lol yeah bro, fully expecting that internship my 4th semester to have no pay. but like you said, gonna have to go ham
last bit of advice then I'll jump down off my pulpit. READ-READ-Experiment-READ.
just reading the course material is sufficient but to truly grab the bull by the horns, read all you can outside of course material that's related to the subject at hand (Blogspot, News Articles, books) and also try using VM (Virtual Machines) to help you test out theories and understandings to help you better grasp the information. good luck homie! and stick with it even when it's getting tough.