Feeling lonely at UCI

Hey y’all,

I’m going through my first breakup and realized how I isolated myself in this relationship and in need of help, advice, or someone to talk to. The lack of school community is hitting hard.

I’m a third year Urban Studies and Environmental science and policy student and I’m 20 years old! I’m supposed to be a 4th year but because of my credits, I’m a third year. It’s been hard to make friends here at such a big university. I rarely spoke in class but i’ve been making an effort to talk to people and contribute in class!! I joined KUCI training to try to get involved in school activities and so far love it. Even so, it’s hard to make friends when I just make acquaintances. I made most of my friends in my 2nd year and had a core friend group but unfortunately they all graduated June of 2023 so I started this school year quite lonely. Well it didn’t feel lonely because I was in a relationship and we had just moved in together.

We broke up just recently (right before finals lol) and I’m going to be honest, I am in shambles. I don’t have a car and need to find housing which I’ll find soon but it’s mentally exhausting. We still share a room and it hurts to see him, we used to be in love but we now have no future together. It’s hard to focus on school and keep myself healthy. My family is back in the Bay so it feels even more lonely. I’ve realized the mistake I’ve made, I put a too much of myself into this relationship and lost myself because I thought I could rely on someone else.

I want to lift myself from this grief and become an independent adult and I want to start by building relationships and connecting with people but don’t know where to start at UCI. If anyone has advice, has been through something similar or just wanna talk, feel free to pm me or ask for my insta.