It’s Saturday night, you’ve finished all your homework and your roommate is off somewhere having a great time. Here you are, nothing to do, and then you think, “I’ll call up one of my friends,” only to realize that the few friends you do have are out doing stuff you are not. Having a large network of friends and acquaintances is a very important aspect of college life, and some good ways to build this network are through school activities, movie nights and occassionally just saying “Hi.”The campus has more than a handful of organizations, everything from hall council to Japanese club, and they are a great place to meet people with common interests. My freshman year I was part of the La Communidad residential community which automatically thrusted me into Spanish club. Here I met many people who probably formed my closest clique of friends, Spanish majors who like to use me for practice since I’m a pseudo-fluent speaker. I’m also part of the exec staff at WBGU now, where I’ve met many music lovers like myself and helped in the recruitment of DJ’s, where I’ve met even more people. Not all organizations facilitate meeting new people by common interests. They could just give you the environment to introduce yourself, a good example of this is hall council. Even if you don’t plan on running for office of some sort, this is a great way to meet people, cause now you have an excuse to knock on everyone’s door and introduce yourself. Overall, campus organizations are a great way to build your network.Movies can make anyone friends; to this I am a firm believer. If we took Bush and Kerry and sat them down to watch something like “The Notebook,” maybe they’d be able to work together after crying on each other’s shoulders. Well, that might be a bit of a stretch, but you see my point. The best way to do this is to choose a movie that generally everybody can enjoy; usually comedies do this the best. The best part of a movie is that you don’t need to be good at doing long-winded small talk. Movie nights are best with a bunch of people, and many people would suggest getting your floor for a movie night, which would probably happen anyways. My recommendation is to ask all your friends to bring three people; three is the magic number, no more and no less. Why three? Because including your friend, it keeps things even. If you say only bring one person, that person will obviously be attached to this friend all night, rarely meeting any of the other people. Movies are a great and probably the easiest way to build your network, plus you get to see movies.Sometimes to meet people we just have to say “Hi.” Sure, a couple people may be weirded out at first, but as long as you remain confident the feeling will soon be replaced with one of comfort. When it comes to meeting the residents of your hall, I’d say random “hello rights” end after three weeks, after which a little bit of charisma will be needed. As for your classes, the best bet is on the first day. Sometimes you just have to introduce yourself, like I’ll use this article as a vehicle, and I’ll write about the response I get in a future article.Dear Reader,Hello, I am Alex Merced, I just thought I’d say “Hi” to all of you. Since you can’t answer me, I’ll just tell you a little bit about myself. I like long candle-lit naps by the beach, and my zodiac sign is Cancer. Seriously though, I’m the promo manager at WBGU, so if you’re interested in helping out with college radio e-mail me, or if you just think my hair is awesome, do the same.Your Master,Alex MercedNow, I’m not quite sure how great a response an introduction like that would get you, but it might get a few laughs. Laughter can really make or break the random introduction. Sometimes you just have to not take yourself seriously, and people will find you intriguing or super mysterious, like Batman, and who doesn’t want to hang out with Batman? Basically, there are many ways to just say “Hi,” and this option can truly help build your network.Campus organizations, movie nights and just random hellos are all great ways to expand your network. I hope this helps you all further enjoy your time here at BG.E-mail Alex comments at [email protected].