Going out can be a bummer, but there is nothing to stop you meeting friends at different places to the city centre, for example your house, local pub, and so on. I would suggest go and live in a much smaller city (and therefore one thats easier to go out in), obviously that is impractical though. As for being intresting to talk to, normally thats a fairly easy one to correct, you need to read into lots of different areas, even if its just a passing glance at the news and a few facts on whatever sports. In other words learn small talk. Being funny is harder, try reading some satire or watching some comedy shows, it may improve your wit a little, but it wont make you a comedian. Really you do need to join some societies at your uni, no matter how hard you find it. The passing of time will make it more comfortable and palitable to do, once you get the swing of the social game a little.
i do read the news a lot, i did politics at A level so i got into reading the news a lot anyway, but most people talk about other things - going to clubs etc, which i don't do.
I was using it as an example, obviously you need to go wider than one area. Politics in my case is in addition to a stack of scientific knowledge, where as given that you are a historian its an extension of an area of conversation. You need a good range of stuff, as i said you need to read into lots of different areas (people are very different, if your area of knowledge is narrow, then the number of people you can have an intelligent conversation with is going to be small). As for going to nightclubs etc, there are plenty that dont do that very often (i.e half the uni). Those people do join something else, sport, debating and all sorts of things. You should pick up a martial art or something, ur uni should have pretty much everything. Though the fact you go to a former poly will put you at a disadvantage a bit.
