Its weird because I'm starting to find that its easier to talk to strangers and things than people who I'm living with in halls and have known and had conversations with since the start of the academic year (I'm at uni).

The reason I say this is because they are all very cliquey and its hard to get integrated into their closely knit social circles. So although I can go into one of the kitchens down the hall and strike up a trivial conversation over a cup of coffee or something I'm finding it extremely difficult to get more involved in their social circles. I'm pretty isolated in my room most of the time and they are all really familiar with each other; its a weird experience.

When they have parties and stuff I just go into the room and its like I'm invisible or something; I just say hi to a few people and then there is nothing for us to talk about and I just end up going back to my room. And I've even been out with these people, gotten really drunk and had some good times (to an extent), done crazy things, etc., etc.

So this sounds weird but how do you approach known acquaintainces with whom you should be on more familiar grounds with in the first place??

I'm at uni too man.
IMO it's really important to establish and talk about some commonalities.
So next time you see them, you could ask them if they have done any more crazy stuff recently, or talk anything that is relevant to the house. You could even go as far as trying to get a big house party going which brings the whole house together.

I would recommend taking a look at conquering your campus (its mainly for the US) but i've found a lot of it applicable for my uni in the UK.

Hope this helps

I've just finished reading that book mate its really good. I am in a UK uni as well. How are you finding its working? Do you think its too late half way through the year to start trying out this stuff? Actually, I do some pretty crazy stuff from time to time and I'd say I get the best reactions doing that.

Organising social activities is actually the hardest: you have to have a lot of balls to do it. Facebook is a great tool for that though. I'm just trying to think what events to arrange.

Not heard of some of the things he mentioned like the Greek scene - I'm guessing it doesn't happen over in the UK.

Not read the book, so can't answer any of the questions in your last post, but I'm at uni too at the moment. For me, the reason they have got into "cliques" and you're outside of those social circles is one of two reasons; either you have isolated yourself too much previously and not made the connection with them soon enough. This can be quite easy to do without even realising it sometimes. If your halls are anything like mine were in first year, our block had 9 small 'apartments' with between 4 and 6 people in them. I spent a lot of time with the people in my 'apartment' and a lot of time with the apartment above us (as there were a few people in there doing the same course as me, so we spent more time together after lectures etc.). Without realising I was doing it, I sort of neglected some people in the block and they obviously made closer friends from their apartment/room next to them etc; I hadn't deliberately alienated them, but some of them became quite cliquey and I was out of the loop largely with them. (Not that I was too fussed as I didn't get on with them too well anyway).

Which brings me on to the second reason - maybe you just don't have much in common, or have yet to find any link. One of the generally held 'truisms' of uni is that in first year you spend more time with your hall mates, and in second/third years you tend to spend more time with your coursemates. Reason for that? Things in common. Now that's a generalisation of course, and there will be people from your halls that don't do the same course who you still have lots in common with and will maybe hang out with more than coursemates in later years. But as a general rule, you're not going to spend time with people you have nothing in common with.

Now this is where gaming and friendships sort of coincide, but also differ, in my opinion. When you're approaching a girl you're probably going to look for a hook, something that you've got in common or can talk about easily. The same goes for making friends, and a lot of the stuff you read about talking to girls can be adapted for general friendships quite easily. But here's the thing - if you haven't got anything in common with a girl and it's a massive effort to build rapport with her, then you MIGHT continue with the process until you get her into bed, and then you've reached your goal, thanks a lot, bye! What's the point with friends though? If you don't get on with them, just find a new group of friends who you do get on with.

It's never too late. Maybe you can't join a society or whatever now (maybe you can at your uni, I don't know), but maybe join them, meet new people. If not, just start talking to your coursemates more or something like that. Just make as many friends as you can, find people you have things in common with and make sure you put a lot of effort into maintaing those friendships and the ties and common interests that bring you together.

Agreed, its never too late.
Im still a first year so i cant comment on some of the stuff you have written 7000, but like you said a reason why you aren't friends with some people, Could be plainly that you don't want to be friends with them. I know that this is sometimes the case with me.

What sort crazy stuff are you doing?

As for some ideas for events etc:
-Group trips
-Fancy Dress nights
-Film nights? - ( hire out a lecture theatre)
If you have any other ideas i would be really interested to hear (can't think of many right now)

To ensure that this stuff works you have to FULLY commit to it and see it through. Dont do things half assed

All it could take is one event and BOOM you have a commonality, but i find you can't just forget about it, You have to constantly work on building friendships. I've made the mistake on thinking that the friendship will hold so i end up neglecting the person.

Personnally, I've started to organise a group skydiving experience for charity (loads of people seem to be interested) on facebook & going to organise a big trip to a theme park (thorpe park)

again, hope this helps.