My name is Benjamin You and for the Fall of 2024 semester; I was accepted to study abroad at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
During the summer leading up to my study abroad, I became concerned with how I would meet people and make friends at this new university. From my past experiences attending schools abroad, a host university would usually have a number of events planned to allow exchange students to get to know one another and other events to introduce them to local students.
However, NTU had no such event planned; and in fact had no scheduled exchange student events aside from the orientation lecture. I became more worried about how I would meet new friends as from my experience, the first few weeks of the semester are when people are the most open to meeting and befriending strangers.
So, after sweating about it for a couple more days I decided to plan my own!
I started by reaching out to local students online, asking where the best place to host a large number of people would be. I settled on the AIA Canopy in North Spine and made a little poster with the time, date, and location on it; making sure to pick a day which didn’t overlap with orientation or any campus tours.
Then, I reached out to the owner of the NTU Exchange Student Group Chat on Whatsapp. I had them post it in the announcement channel and sent it myself in the general chat, giving an open invite to anyone who would want to come.
If that sounds super simple and easy, it was. Honestly my heart settled so much after sending the invites that I forgot about the event for a month and half until it was only a few days away. I expected very little from it, maybe a small event with 10-20 people who’d chat together for an hour then go their separate ways.
I turned out to be wrong. The day of the event I showed up at the AIA Canopy 10 minutes before it was supposed to start and already 20 people were milling about, awkwardly beginning to approach each other and socialize.
As time went on, more and more exchange students came and by the 2 hour mark more than a 100 people were in the Canopy, with who knows how many more having come and gone. To mark the occasion I snapped a photo (attached). I was ecstatic that so many people had come and gotten to meet so many others. I also managed to meet a nice group who I then got lunch and went into the city with, a group I still often meet with for lunch or dinner now.
What I mean to convey through this story is how much even a little effort in putting yourself out there to meet new people can pay off. When going to a new country on exchange, everyone is anxious and looking for new friends. It's important to strike when the iron is hot and make friends when they’ll be the most receptive to your attempts.
Benjamin You
Fall 2024
GW Exchange - Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
Elliott School of International Affairs
International Affairs Major - History Minor