How to make friends in the first month of studying abroad

How to make friends in the first month of studying abroad

“Will I make friends?” is a question on the minds of most international students arriving in a new country.

Masaad from Kenya and Dhanal from India, talk about how they made friends during their first few weeks.

Don’t forget to follow other students journeys with the hashtag #helloINTO. 

Masaad (centre left) and Dhanal (centre right) socialising with their new friends in the INTO centre.

When we arrived on our INTO course, we began making friends straight away. We started chatting to people in the kitchen of our student residences, then we got to know our other classmates when the INTO team arranged a tour of London.

But what really bonded us all was a game of Bingo in the Student Union – no one had ever played before and we all got really into it!

After that ice-breaker, everyone on our course became friends and we now plan a lot of activities together.

For instance, we recently helped to organise one of our classmate’s birthdays at the Student Residences – everybody gave £5 each and we had a party with pizza, cupcakes and drinks.

We’ve made some really good friends so far! A group of us meet every Sunday to cook meals together.

One of our classmates, Siyan from South Korea, even made us some Coca-Cola chicken and kimchi last week!

We also plan trips together and are going to Oxford soon with our classmate Doha from Saudi Arabia.

Our advice to new students is to get involved in activities planned by your INTO centre and the Student Union.

Join clubs and societies. Do not be too afraid to speak to people. Remember that everyone else is new too and feels the same way.

Everybody wants to make friends, so go for it!