Building Real Connections at Work

I have always struggled building relationships with my colleagues. I remembered the first time I got an internship before entering university, I felt lucky to be asked to lunch on my first day. The prospect of being an ostracized worker for lunch outings and general workplace gossips always place some fear in me. Hence, I constantly strive to improve my communication skills and aspire to be more hardworking and enthusiastic. However, I am usually the silent one during lunches and dinners in the past as I just cannot open up as fast as other new interns or colleagues.

That all changed when I entered university as I found my own identity and could always readily talk about topics more comfortably with others. A failed bulge bracket interview for global markets during my junior year has also made me extremely motivated to improve my communication skills. Below are some of the things that I have done in order to be more comfortable socially:

However, I have always found workplace interactions intimidating. The point I am writing this post today is because I want to seek real advice from other professionals out there who have worked hard their entire lives and know the nuances of getting comfortable in a professional setting while building real connections. This is because I am going on a new internship this summer (2nd year in university now) and really wish to build some solid and real connections with some of my colleagues that can go beyond work.

The reason why I am posting in this forum is because I am actually going on a Venture Capital internship. Hence, I would really appreciate all advice from seasoned professionals. Some of the things that would really help are suggestions on:

Do give me some feedbacks, thank you very much.