Before coming to Kingston, I had no idea if I would make friends. I was the only person from my high school coming to Queen’s. In fact, before moving into residence, I had never even set foot in Kingston.
But I’ll say now I have some great friends. And I’m sure there are more to come in the next few years of my degree.
I ended up meeting my friends in a few different ways:
My first friend was my roommate, and we hung out the most in the first few weeks. I’m grateful to her because she is a little more outgoing than I am, so she introduced me to other people and offered to include me when she was going places. She’s in ConEd-arts so our paths don’t cross that much in terms of classes but she’s still fun to spend time with when we get the chance.
My roommate introduced me to a girl she met in the laundry room of our building, and we started eating meals and spending some time together. One day in the dining hall after one of my afternoon classes, this friend invited me to eat lunch with her table of friends. It was through just sitting down at this table of strangers that I met some really cool people who invited me to hang out on Halloween, and I sat across from who would be one of my future roommates for second year.
You can also meet friends on the way to or from class. I met one of my closest friends on the bus back from chemistry on west campus. The bus was pretty full, and they were standing in front of me so I offered the seat next to me. They ended up being in the same major as me and having a very similar schedule, so we had more occasions to talk and spend time together. They are also going to be one of my roommates next year.
Don’t fret if you haven’t met your friends right away. My other closest friend and I met twice. In the first week of classes, she sat down next to me in lecture, and I remember exchanging names but we didn’t say much else. A few weeks later, a girl comes up to me at the bus stop and points out that we’re wearing the same colour of converse. We keep talking and then I realize she was the girl who I had already sat next to. We also had a very similar schedule, and our residence buildings were right across from each other so we left from the same bus stop every day.
Everyone is super open to meeting people in the first weeks of school. I’m sure you’ll answer the questions “What’s your name?”, “Where are you from?”, “What’s your program?”, and “What residence do you live in?” more than you can count. There will be people you meet once, acquaintances, class friends, residence friends, and hopefully life-long ones. I’d say the main thing I would suggest to make friends is to put yourself out there, say hi and strike up a conversation. It might not bring you a best friend right away but eventually, you’ll find your people.