Most of the answers here sound like they’ve been written by some 12 year old. As for your question, your intention isn’t really to know how our first year was like, it is to know how YOUR first year will be like.
It all starts off with you finding you way to your hostel room, the very first day you arrive in Manipal after being admitted. The same night, when you have settled down in your rooms, there’s a very good chance there will be a knock on the door by some random guy/girl, followed by a group of people, who’ve just come by to ‘get to know more people’. You’ll roam around the corridors and there’ll be a lot of you and you’ll get to know a lot of people. And this is good! (If this doesn’t happen by 9pm, the guys/girls on your floor are introverted a-holes. If that happens, please make sure YOU are that random guy/girl who goes around knocking.)