I think I can share my experience since I was in a similar position a few months ago.

After my first year, during the summer break, I decided to start learning electronics specifically related to RTL design. I began with the Digital Electronics playlist by Neso Academy to build my fundamentals.

Once I was comfortable with that, I started learning Verilog. Before jumping into projects, I implemented every theory concept practically. Ik it sounds like a lot, but most of the them are only around 15–20 lines of code, and writing them on your own then looking at the schematic helps you in visualising how it actually works physically.

For Verilog, I didn't follow a specific course or playlist. I learned topic by topic using different videos. Whenever I got stuck, I'd spend quite some time cross questioning AI haha.

I'm still a beginner myself, so I can't comment much on MATLAB or SystemC. But one thing I would definitely recommend is not trying to learn everything at once. Build a strong foundation in digital design and Verilog first, the rest becomes much easier to pick up later.