pfft, micromouse can have character, and style. i've seen mice with googly eyes, go faster stripes, and the holy grail, blue LEDs!
anyway, to the original poster:
micromouse is a fun hobby, welcome to the community!
A good way to get started is with a wall following mouse. these can range from simple mechanical devices, which use their forward momentum to "bounce" off the walls and turn, therefore following the left hand walls, to simple electronic none contact wall followers, which use IR or sonar, with a few logc gates to create the same effect, up to fully featured mice that could become maze solvers with a few K more programming!
i'd suggest building yourself a mini maze, you can find the plans on the net, these are built from MDF and have all the features you can find in a regular, full size maze, but are easy to carry and store
Then work upwards, from a simple contact wall follower, to a fully fledged solver
Hope to see you next year at MINOS 06 or TIC