Japanese is a pain, yes, but don't grow too complacent after the first few classes. After all, the language course cannot teach you everything. Learning passively while watching anime is actually good - it helps train your ear for the language. If your college participates in any sort of foreign exchange, see if there are Japanese students there to practice with. Conversation skills are incredibly hard to develop if you don't speak it routinely. If there aren't any Japanese students, try to form a group with your classmates and practice conversations with them. My friends and I sometimes call each other see how long we last by speaking Japanese only. Over Facebook, we also message each other in Japanese.
I also suggest you practice typing in Japanese. Any computer will have an option in their Language settings that asks if you want a Japanese keyboard. Start typing before you get to class to get your kanji and katakana typing speeds up to make your essays go by much easier. And the best advice I have for you - if you're thinking about any extended stay in Japan or plan to involve yourself in Japanese long-term, I suggest researching the Japanese culture and their lifestyle. This does not include anime, manga, or videogames. One of the main issues with people taking Japanese is that sometimes they don't realize their perception of Japan is Internet stereotype at best. In order for you to effectively communicate, you must understand their background and take it into consideration. For example, some phrases in anime like 行け!(pronounced 'ike', means GO!!!) uses a verb form known as plain command form. The plain command form is quite common in Japanese media, especially in manga and anime, since to conveys the right amount of urgency and power for a desperate situation. However, if you use that phrase in real life, it would be considered extremely forceful and rude.
That's enough of my spew. Japanese is a wonderful language to learn despite all its challengers. Though, to be fair, English was actually my second language, and if I wasn't born in America, I would've never gotten the hang of it. So don't worry, you're fluent in one of the world's hardest languages already. (So many danged grammar exceptions and oddities...)