Etiquette aside, you should try to move up through the pack as efficiently as possible. If you're always looking up the road instead of at the few riders in front of you, as you should, you will be able to anticipate the ebbs and flows of the pack and use that to your advantage to move up. I think learning to relax and let the race come to you is the hardest thing for inexperienced racers to learn. They're always pushing, reacting, pushing, and that wears you out.
Learning to surf wheels through the field is an acquired skill that has to be learned through experience. Group rides are good slow motion low risk opportunities to do that. Once you get good at surfing wheels you will be able to put yourself where you want to be with minimal effort, instead of blasting up the sides.