/what/ - mugi

TL;DR - I can only either flirt or be incredibly submissive around attractive men when I just want to be their friend. Help!

Hi guys I really don't know who to talk to so I'm gonna turn to you amazing people! Thanks in advance for reading.

Firstly some family background: all but one of the cousins in my generation are girls. Two on my dad's side and 7 on my mom's side. There is one guy cousin on my mom's side but he is 20+ years older than me so he's always felt more like an uncle. When I was 9 my mom and I moved to a different country without my dad, so I didn't really have a male figure around growing up. Before 9 my dad was super busy working so it wasn't too different.

When I was 11 I was put into a all girls private school so boys were like mystical unicorns… I left that school when I was 17 and started university. I met my current boyfriend in university ~3 years ago.

The problem: I moved across the world to pursue a postgrad degree, and my dorm is around 80% men or more. I don't want to be a loner so I want to make friends, but I've no idea how to make friends with guys, especially those who I find attractive. I only know how to flirt with men and not how to talk to them normally. I feel really bad because I actually want to know them as people and not lead people on but my brain just will not let me do that! Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to just be myself?