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A friend once told me that life is nothing but a series of highly awkward moments. I initially thought this to be witty but wholly untrue. Then I opened a conversation that night with the timeless, “What’s your major?” and was met with the equally timeless uneasy chuckle followed by the search for the quickest possible exit. In all seriousness, there is no situation that better exemplifies this than the one that many on the UCLA campus are experiencing right now: orientation.

College orientation is an especially awkward time. You generally walk in knowing few people and quickly rush to find those you most identify with, then just as quickly try to meet as many people as possible to gain some semblance of normalcy. This process is made even more difficult if, like me, you somehow end up at the athlete orientation session and, when asked by the athletes what you play, you frown and respond, “jazz piano?”

Understandably, one of the only ways many people can think to start a conversation with a complete stranger is to ask about majors and hope a friendship develops around that. Incidentally, this appears to be the only time at UCLA that opening a conversation with “What’s your major?” is socially acceptable. After orientation and Welcome Week, posing this question, especially to the opposite sex, seems to be akin to Ralph Wiggum asking Lisa Simpson if she likes stuff in the classic episode of “The Simpsons,” “I Love Lisa.”

But these proceedings are even more uncomfortable with the addition of various getting-to-know-you games and activities that you play with your orientation group. You know the drill: Go around in a circle telling your name and something interesting about yourself, perhaps toss a bean bag among yourselves while calling out newly learned names.

This is all well and good, but there is a much easier way to quickly find people you identify with and perhaps even form some long-lasting friendships: Take a look at each other’s iPods.

This may sound trite, but take a moment to seriously consider it; it’s very difficult to find a better conversation starter than a discussion of favorite music. Sure, you can always start an intense conversation about politics and religion but, well, you won’t always make any friends that way and more often than not you will actually create some pretty awesome adversaries.

These days, with the proliferation of so many different MP3 players and the popularity of file sharing and music downloading, more people listen to music than ever before. In a sense, it’s almost a sure-fire way to break the ice.

As you can see, this is a great way to figure out the people that you most identify with. So you’re a music-obsessed lunatic with a 60 GB iPod filled to the brim with Cibo Matto, Sonic Youth and Mogwai albums? Chances are you won’t really identify with someone who has an iPod mini overflowing with dozens of different remixes of “Freek-A-Leek” and Usher’s “Yeah,” as well as the entire Three Doors Down catalog.

Most importantly, talking about music can get you to talk to and make friends with people you may not have given a second thought about otherwise. A person may seem wholly uninteresting, but the second they voice a shared love for one of your favorite bands, or perhaps even something completely bizarre that piques your interest, you suddenly have a beacon in the fog of awkward moments.

So as you take part in orientation and go through the many motions of meeting new people and making new friends, always be sure to query people on their musical preferences. It’s a perfectly acceptable introductory question when meeting a complete stranger.

That is, unless it’s prefaced with “So, I know we’ve never met, but I noticed on Facebook that you like some interesting music ...”

At that point, regaling your new friend with your ambitious plans to double-major in aerospace engineering and public administration could only be an improvement.

E-mail Humphrey at mhumphrey@media.ucla.edu.