What to say

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I'm part of a social group at school.

One problem that I have is being able to interact with the other members of this group well.

I can with a few people, but the idea is to get to become friends/at least regularly interact on a social level with as many of the other people in the group as possible.


Often, people will ask how I've been and what's new in my life. I will try my best to answer and ask them the same question. I can also talk about trivial things like events at school, the weather, etc..

But since I see these people pretty much everyday, we can't keep asking each other the same two questions about how the other's life is going.

What else can/should I do?

Seen any good movies lately?
I'm reading <book>, have you read it?
My allergies are driving me crazy, how about you?

You could run through the alphabet (which you will always have handy) and pick a topic for each letter - allergies, books, cool, doctors, engines, famous, guys, heroes, idiots, joke, kin, library, etc.

What do you think of ... <scan the headlines>
Obama,
the guy who wants to burn the Koran,
the current sports scandal,
etc.

Conversational whiz words (look interested):
Really?
I didn't know that. (even if you did know that, let them tell you all about it)
What do you think I should do about ... <anything - school deadline, maybe>

I think a general rule for conversations with acquaintances (as opposed to closer friends) is to not complain very often. The occasional "this weather sucks" or "I forgot to do my homework" is fine, but I think most people would rather stick to a positive conversation. Also, talking about really sensitive topics (religion, abortion, politics, death) isn't always appropriate. The closer you are to someone, the more these types of conversation are appropriate. Not that you should avoid them entirely, just stick to more positive topics if you can.