games

First I'd say don't worry about that too much. As long as you aren't trying to fly into one of the busier airports at peak times the controllers will be happy to help. You can pretty much always find smaller fields with only a couple scheduled flights at any given time.

Before I got on mic for the first time I spent a while listening to liveATC.net while following the airfield on https://globe.adsbexchange.com/. Really helps to hear the communication flow with the visual aid. I particularly liked doing that at KPVU as their airspace is pretty small so it's always easy to find who the tower is talking to, but it still gets a mix of VFR and IFR flights from small jets and even several A320s per day. Also a lot of student pilots out there which is nice because at the big international airports they all speak incredibly fast with a lot more mumbling, and then you get split towers for quadrants / runways and it all just gets harder to follow.

For me the hardest part was getting used to reading instructions back, so practice saying it out loud when you're listening to the stream. I like to keep a little notebook on my desk to write everything down in shorthand when the ATC is talking so I can just read it back without stressing too much.

I'm assuming you already know how to read charts, but if not that should be your first priority. I use navigraph, which is amazing, but there are free services out there too. Just make sure you have both departure and arrival charts all setup before pushback.

I might reply again if I think of anything else, but mostly just don't stress too much. I know I did before I got on for the first time, but everything was chill even as I was fucking up my readbacks and getting lost on the taxiway a few times. The controllers are all extremely patient and helpful in my experience.