7 Ways to Break the Ice with New Flatmates

It’s quite daunting living away from home, especially if you don’t know the people you’re going to be living with. Whether you’re in your first year and moving in with total strangers, or if you’re later on in your university career, it’s always weird having to share your space with new people.

 

So how should you go about it? We’ve put together our list of 7 ways that you can break the ice with your new flatmates (and hopefully future friends!)

This one may sound a bit obvious but the best way to start is by introducing yourself. For those of you in first year, we’ve listed a standard couple of break-the-ice questions for students:

Although this isn’t a comprehensive list of questions you need to ask everyone you live with, it’s a good place to start. 

An excellent way to get to know your flatmates is to plan a social event together during your first few weeks living together. This could be anything from going bowling together, to visiting a few of the local bars. 

 

As an example, both of our options for student housing in Belfast are located very centrally, meaning you and your flatmates will be spoiled for choice when it comes to choosing social activities during your entire stay.

Of course, if you don’t fancy going out you can always do something at your accommodation. Our accommodation puts on 2 weekly events that you can attend on your own or with your flatmates. It’s a great way to socialise and even get to know your neighbours a little bit!

A lot of students will end up bringing their gaming consoles to uni. You’ll often find yourself at a loose end during some evenings when you don’t really have much planned but still want to do something. A Mario Kart tournament with your flatmates can often turn into one of your favourite group activities.

 

If you find that neither you nor your flatmates haven’t brought one up you can always make use of the games room at Alma Place. Failing that, you can get some time away from the screen at one of the many games areas at your Novel residence to play some pool or chess!

It’s often said that the best way to get to know someone is over a plate of food. We think an even better way to get to know people is by cooking that plate of food together! 

 

Going to uni and living with strangers means you’ll be exposed to a whole host of different cultures and backgrounds, and a great way to appreciate and respect that is through food. Getting together with your flatmates and cooking a feast of tacos, curries, or even a Sunday roast will spark conversations and help you bond.

By organising these meals, if you want to invite friends from other flats you can make use of the private dining areas available at multiple Novel residences up and down the country.

Not feeling up to cooking? That’s alright when you have food options from around the world available to you at your fingertips! 

 

The convenience of UberEats and Deliveroo has made it so that the modern student doesn’t need to worry about cooking when they don’t feel like it. The best thing about it? Everyone can order whatever they want from wherever they want. This means you and your flatmates can get to know each other over foods everyone feels comfortable with.

Sometimes just being in each other's company is a great way to socialise/get to know your new flatmates. Whether you all sit down to watch a film you’ve all seen before or you get into the schedule of watching new shows as they get released, it can help foster conversations outside of watching these films/shows. 

 

You may find yourself passing by your flatmates in the kitchen and feel like you want to start a conversation but can’t think of anything to say, that’s when you can bring up a plot point of that show you’ve all started watching together, or talk about the film you all watched the evening before.

The final point on our list is to respect each other's boundaries. Sometimes people won’t want to socialise, or even socialise in the same way that you do and that’s ok! 

 

If you have a mutual sense of respect between you and your flatmates then you’re sure to get along in no time!