You'll be presented with a login prompt. Just type in your user name and password and you will be logged in. Your account information can be modified by running the chfn command. This will change your name, phone numbers, and other information that appear when you finger your account. You can also create a .plan and a .project file which will be displayed when you finger your account.
Most new accounts are setup to use bash as the shell.
You can change this with the chsh command. You should change your password on a regular basis. Use the passwd command to do this. There is a lot of software that you can run besides the normal email or news program. Have a look around to see what's there.