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"MAKING FRIENDS  Whether you&amp;#039;ve been super-tight with the same pals for years or have a rep for doing your own thing, you can never have too many friends. You don&amp;#039;t have to adopt a fake &amp;quot;LIKE ME!&amp;quot; attitude or run for Miss Popularity, believe it or not, just being yourself is the best way to get in good with new friends who are perfect for you.   1. THE FIRST MOVE  So where exactly are you supposed to meet these great new pals? Sitting in your room wishing you had someone to IM about this week&amp;#039;s ep of PLL isn&amp;#039;t going to make it happen! Start by getting involved in the activities and interest you already love whether it&amp;#039;s an online Taylor fan club or a local volleyball league. Being the new kid in the group will feel weird at first, but remember, you&amp;#039;re all there because you share the same interests. What could be a better ice breaker? If you think you&amp;#039;re already way involved and still aren&amp;#039;t connecting with people, it might be time to step back and re-evaluate how you act around others. Instead of heading straight home after a game, grab a pizza with the team. The more time you invest in getting to know others, the easier it is for them to see you as an A-list friend. 2. KEEP AN OPEN MIND  Just because not everyone gels with, say, geometry the way you so or shares your love of shopping doesn&amp;#039;t mean you can&amp;#039;t be friends. Keep an open mind when it comes to making new buds, and that goes for guys as well as girls. It&amp;#039;s way too easy to lump all the guys in to two groups-the ones you crush on and the ones you don&amp;#039;t. But what about a boy who could be a really good friend? You&amp;#039;ll probably find out that he worries about the same things as you and your girl friends. An added bonus: You&amp;#039;ll get the inside scoop on all his cute friends!  3. START SLOWLY  Say you&amp;#039;re seriously crushing on a guy, would you run up to him and announce you two are now a couple and you&amp;#039;re now going to spend every single day together? Um, not unless you want him to run in the other direction. The same goes for making friends: you want to take things slowly at first. Wait until you feel comfortable talking to each other during band practice or on the walk home from the library before you suggest getting together. Skip high-pressure or potentially awkward situations, like your grandpa&amp;#039;s 85th birthday bash. Opt for something casual: &amp;quot;So, have you seen the new Orlando Bloom movie? I thought it&amp;#039;d be fun to get a bunch of people together to go.&amp;quot; Will it be totally nerve-wracking to make the first move? Probably but it&amp;#039;ll have been more than worth it once the ice is broken and you&amp;#039;re out having fun with your new friends. MAKING FRIENDS IN COLLEGE In college, you may find that making friends is a lot a harder than what you thought it would be! With big lecture hall classes, you don&amp;#039;t just see the same 30 people in your classes everyday. Everyone seems to be on his or her own schedules and they might always look busy when you want to talk to them. Although a lot of factors might make it seem like it&amp;#039;s impossible to get to know anyone in college, there are so many ways to meet new people! 1. GET TO KNOW PEOPLE IN YOUR DORM HALL In community style dorms (which is where most freshmen are placed) people are almost always in the lobby! You now live these people, so might as well get to know them! Something like &amp;quot;Hey, what are you watching?&amp;quot; is a great conversation starter. There are also community builders, which are like group activities that the RAs come up with to get people in the dorm closer to each other. You should actually go to those \u2014 they are a lot more fun than you might think! It takes a little effort to get to know people in your dorm, so just go for it! 2. STUDY SESSIONS With such big classes, there is bound to be someone that wants to study for a test with you. You can send out an e-mail to everyone in your class telling them the time and place that you are going to be studying, and usually at least one person will e-mail you back telling you that they&amp;#039;d like to join. You&amp;#039;d be surprised about how you can become great friends with the people you study with! 3. BE MORE OPEN This can be anywhere you go. In the cafeteria, start a conversation with the person next to you. If you see someone familiar in the quad, ask them,&amp;quot;Hey, aren&amp;#039;t you in my English class?&amp;quot; Ask questions to the person sitting next to you in class. Just don&amp;#039;t be afraid to let go of any insecurities and talk to people! All you have to do is break the ice, and you&amp;#039;ll find that making friends is a lot easier with a conversation starter. Remember, people in college don&amp;#039;t know who you were in high school! It&amp;#039;s a fresh start and you have so much to talk about to people. So let loose, be confident, and most importantly, BE YOURSELF! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/love/dating-advice/advice/a11407/how-to-make-new-friends/>