Be good at learning. When you're in class, pay attention and be active in your learning, soak in everything, and don't fuck off with what you have to do.

When you come across a word you don't know, guess at its meaning, find out the correct meaning, then try to use it. Build associations. Learn how to memorize stuff. I usually do it through semantic association. You have to study and continuously review vocab or you'll forget stuff. Make good habits.

Know how you learn best and invent study habits that work for you. Personally, I narrate my day before I go to sleep. When I wake up and shower, I try to imagine hypothetical conversations and scenarios in my language. I listen to the radio in my language passively and actively depending, I read the news in my language every time I'm bored on my phone or waiting on the bus or something, and I have a few shows I watch.

Manage your stress and sleep. Understand that for things to get locked into your brain, you need REM sleep and alcohol will disrupt that encoding process. Review stuff before you sleep. You've gotta be mentally fit.

Don't let yourself hate your language. It is kinda easy to oversaturate yourself and lose motivation. You need that motivation to continually experiment with the language, build and develop those mental schemas, and build a more concrete foundational understanding of the language through trial and error.

Be proactive in learning. I like to take random specific topics that I find interesting and seek out vocabulary to be able to talk about it.

Know how to fuck stuff up. You're going to make a lot of mistakes. Be good at rolling with them efficiently and learning through trial and error instead of getting bogged down in the details, in the failures, or trying to look smart. It's your education, you know? You don't learn if you don't fuck up.

Otherwise... I mean, don't do the whole start-a-serious-relationship-thing like so many people try and fail to do at DLI. There is no time, it can distract from your sole mission, and statistically it won't last. Don't blow loads of money. Open your TSP and contribute to it. Don't fall too out of shape.

I mean, you kinda have to just learn how to ninja brain yourself into understanding your language. Learning a language is as much learning a language as it is learning how the brain works to integrate new information and concepts. Be open minded, relax, let the language happen, be diligent about your studies and responsibilities, and you'll hopefully do fine. It's really difficult, but doable.