This is a throwaway. Essentially I've been following this sub for years and read all relevant material. I've tried on and off to apply the principles with minimal success and recently have felt bummed out. Before class I was studying on some benches when I noticed a cute girl reading a book on a nearby bench. I thought to myself, fuck it, worst case scenario I get rejected again. So I went inside the class, took a shit, came back out and directly approached.

Trick to beat approach anxiety: Instead of framing it as "I need to impress her" or even the often touted "I want to get to know her". I just told myself "I want to make her nervous". Why? You know when you talk to a girl that's gorgeous and our heart races, you stumble over your words and feel like an idiot? I want to induce that feeling.

I walked up, told her she was pretty and I felt I needed to introduce myself. She was laying down when I said this and she jolted up, and made room for me to sit with her. We spoke for a while and had a decent convo before class. Funny thing was, I left with a mehh feeling. She didn't seem all that great. For example we started talking about her background and I found out she was latina (I am too). I asked her if she knew spanish and she responded with "A little but I speak English more because its america and people should learn to speak f*'ing english".

She totally meant it as a joke, but I just stared at her blankfaced and she noticed it was a horrible joke and when I told her I was hispanic she changed the subject.

She also kept making references to how she was terrible at one class or the other. completely diminishing her intelligence even though she seemed like a well spoken and thoughtful girl otherwise. Seemed like she lacked a bit of confidence in herself.

In the end I asked her out for Sat and she said she had plans with friends but invited me to them. I thought fuck that and my expression reflected it. She instead offered her number and I said we will figure out another time.

I'll give it a shot, but I'm not illusioned. Turns out looks aren't everything.