ABSOLUTELY. I used to be an introvert white guy with no friends. I see two ways of meeting people, with 1 rule required: The Rule: Always say the first opinio

ABSOLUTELY. I used to be an introvert white guy with no friends. I see two ways of meeting people, with 1 rule required: The Rule: Always say the first opinion that comes to your mind. Do not be afraid to say what you really feel, and have an intelligent discussion about it later, in which you can admit you were ignorant and change your opinion. Opinions are like belly buttons, everyone has one, and they're mostly irrelevant. Great friendships can be forged between people with totally opposite opinions. You will be genuine as long as you speak your mind. Corollary: Take what you were just imagining in that public social situation, grab your balls, and do it. Reality either smacks you in the face and you have to handle an unknown situation, or all of a sudden it's serendipity. (P.S. This works exactly the same way on dates, too.) Meet people: 1. Use workmates or the internet to meet people (meetup.com/okcupid/tinder/etc.) - it's a good crutch to transitioning to real life approaching strangers, without any risk of blushing or doing something else embarrassing. You'll later find out, even in "structured" situations you'll do embarassing things anyway, so maybe you should skip to #2: 2. Walk up to those groups (assuming it's a safe environment), interrupt and introduce yourself. Speak your English wrong, don't let the people get to you, just keep pushing your level so you always say exactly what you mean, in a direct and efficient way (because English works like this). Your purpose is to develop your language/social skills, not impress them. Feel free to be transparent with them, and explain why you're talking to them - who knows what they'll do! You see the above text? That is how I taught myself fluent spoken Chinese on the streets of China starting with _zero_ Chinese. The strategy completely works, but it's not easy. The biggest benefit of it, however, is every time I get outside my comfort zone I can _handle it_. Now you get two life skills for the price of one. Good luck.