I live by the beach, and every morning I get up and surf for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Getting in a hot shower after that is AMAZING, especially during the winter months.
I am in the exact same situation. I just moved in to my dorm 3 weeks ago and I don't have any good friends yet. I tend to just play guitar in my room, and when I get a stir crazy I head to the library and read some math books or do some programming.
For me, it is a conscious choice that has fluctuating results. I choose to be introverted because I am not intelligent enough to socialize frequently and accomplish what I desperately want to accomplish. I am an average guy trying to work at a level far above my own, and doing so requires every second of my time (Sunday is my recharge day, if any of you were wondering).
But I have been getting lonely lately. It's strange, because I've always been this way and it has never affected me before. Maybe it's because I'm in New York City and surrounded by people doing things with other people. I remember there being an article recently about people feeling alone in New York City - I am starting to feel like that article had it all wrong, that it is very possible to feel alone here.
I do wish I could find people with similar interests though. I had a lot of friends back in high school who listened to metal. I haven't found anyone here yet. I know there are people here who are passionate about math, but I am not even close to their skill level. And I think all the programmers are hiding in their rooms as well.
It is difficult to be in this mindset though. When I am socializing, I desperately want to be alone, and when I'm alone, theres that tiny thought in the back of my mind that says I should be meeting people. Back home it was overwhelmed with my obsession with learning and practicing, and I thought it would be the same here... I don't know. I'm rambling.
Know why you like to be alone, and do it for the right reasons. But don't think that it doesn't come at a price. I know I'm going to have to find someone with similar interests soon, as I'm starting to feel like I'm living in a sea of people who don't interest me at all. And that is a bad feeling to have, especially when you know its not true.
Hey there. I just finished off a year in residence, so I think I can offer a few pointers. Especially regarding metal. First of all, if possible, play your favourite metal really loud. A metal head (or RA) will knock on your door. Second of all, if you have a band shirt, wear it sometime. A fellow metalhead will find you. This works.
During your first few weeks/couple months at residence, you gotta try to force yourself to meet people. This is when people will be the most open and ready to make friends, and blow off stupid mistakes. Keep your door open when you play guitar. Likely, someone will drop by, if even to see where the guitar sound is coming from. If anyone else has their door open, drop by and try to get a hook into their interests.
That said, it is a common enough situation. I can easily count off a lot of my friends in my programs as being in your situation. I've found myself in those situations as well. Part of it is simply not being comfortable in a particular group. When you're hanging, you want to be alone cause you're not comfortable, but when you're alone, you remember the comfort that you use to get when with your group of ESTABLISHED friends.
Unfortunately, there is no easy "fix". I really don't want to say that being introverted is a problem, but finding yourself in the situation in university (especially first year) where you have no one else to turn to when crunch time rolls around, or some shit hits the fan can be deeply troubling.
That said, if you're in a challenging program, it's likely that you'll get another opportunity to bond whenever midterms/projects/finals rolls around. Bitching and toiling through work can do some wonders to getting to know people/building relationships. I think that's the entire mentality of how engineering programs are put together. Just pile on the work, and they'll unify in their bitching.
The discussion of beauty in mathematics resonates deeply with me and I seem to always relate such discussions with music. As a musician turned math enthusiast, I think the thought processes involved in the creation of music parallel those involved in the creation of proofs quite nicely. My obsession with music seems to complement my obsession with mathematics on some level that I cannot quite define. As far as I know, there is not a distinctly important practical relationship between math and music (please correct me if I am wrong), but I still feel as though there is some connection. I do not know if this is a personal thing or not, but I cannot stop relating the two!
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=818157