Thanks for the replies everyone.

I'm in a kind of strange situation I suppose, and honestly I'm not sure why I didn't think of the difficulties of having a language barrier before I moved here, where English is not the main spoken language. So many people assured me that "everyone" in Europe--especially Western Europe--speaks English, they all learn it in school; well, despite that absolutely NOT being the case, many people are unwilling to say anything at all in English or just know enough to help direct you places. So before I can even get into common interests, the whole, "can I actually understand you?" issue comes up.

But I suppose this also has a benefit of really, really making me go out, and working hard to find English speaking people. And I have definitely met some, and I have a good time for those brief hours when I'm out, but as soon as I go home the isolation just starts over again. And I think you're right, s4ndm4n2006, that I don't open up very easily, and that's because I don't want to scare people off. I made the mistake of being honest with my college roommate and she actually switched dorms because I was "crazy." So I just act goofy and over-the-top and try to make people laugh and generally degrade and humiliate myself in the process to some extent. I know it's stupid to go out and act like this and then turn around and complain that no one takes me seriously, but honestly I'm unsure of any other way to even get my foot in the door in social situations.

I'm really just very surprised to find myself feeling just as lonely now--when I actually GO places and TALK to people--as I was in my darkest days 3 years ago. But I'm sure there's a whole host of things I'm doing wrong without even realizing it...