Fencing Upgrade

My fencing teacher is starting up a Competition class in July: two hours a week plus additional out-of-class bouting, and I'd have to upgrade to electric fencing gear. My classmates in the intermediate class are trying to get me to commit, and (despite my general horridness as a fencer) I'm inclined to do so. My objection to bouting (where the real experience and practice comes in) has always been the cultural one of having to insert myself into a group of people I don't know and say "Hey, me next!" which I am generally (don't laugh) too shy to do. But this class will remove that objection, since I'll be working with people I mostly know, and won't have to feel like I'm forcing myself into the class. The question comes down to: do I want to spend the money, do I want to spend the time, and how much of an appetite for public humiliation in the cause of improvement do I have? I'm thinking the answers are going to be yes, yes, and Oh, what the hell.