Going to hackathons is the easiest hack to building projects as a computer science student.

Reasons to go

• Make a team or find people there
• Build a nice project in the first 36-54 hours
• Present it in front of the judges
• Get free food and goodies
• Talk to and network with recruiters and company representatives

It's a win-win situation:

• It's free most of the times
• USA and Canada have a lot of hackathons

Definitely go and attend hackathons!