I'm 22 right now, and I remember coming to a big college for the first time. I'm not gonna lie about it, for me, it's still hard for me to bring up tickling into general conversation. The good thing is that college is where you find so many different kinds of people, so chances are there HAS to be people out there who won't think you weird to be into tickling.
The hard part is not only finding them, but coming to terms with the fact that some people just find tickling odd or even kinky and just don't like it. For example, I desperately want to tickle a very good (and very HOT) friend of mine, but she just hates to be tickled, and thinks the whole foot fixation is gross and sick.
Soo, my advice to you is NOT to try to force tickling onto someone else, but try to bring it up casually. And alcohol is always a good place to start. Seriously, it can cover your ass, because you can act as goofy as you want, and later you can just blame the nasty brew.
Another personal story: A night out drinking with a friend of mine, and he starts talking about the girls, you know, guy stuff (old girlfriends, others we'd like to know better, yada, yada). Anyway, at one point, I just blurted out "I love ticklish girls." After downing his drink (FYI, we were seriously ripped that night), he questions me about it, and BAM, I'm talking about how much I like tickling.
Now, here is where it gets really good: We decide to call a few girls over, and I actually convinced him into tickling one of them. It was nothing serious, just play stuff.
Now, without the alcohol, you just have to suck it up, and put it out there when you're with a group you're comfortable with, and the topic of discussion is somewhat related to tickling (kids today still talk about sex, don't they?). No one should judge you on it, and if they do, punt on them and try bringing it up with other people. Just be patient, but keep your eyes and ears open. Parties are always a good hunting ground (again, the alcohol there can loosen you up to shake the anxiety). I saw this one girl getting tickled at a party, so I wandered over there, jokingly told them to break it up, and did the old "hey, I think I know you." and started chatting with her.
I used to tickle my ex-girlfriend, but no bondage, just tickle-fighting. Of course, we broke up (not bc of the tickling btw), but now I sometimes talk about her as a way to bring it up into discussion. I assume you never had a girlfriend like that since youre kinda still in the closet so to speak, but I guess you can always SAY you had such an ex-girlfriend -- if you don't mind lying to people about it.
There's no definite way around it, you just have to feel your way about how and when to bring it up. I'm not sure what advice you're looking for, but I hope to have covered it well.
Take care, good luck
