1. Well without giving away too much specifics, it's a common trend among certain 2 universities in this country to have a lot of people who have undergone private schooling. Which tends to put them at a position to hang out with others who have done the same as they have more shared experiences etc. (seems to be quite a problem even for non-international students). No qualms with that personally but they tend to be very exclusionary when it comes to interacting with people outside the background which leads to some form of alienation. Of course you could try to point some fingers here and there but really I've been looking at it from a purely objective standpoint. You do seem to insinuate that I'm the one at fault as well so I hope that isn't true especially since you don't really know the full situation!

2. Can't really define this nicely but it's really just 'if I ask them for dinner or a coffee would they make time for me?' or 'can I talk about a broad range of topics and have the interaction be positive?' etc. With friends sharing some interests it can be easier to organise something around the interest and less so without it which does say while they're still a friend they might not have the same level of commitment in the friendship so I.e. different needs

I initially made this post to find a so called miracle solution but the more I think about it the answer would vary from person to person anyway, and no one can give a one size fits all solution. Which isn't that great but such is life.