How to have a meaningful semester this time.

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Hi all, this is my first time posting on this forum, so I hope I don't come off as too much of a noob . Tomorrow I'm starting my second semester as a freshman in college and would like to ask for some advice on how to make the best of it.

Basically the mistakes I made the first semester include:

1. I didn't really make any new friends beyond a basic acquaintanceship with my roommate. I've found that it's a lot harder to make friends in college than in high school because there is not a system in place that forces you to socialize like in high school. It should obvious why this would be problematic for someone with Aspergers. In high school I was really quiet for the first month but the it was made inevitable that'd I'd make a few friends due to the way we're all funneled into classes together and basically spend the whole day with the same people (I went to a small school), but in college there is absolutely no guidance, we are completely free to do what we want, and while many would find this a good thing the lack of an authority or system to guide me has left me unable to figure it out. I've never been able to just insert myself into social situations and start talking to people. It's become kind of embarrassing at this point because every time I go home my parents ask me about friends I've made and I have to make something up. To my credit I did attend like three meetings of a philosophy club, but three student organization meetings in one semester doesn't seem like something to be proud of, plus I didn't maintain a friendship with any of the people I met there. I also always eat alone at the meal hall, which I enjoy sometimes but would also like to be a bit more social.

2. I didn't do anything besides attend class and stay in my dorm. Whenever I wasn't in class I was in my room either playing computer games, studying, or sleeping. There are a lot of places to hang out on campus like the student center, the library, or the fitness center, but for some reason I don't ever find myself willing to go, and on the few times I do I don't enjoy myself. I always feel like I don't know what to do when I get there. The student center has pool and ping-pong tables for example, but I'm too afraid to join a game because I don't know anyone there, nor do I know how to play pool or ping-pong and have bad motor skills in games like that. I feel like I would just embarrass myself.

3. I've been pretty inactive. This kinda goes with number 2. I never really exercised like I should have even though the fitness center is right outside my dorm. It even has an indoor pool that I could use, which would be nice because swimming used to be my favorite form of exercise (I was on the swim team through middle school and high school). Part of the reason is I'm afraid of the people. I'm extremely skinny (partially because I have a naturally low appetite) and I feel really insecure about it, so I'm reluctant to take my shirt off to go swimming. I guess I could go jogging, but I don't know where on campus good paths would be and am afraid I'd just look stupid. Also, wouldn't cardio workouts make me even more unnaturally emaciated? I don't know much about fitness.

Those are the only things I can think of right now, bu there might be others. To my credit, one thing did go well me first semester - my grades. I made all A's in my classes, but I know that's not all what college is about. I've been told that your college years can be the best years of your life and can even serve as a catalyst for even better times after you graduate by forming relationships and finding your passions in academics. I think there is a lot of opportunities that I'm not taking advantage of and would like to change that. Do you guys have any advice for an aspie at his first year of college?

P.S. I apologize if this post comes off as overly whiny. I just don't know how to approach these problems, even though they probably have pretty obvious answers to the average person. Thank you up front for any advice!

tl;dr: Any advice for an aspie to make the most of college?

I'm a first-year in college too, so I'm currently trying to figure how to have a better semester too! (Though in different areas.)

It seems as though you feel like you'd have a better college experience with more friends, doing more outside of your room, and exercising right?

For exercising, many people can't bring themselves to the gym/fitness room even if they really want to exercise for various reasons. It can be boring. It can be intimidating seeing more fit people work out right next to you. What I found helps is joining a club that focuses on doing a certain physical activity, like dance, club sports, outdoor activities, surfing, etc.

As for friends, I actually found it much easier to make friends at my college than at my high school since I can easily find people with similar interests and open minds. I only had acquaintanceships my high school classmates. However, I'm still closer with friends I made in high school... the majority of them just didn't go to my specific high school. The trick for me in high school was to get very passionately involved in an extracurricular activity. That's partially how I've made several friends in college, but I guess I don't feel as close to them yet because I don't know them long enough? (The activity in high school for me was robotics. During build season, I spent 7 days of the week for six weeks building a robot. Also had to talk to people from other teams due to the nature of the competition/program, so there's lots of time to get to know people. )

Cool, and thank you or your advice!

I think there is a swimming club here so I might check that out. And that's interesting that you are having an easier time in college than in high school with being involved. Creative writing is probably my biggest interest but I'm really reluctant to share my work with the creative writing club because they mostly do poems while my stuff is usually novel-length and difficult to share in a short sitting. Maybe I'll also find that college is easier to make friends once I figure out how it all works. My class schedule this semester is a lot more convenient too, so I may find it easier to regularly attend student group meetings (that was at least part of the reason I only attended a few last semester).

Hmmm, I don't have much experience with it (other than just knowing about it), but I'd suggest to check out Nanowrimo if you haven't!

You can meet fellow writers online or in real life at their "Come Write In" locations.

http://nanowrimo.org/come-write-in

And ooh, I'm glad what I said was of some help.