I (18F) just moved into college. I'm used to being away from home bc I went to a boarding school and I had a group of friends there I met through my extracurricular. They were nice but I got the feeling they weren't my exact crowd. I have a friend here from my high school friend group but I want to branch out…I just suck at doing so. I'm really struggling to make friends or even identify people I want to be friends with. Maybe I'm being too picky and writing people off too fast: "too loud" "too energetic" "seems fake or mean." I just don't want to "choose wrong." It's only our fourth day but some people already seem like they have really good friends; how the hell do they do that? I am not the most outgoing person, and I am terrible at holding basic introductory conversations. After the whole "Where are you from?… What's your major?…Future plans?" I get stuck or straight up forget how to converse. I try to connect things they say to personal experiences, but eventually it fizzles out in a "Yeah that's neat/cool.." then I'm lost. I try so damn hard but it never goes anywhere. At my core I'm asocial; I'm perfectly okay with being by myself and I almost prefer it. I like going places alone, I am comfortable with silence, even with someone else there I don't feel the need to talk, and my social battery has a very limited supply. I've been so tired these past few days bc of how much interaction I've had which has made it even harder to go out. I'm trying to troubleshoot my approaches but go no avail. I feel like a solitary animal cursed with a biological need for socialization. I know I need friends or my mental health will suffer but I am no good at it until I actually have a friend. Once I'm friends with someone I won't shut up and I'm comfortable with them bc they know I need space sometimes or they're cool with silence too and we know it's okay.
Any tips on how to keep introductory conversations alive or motivate myself to WANT to go make friends rather than falling back to solitude?