So after I have found seddit about half a year ago I finally decided to give it a try. So I tried using some of the stuff that I've read about here, grew some balls and asked a few girls out from my classes. I tried online game as well hoping to get some practice and maybe meet someone. But I got some not so favorable and utterly confusing examples with flaking etc. A few examples follow:

One of the women I knew from classes was always very talkative with me, lots of smiling and since she was quite attractive I asked her out. All went well until shortly before our departure. She realized that only at that time that we were going with just the two of us. She looked really distressed and asked a buddy of mine to come along. Well, I agreed, we had a pleasant evening, though not much sexual tension. What really flummoxed me was that she neither knew that this guy was a buddy of mine nor did she know him at all and still she had insisted on inviting him along, so that we wouldn't go with just the two of us. WTF?

Another girl gave me her number after I had asked her out (she had asked if we would see each other again in classes next semester. I took it as an IOI). Then she proclaimed that the winter weather is too cold for her and she doesn't want to go out! A Japanese girl from a party flaked on me 3 times though she had hung out with me at the party and invited me over. And she would make excuses like "I have a shift of my part-time job" (why do you only realize this shortly before we want to meet?) and afterwards write me how much she had loved to be there. This happened about 3 times until I made the decision to never initiate contact with her again.

Online game was even weirder: the reply rate was below 50% and among the replies there were both rejections and signs of interest concerning meeting up. So I was actually happy and hopeful that I could finally meet up with someone. What followed was that I was lead around by the nose as it seems. Even after they had shown interest and subsequent sending of a few mails back and forth to set up a date to meet, they suddenly stopped and were never heard of again. This happened several times. So I have no idea why they would display interest and then simply stop any contact even though they were proclaiming just one or two messages back that they would love to meet.

One girl was particularly confusing. She showed interest, bantered with me playfully and wanted to meet up. I proposed that she came over to my town for a visit, but suddenly something came up and she canceled the very same day we wanted to meet. Well, she still wanted to meet and invited me over to her place next week after she had finished her work. Since I wouldn't make it back in time to my town with the last train she proposed that I should stay at her place. Seemed like a code for sex. But later she would make excuses and find reasons why it wouldn't work. Not a word of staying at her place and I have no idea what had happened that she changed her mind so fast.

So, these were just a few examples of how my first tries after a long time of inactivity went. It was actually really disappointing and detrimental to my self-esteem. Also it's disconcerting that I don't know why it turned out like this. I would appreciate it if someone could give me a piece of advice.

tldr: I did my first steps with seduction and got disappointed and discouraged by subsequent rejections. Some women showed interest, but went cold abruptly. Any advice for the beginner?