I'm a freshman who started university just yesterday. I arrived there after preparing all summer for a complete change in personality compared to my quiet and reserved reputation in high school. I told myself I was gonna make friends and just become a new person.
However, as soon as I stepped onto campus for the first time, it's like my brain switched off. Hello's, even to staff, felt forced, I forgot to hold eye contact when greeting, and I basically lost focus by even hitting my car with the (thankfully) plastic barrier while reversing from my parking spot (no one saw me I hope) lmao.
I'm not here to spill out my awkwardness issues, just here to request some help. I was really disappointed when I came home and realized I had made absolutely 0 friends over 2 days except for old HS friends. The longest small talk was of 3 words and I didn't even have the reflex to ask for a name, let alone a phone number. And don't get me started on girls, interactions further than eye contact were non-existent with them. I'm not scared of cold approaches, I just genuinely don't know how. Confidence is something I thankfully managed to work on before arriving to uni so it's at least here as a base.
How can I go back on monday and actually do something? I want to make the most out of those first couple of weeks because after that I heard it becomes less common to meet people and everyone kind of gets used to everyone. Does anyone have any good tips?