I feel like you people are doing this in the reverse order. You expect first to get in a shell, and then make friends, rather than make friends, and then get in their shell. I can't avoid feeling like you don't know how friendships work, those big friendly shells aren'd made by people who are hunting down a shell to talk and stuff- They're made by friends, who invite other friends, who invite other friends (even if they are bads, that you want to punch in the face until they learn to count to three).

So I suggest just, y'know, try to make a couple of friends, start it up yourself or join theirs, get one of their friends.