetime. Now we can stop sounding like your parents. But let’s be real; it’s hard to make friends when you’re passed out, especially if you’ve just brought up dinner all over your potential new mates.
Don’t be afraid to fly solo
If you’re stuck for something to do but your mates are all in class, don’t be afraid to rock the bar all by yourself. There’s nothing to frown at by pulling up a bench seat in the sun with a good book and a beer on your own, despite what you’ve heard about drinking alone. If you’re sitting at a big table, other people are bound to join you anyway, and you’ve scored yourself some new mates without even trying. Things to bond over include: reasons why none of you are in class; how the student union keeps promising to lower the price of beer but never actually does it; and the market effects of convincing students that one day beer will be cheaper in order to keep them coming back.
Get a job
The uni bar can quickly become a place where you end up spending a lot of time and money hanging out with your friends and meeting new people. To help keep yourself out of debt (and out of mum or dad’s pocket) you might consider getting a job at your uni’s local. Co-workers equal new friends, so you’re already smashing it. But bar work at uni means basically getting paid to hang out with your mates and chat to people all day. (No offence to the hard working bar staff out there.) You’ll get paid reasonably well, your mates will probably slide you free drinks when you’re not working, and you’ll never have to rush off to work because you’ll always be at uni anyway.
Gigs
Most of the big uni bars also double as music and entertainment venues. During O-Week the uni bar will likely host some pretty big parties as well, but you can catch bands, stand-up and regular events like trivia most nights of the week if you’d rather not be at home with Netflix. While you’re at uni this can be one of the easiest ways to make new friends, because everyone there already likes what you like. And just like that, you’ve got small talk out of the way. This may also be the perfect time to start snagging friends using the power of dance: everybody wants to talk to someone who can do the worm, right?
Ben Rice
Ben Rice is a law student who writes a lot of stuff that people don’t read at bennywrites.com. Or, you can find him on Twitter @benny_writes.