Go for Medium Fittings as they're the most versatile and thus the "safest" for players. If you're there for support, go Logistics, if you're there to kill go for Assault. Pick one of the two and stick with it. You'll need about 5 months to really get deep into the role(Proto Suits, Proto Weapons, Complex Modules, Proto Grenades, etc). Keep a game plan and work towards it.

1. Try to get a Prototype Suit first
2. A Prototype weapon is also important
3. Don't neglect Handheld Weapon Operation(or whatever the skill is called that gives you passive bonus damage for all weapons)
4. Work on your preferred choice of HP(Armor or Shields)
5. Grenades aren't a must have but are cool to have(pro-tip Flux grenades clear out enemy equipment much better)
6. Take note of what everybody else is using

As far as races go:

Caldari dropsuits are meant for keeping distance OR hit-and-runs. The upcoming Caldari Rail Rifle allows you to take down Gallente armor tankers from a distance or run up on them with SMGs and strafe around their bullets until their down. Both should be viable methods. Caldari are the faster of the races, being right under Minmatar

Gallente dropsuits are meant for closer combat than the Caldari with the Gallente Assault Rifles actually sucking at long range hits. You don't want to be stuck in a corridor with a Gallente who has stacked damage mods and about 700+ eHP(Shields+Armor).

Amarr are meant to be the real Armor Tankers, able to sit and take hits while they kill you down with their Amarr Scrambler Rifles(they can take out 1000+ eHP with two hits at their highest caliber, I've heard). Amarr have the habit of coming off as thuggish or pushy just because of their Armor stacking capabilities. They're slower than the other suits but that definitely does not handicap them.

Minmatar are meant to speed tank around with versatility, but currently the Minmatar are really UP compared to other suits, although you can still be a slayer with it, you'll have to go to unorthodox methods of slaying to get the job done. More than likely if CCP doesn't adjust these dropsuits soon, players will probably find a work around to using them properly despite their drawbacks because Minmatar are the most crafty

^ I forgot to mention the Minmatar's Combat Rifle but really I don't know how they will work with Minmatar's yet.

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On a side note, I'd advise you to join a corp or popular chat channel other than local so that you may get the experience from playing with many different kinds of players. There's less incentive to play solo than there is to play as a team.

Edit: Don't worry about dying a lot...Everyone goes through it from the start. You see those people sniping on the redline when the battle could be won? Those are the same people who don't become valuable mercs in the game or community. I've finally just gotten my KD/R to 1.07(I die more than I need to >.>) and I'm a pretty above average merc that has the experience of losing thousands of times to double those loses into wins.