As the above said, listening is about all you can do without a license. And as far as listening goes, depending on your location you may have some ham repeaters that you can hear

repeaters are often the most reliable way of hearing anything.

If you're near the coast or maybe a large lake, you can also pick up the marine channels.

I would recommend getting the programming cable, programming in the local ham repeaters, marine channels (if applicable), FRS, and maybe emergency services or anything else you think of. Then just set it to scan and listen!