Do you have any hobbies, no matter how obscure? That’s often a great gateway to meet people with a shared interest. If you don’t have one, look for nearby homeless shelters / churches. They often have volunteer programs where you can do anything from feeding the homeless, to helping pick up trash, etc. This work tends to be very fulfilling because you can cause a positive impact in the area that you live in. You will probably also meet a person or two while doing this.

People love to talk about themselves, so if you do manage to chat someone up at one of these events, ask them about their life. Try to steer the questions towards one that don’t have a yes/no answer, and keep engaging them and asking follow up questions. Making acquaintances is basically as easy as that. Do that long enough and you’ll have more than one friend.

TLDR: Find people with shared interests; engage them in conversation. Repeat until friend[s] acquired. Easy as that.