It is very likely that at least once in your life you will move to a new place - whether you transition schools as a student, or move to a new city or state as a college student or college graduate looking for a job. Everyone moves at least once in their lifetime, usually multiple times, and that requires making new support systems in the new environment.

As someone who is loves communication, I think there is truly an art to making friends. Here are a few tips to try when putting yourself out there.

1. Find clubs, jobs, organizations, or volunteer opportunities that have people who are interested in similar things as you
   1. This goes a long way. For me, It is much easier to make friends with people who are also interested in journalism, videography, robotics, or helping middle school children through a tough life transition, instead of trying to make friends with individuals who don’t have any common interests.
   
2. Work on remembering names, it helps people feel special and when you remember their name, they notice.
   1. When someone first introduces himself, repeat their name in your head a minimum of three times while looking at their face to try and associate the two.
   2. If it is a common name and you have another friend with the same name, try and associate this new person with that person.
   3. Try and remember the first letter and syllable of a name if it is difficult to remember right away
3. Ask simple questions and then let the conversation begin itself - people love to talk about themselves.
   1. A few "go to" questions are:
      1. What are you majoring in at your university?
      1. What do you like to do on the weekends?
      1. What clubs/organizations are you involved in at your school?
   2. The trick with this is to only ask one relatively broad question, and then ask a lot of follow up questions.
   
4. Ask specific follow up questions when you see them again a few days later
   1. For example:
      1. “Hey! How is your grandmother doing? I know last time we talked you said she was in the hospital.”
      1. Or - “Hey! Did you end up fixing your phone? I know you were really frustrated that it wasn’t working.”
   2. These specific questions show that you were listening last time you were talking, and that you want to continue being in a friendship. When people feel listened to, they are compelled to talk to you again because it feels nice to be remembered.
   
5. Listen.
   1. This is important because if you don’t listen, you can’t ask good follow up questions and you can’t ask them about specific topics when you see them again. If your mind is wandering it can be pretty obvious and people may not want to invest more time in hanging out with you.
   
6. If you see them, but they don’t seem to have time to talk, just make sure to wave hello and say “hey ‘insert name’”
   1. As someone who just moved, it feels really good when people begin remembering your face and name and say hello. It is a little reminder that you are not alone, and neither are they.

Moving can be really difficult because you are often put out of your comfort zone, but making friends doesn’t have to be so hard. Use these tips next time you need to meet new people, and I am sure you will see an interesting difference in how quickly you begin to make friends.