As the title says. I’m (27F, single, & mostly introverted) an international graduate student, who moved to the UK last year. I spent the summer as an intern on a technical team at a major British company (think UK equivalent of a fortune 500) and was absolutely horrible at small talk and contributing to conversations.
I joined a very kind and welcoming team who were polite and helpful. The team lead was awesome, always making an effort to include me during meetings and offering help when necessary.
The team often had daily lunch as a group and we’d get a table at the cafeteria but I found myself failing to contribute to conversations or keep them going. The conversations often revolved around family (most team members were 30+ and married), political climates (Trump, Starmer, Farage, etc), company performance, and hobbies (Dirt biking, hiking, etc). Unfortunately, none of these fell into my immediate interests/lived experiences so I never had much to contribute except contrasting some UK experiences to my home country’s. But being single, a broke uni student, and an international meant I had little to offer conversations.
While my internship is over, I noted that as a major failing on my part and would like some insight on how to better contribute to lunch chats and small talk at a UK company. Are these talking points typical? What’s a good talking point to always have in my social arsenal (except the weather 😅).