Hi Diva,
I just wanted to say that I also experience a lot of fear and anxiety about going to new places (even just driving a new way home fills me with panic, I always take the same paths/roads). Because of this, I make sure to take steps to reduce my fear as much as possible. For example, before I went back to school three years ago, I made sure to drive to campus several times during the summer to be very familiar with the commute before the first day of class. That way, I would not worry about getting lost and being late on the first day (getting lost and being late is my specialty!). I was able to see how long it took too to help me with the timing of my drive (I live over an hour away from campus). Once I was at the campus, I made sure to pick up a campus map and walk around, familiarizing myself with the layout of the buildings, where the food places were, and where the bathrooms were. This really helped to lessen my anxiety on the first day. Thankfully, I will be returning to the same campus this fall, so nothing new, yeah!
Good idea about the Panic Center. I should probably check that out too.
About failing or messing up, I think this is such an important issue, and one that is so hard to get over sometimes. I plan to be an ESL teacher someday (English as a Second Language), and so often, ESL students will be frozen with fear of making a mistake that they will not participate in class (which means they are not learning). I have this idea of making a reward chart for "mistakes" in my class to encourage the students to make mistakes and participate. I want to keep track of each person's wrong answers (in a silly and fun way) and whoever gets the most will win some sort of prize at the end of the day. I am a strong believer that mistakes are an important step in learning a new language (and probably in learning or doing anything else). As a teacher, I want my students to make mistakes and make lots of them. Then we will work on those mistakes as a team.
Maybe we could somehow apply that idea to ourselves? Like each time we make a mistake, think..."Yay! I am on my way to learning or accomplishing something!" I find that when I am not making mistakes, I am not trying or doing anything. Inactivity and just staying in my comfort zone is a very safe, boring, depressing, mistake-free place to be.
So I hope you go out there and make some really fun, awsome mistakes and know that everything will be ok no matter what. Plus, I have found that if you ask, there are a lot of people who will help out, including everything from navigating the buses to getting around campus to whatever else you need. Sometimes we just need to ask.
Just an idea! Also, sounds like you would be the perfect person to start the thread! 
It takes courage to fail and keep trying. 
