One of the best places to start getting to know people is at your university or institution. It's very likely that there are other students on your course who have also just moved to the area, and may not know many people either. Ask around if there are any social events planned for your course – a welcome party or a trip to a bar, for example – and if not, organise one yourself. This doesn't have to be a lot of work: just let people know that you're holding a welcome event at a nearby location and it's likely plenty of other people from your course will want to attend. Once you're at such an event, it's easy to find topics that you can discuss with everyone – where do they come from, what's their academic background, what do they think of the course so far, and so on. It's also worth looking for university events beyond your specific course. Some universities hold events specifically for new international students, or social mixer events for all new students in the institution.