Congratulations on your internship.

It sounds to me like you could get some benefit out of going to see a therapist to help you with this issue. It might be worth going to see your GP first too.

Firstly I would say, don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You don’t have to be a social butterfly if you don’t want to.

Why not just take it one step at a time? You could set yourself the goal of visiting one new place a week. You could aim to visit at a time when you feel safe, say mid-afternoon on a weekend, for a limited period of an hour or so.

It might help you to reduce your anxiety if you plan your trips in advance. You could print out a map and trace your route on it. You could make sure you have any public transport timetables that you need too. If it helps you could also do a virtual walk of the place you are going to see using Google Street View.

It might also be worth using a site like Meetup.com to see what socialising groups are available in your area.

I hope you have a great summer.