I'm the girl that sneaks into the lecture hall, sits at the back, then disappears when it's over. I probably come off as quite aloof if I'm honest.
..... the weird quiet one nobody ever sees.
^Thaaaaat's me!
I've posted quite a bit about my experiences so sorry to anyone that's reading the same thing again!
Well! I personally panic in lectures when my friends aren't around. I was lucky enough to have two girls from my friendship group in high school come and do the same course as me, so I let them be the sociable ones and met some people through them...sometimes it's still awkward though, because I usually assume people don't want to know me and when my friends are talking to them, I decide not to bother them and become a third wheel. I'm doing health sciences, so there's not really much discussion required in those lectures, thankfully, but as my elective I'm doing linguistics, and I just sit in a dark corner and don't have to worry about joining in the discussion.
My health sciences classes are good
because we're forced to work in groups. Nearly all our assessments are teamwork. In first semester, it was hell, because in the first couple of classes I didn't talk, and by the time I'd come out of my shell a bit, I'd already gained that reputation you were talking about... In second semester I made a real effort to be outgoing in the first class of each subject so I could make a good first impression and then go back to being shy again, hehe. Of course, once I'd done that, people were nicer to me and I don't have to
force myself to talk to them, unless I'm having a really bad day. My linguistics classes are absolute torture, though. Even though I did the friendly thing in the first session, I lost confidence in the second week because I had no friends there, it was an arts subject and therefore totally different from what I'm used to, the format of the lesson was different...I don't know how I even make it to class every week; I certainly can't contribute to group discussions.
The less said about dorm life, the better, ha. All I can recommend is that if you're moving into student accommodation, you'd better make an effort to get to know people as soon as you move in...because after a few days, everyone knows one another, they're all in their groups, and you're on your own.
Next year I'm either living with friends in one of the on-campus flats or just staying home and travelling five hours (return!) every day....