how can I make friends irl when I'm so shy?

So I've been going outside a lot more often in an attempt to meet new people and practice my social skills, but for some reason its SO hard for me to show my real personality when talking to strangers like I'll be talking to someone at the skatepark and even though I'm excited to converse all my answers to their topics come off so bland and uninterested. It's not till after a few days of knowing them do I feel comfortable to start laughing and stuff around them for some reason. It might just be nerves, but whatever it is it's kind of detrimental to future relationships as not everyone would be willing to talk to a walking corpse for 3 days just to get to know me :/