Making friends at university as an international student

Coming to a completely different country to study is a big leap and often, you are coming along, like I did. Here are my top tips on making friends at university.

Plan to make friends

Making friends is an active and intentional act, make sure you are making the effort to go up to people and start chatting to them, don’t wait for them to come to you. In your first weeks of university, everyone is going to be in the same position so be friendly and make sure you’re reaching out to people in your classes and accommodation.

Get involved

ARU has so many societies with diverse sociocultural backgrounds, there’s at least one which is just right for you. It’s a great place to meet like-minded people and make life-long connections.

If you like sports, it would not hurt to join a team. I played for the men’s football team and I met new people, it served also as an opportunity to exercise. And exercises body gives birth to a sound mind.

Get a job or volunteer

By working in teams and solving problems together, your chances of making friends increase enormously. I made really nice friends while volunteering. A good platform is the SHoKE, it will provide you the platform to engage in amazing projects and you get digital badges which are beautiful for your CVs.

Be friendly

Good vibes create good friendships. No one wants to be friends with a seemingly unfriendly person. Be open to nice jokes, nobody should disrespect you, but life has become so dynamic that you need to command some flexibility in human relations.

Finally, always contribute when you can. It could be your time, it could be a lending hand, it could just be a nice act of service.

Charles studies MSc Public Health and Community Wellbeing at ARU. Find out more about this and other degree courses at one of our Open Days.