Think of the first week or two as a job interview or a date, really be on your toes and warm, welcoming, friendly, extroverted, talkative, get to know absolutely everyone you can. At university it is often not what you know, but who you know! The more friends you make, and the subsequent social circles you have access to, the more resources you will have at your disposal. This comes in handy come assignment and exam time, as you will find that students will secretly have all sorts of illegitimate study materials such as previous semesters exams, assignments, and if your lucky even a copy of the the exam itself! International students are particularly good for this, cause often they will form groups with other members of their own nationality, which means they often have many friends who are further ahead in the course than you (2nd, 3rd years students, etc). This is where all the good stuff like the previous exams and assignments flow from!
If your not naturally a sociable/talkative person, just ask lots of questions to random people in your course/subjects about anything university related:
where to get second-hand textbooks?
where's the best food around?
can we go to different lectures at different times?
did you have any trouble doing this weeks tutorial?
you heard there is a real discrepancy between the lecturers; do you know which lecturers is the best for this subject?
yada yada yada
You will find that just having communicated with someone who is in your course/subject, no matter how briefly, means that over the coming weeks you will be bumping into them in class or on campus and naturally conversations will arise with each other about the course, material, etc.
Oh, and study hard
