I suck at talking to people

I find this happening in friend-of-a-friend situations a lot.

I also suggest real-life practice and common topic pursuit. I think stuff like the weather should be last attempts because I always see that as sort of desperation to fill a void of silence. That's the kind of thing you can talk about with any random stranger, and even just blurt out to a random person on the street. I try to take a genuine interest in the other person and inquire about them. Not enough to just say the words but I also try to actually feel interested. Very common topics for my age include "what's your major?", "what do you plan on doing afterwards?", "how do you know so and so?", etc. They almost always reciprocate back and you find at least something to talk about. As long as it's not something terribly inane, I think it would help a bit stimulating an exchange of ideas rather than feel obligated to force something.

If we run out of stuff to talk about or the other person doesn't seem interested to talk with you, then whatever.

Jam it back in, in the dark.