"Oh Hey, How was the Homework for You?"

I've been in class for three days now at Universidad de San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) and wow. It's kind of like high school--times 10. Everybody has a group of friends and they just hang out sitting on steps everywhere just talking all the time. I feel like such an outsider. After three days--I think I have made one Ecuadorian friend.

It's really hard to make friends here because it is a completely different system of meeting people--it has to just sort of happen.
--you cannot go up to people and introduce yourself
--you do not approach a group of people if you do not know them
--you wait for a moment when someone is by there self, in class and ask "oh hey, how was the homework for you?" and hope they keep the conversation going
--you introduce yourself at the end of the conversation and say "I'm Kelly by the way"
--but in the lunch line is not an appropriate of a time to casually talk to someone either as talking about food is not a way to create a friendship
--when people invite you out--YOU GO OUT and do whatever they are doing, otherwise it is an insult and you can kiss that blooming friendship goodbye
--you make one friend, they introduce you to their other friends, who introduce you to their other friends and so on
--small talk does not really exist outside of the first few sentences you exchange. If you have nothing in common then talking will be strained (or maybe it's just me as my Spanish is still struggling)
--when you are introduced to new people you kiss all of them on their right cheek, and also when you leave--also a cultural insult if you do not (and they may snub you from now on)
--when you say you are from the United States more than half the time (if they go to the University) they will start speaking to you in English and then it's awkward to try and switch the conversation back to Spanish.

I did not just make these rules up, other Ecuadorian's have told me. It is a different system of making friends for me and I wonder how to do it without good Spanish.

Non-existent Ecuadorian friends from USFQ aside, I found the first Harry Potter book in Spanish at my university's library! (haha after rereading that last sentence I now know why I have no new friends here...)