C172 pilot describes his first solo IMC flight after receiving an instrument rating.

Narrative

This was my first instrument flight under real-life IMC conditions. I was a nervous wreck already. But I knew I had to go through with a short flight to build up confidence and to be able to use the skills I have just obtained in getting my instrument rating. I picked a short flight for this trip. I had just departed FRG on a SID. As soon as I entered the clouds at approx 800 FT my heart was pounding and the only thing that was going through my mind was to keep the plane under control and to calm myself down. Through all of this I misread the departure procedure and had a loss of judgment. The procedure said to fly out on a heading of 013 from Runway 1. For whatever reason I made a right turn to 130 and the Controller was getting upset with me. This situation made me even more nervous and thankfully it took a while and the Controller gave me new vectors to the JFK VORTAC. This was a learning experience to say the least. I really should have invested in a CFI coming along on the trip with me. However on the bright side after about 40 minutes in the clouds I became a lot more relaxed and now have the confidence to do it again but I will not make that mistake again.