Attempts at friendship: part one of a (possible) series.

I've been here nearly two months now and so far I have no one here who I would call a proper friend (except maybe my landlady, who I chat with daily). I leave in mid-May and honestly can't bare the thought of leaving, having spent nearly half a year here, and not having anyone to say goodbye to. I think part of this friendlessness is because generally in the past I have relied on other factors for developing friendships with people, such as seeing someone regularly because we have the same classes, or because we have friends in common.

Today I decided to stop being afraid and living like a hermit in my flat, so I went into uni and did some visual diary work in my studio. The studios are pretty communal: we get a desk and some wall space to ourselves, but we're all crammed in together in this open space so I generally end up saying hi or chatting to other art students whenever I'm in there. I've realised that the 'be polite and friendly but shy' approach obviously isn't working for me so far, so once I was done doing work at my desk I packed up and (before leaving) I stopped by another art students spot (who I've had friendly small talk with before) and said hello. I explained to him that I was only here for a few more months and was kind of desperate to make some friends and asked if we could exchange numbers. He was super nice about it and obliged (thankgod). It felt quite awkward to say outright: 'Hi, I'm lonely and I want to be your friend', but it's the truth really, and I have no interest in wasting any more of my time here being aloof and cool. I like to consider myself to be very transparent and honest, so I felt that reaching out to an (almost) stranger just shows who I consider myself to be, or at least who I want to be. I'm not going to pretend anymore that I don't want people to think I like them. I'm done being 'cool'. Anyway, I walked out of the studios and straight away accidently deleted the guys number from my phone and had to walk back into the studios to get it back... and walked straight into him talking to his friends as he finished the sentence "...felt kinda sorry for her'. So, obviously he was talking about me, but whatever. If I was him, I'd feel sorry for me too, haha. But anyway, I got his number of him again and his friends all talked to me a bit (asked where I'm from, what's my name) and were overall quite friendly, which was a relief. I tried to make light of my awkward loneliness ('Hi, yeah, I'm the lonely exchange student' :P), because I wanted them to see I was friendly and lighthearted, not some lonely, sad, pathetic thing who's trying to tag along with them. They suggested we catch up for pint down the pub at some point, which leaves me feeling pretty happy, as it suggests they're interested in a possible friendship as well :) I think I'm generally a likeable person (although I know there are people out there who would beg to differ) and I don't feel worried about how these potential friendships could turn out. If it turns out the people I talked to aren't nice, or we just don't get along, then that's cool - it's happens... at least I tried. On the other hand, if we end up being friends (even if it is just casual drinking buddies) then that's awesome, that's exactly what I'm looking for.