#and a controversial opinion of mine is that i actually hated the welcome week activities

[good-night-space-kid]

Hello again, thanks for replying to my ask (soon to be college freshman), it was super helpful!!! I am still quite worried about making friends in college and dealing with people rejecting me for a lot of reasons :-( Are there a lot of rude people or people who would reject my friendship? Should I just wait for people to reach out to me? Thanks 😸

i totally understand where you're coming from! college is just like any other facet of the world, so there will be people who don't want to be friends with you but there's also a bunch of people who do!

one of the true perks of being a college freshman is that every other freshman is also new to college and looking to make friends. my way into friendships has typically been by meeting people in class and inviting them to eat a meal at the dining center (especially works as a freshman since most people have a meal plan) or to join me to do something else (study, get boba, go to walmart, etc.)

if you have a car or don't have a car, going on group runs to walmart (is that too boring midwestern town?) is a great way to bond with people outside of class.

my go to is if somebody is in one of my classes and i think they're cool, i'll just ask if they want to study for an exam together or work on a project. in my upper levels i'm often spending 6+ hours cranking out a project and having a homework buddy makes life a lot better when it's midnight and you really need to finish making a map

i know everybody says this, but the easiest way to make friends really is just to join a club and go every week. it's a good way to get to know people outside of the classroom and makes it a lot easier to find activities other than school to do.

i'll be honest though, my freshman year i had a roommate (which i do recommend tbh) and she made friends for me lmao. she was in marching band and met a bunch of cool people and now we're all friends, so shoutout to her for that.

basically what ties all of these together though is just saying yes to opportunities and invitations when they're presented. if somebody invites you to study/eat a meal/go to the store/go to a club meeting, they're asking you because they want you to say yes

overall i'd just say to remember that everybody likes having friends, and most freshman are also actively trying to make friends so even if things don't work out long term they're probably not going to be rude about it. but also don't be afraid to find new friends if you don't like the group you're in because college is a really good time to meet a lot of people and you don't have to be around people that make you unhappy

[lithgaeril]

Interaction

Hello! I’m Lithgaeril, and while I primarily interact with fandom on ao3, I made a blog for the times when that isn’t as convenient. However, there are probably a few important things I should have on the record here, ranging from topics I won’t touch to how frequently you can expect a reply.

If you don’t read below the cut, here’s the very watered down tl;dr: I’m always down to talk tolkien, just don’t be a dick! Also I don’t usually reply quick, sorry.

Availability

1) I can’t guarantee I’ll be on more than a couple times a week (though at other times I may be available multiple times a day, it all depends on my energy levels and schedule). I do try to check at least once a day if I’m participating in any events that involve communication.

2) At present, I am only following event blogs whose events I may participate in. This is to avoid the infinite scroll sinkhole, not because I don’t like other people’s content. This may change in the future, if I become more active on this blog.

Content Specific

3) I flat out refuse to engage in discourse. I used to find it fun, but now I mostly find it ruins my enjoyment of things I love. I may make an original post (using my unique tags to avoid the main tag search) discussing my thoughts on a subject that is considered controversial, but I will not add these sorts of comments onto other people’s posts and if you try to argue with me on mine, I will ignore or possibly block you. I do my best to keep any possibly controversial post out of the main tags, so if you’re reading it on my blog, you’re welcome to leave, unfollow, or even block me. I don’t care. If you’re just curious about my opinion on a controversial topic, ask me and I’ll probably (but not definitely) respond.

4) I am generally open to NSFW discussion, but please always ask first. I will always try to extend the same courtesy in any conversation. If you are a minor, do not initiate conversations regarding NSFW topics. If we get to talking about headcanons/ideas/etc. and you either don’t want to go anywhere near NSFW or you’re a minor, please specify that you don’t want the conversation going in that direction. This will let me know not to bring up anything NSFW without the need to disclose any personal information like your age

Comments/Criticism

5) Please do not compliment my headcanons or works by disparaging someone else’s. Everybody has things they like better and things they can’t stand at all, but comments like “I love that you did ‘x’ instead of the more common ‘y’, which I hate” can definitely be seen by people who like ‘y’. Not to mention, I often hold more than one, sometimes conflicting, headcanons about characters, and it’s very possibly I like ‘y’, too.

6) If you have a legitimate concern with something I have written or posted (ex. you believe it perpetuates racism, transphobia, ableism, etc), please let me know specifically which part is the problem and how, so that I may research the topic further and make changes where necessary.

7) If I say something that contradicts canon and fail to mention that fact, feel free to politely let me know, as sometimes I truly am not aware, but also please know that sometimes I break canon deliberately. That’s part of the joy of fic writing

In Conclusion

8) Alright, I think that’s all the disclaimers lmfao. Fun fact about me: I’m the person who actually reads the EULA/ToS & Privacy Policy :)

9) I do actually enjoy talking to people (although I confess, I *am* always this wordy)! If you want to talk about Tolkien’s work in general, my works/ideas, or even send me fic recs, please feel free! I enjoy in-depth discussions, learning about other people’s ideas & how they differ from mine, and brainstorming fun ideas for fics/hcs/etc! Please don’t be nervous just bc we’re not mutuals or whatever other reason you might be able to think up. I am equally open to asks and messages, but I will post asks publicly unless otherwise specified.