Easiest start: a wallet you control. Cake Wallet on your phone (open source, iOS/Android, built-in swaps), or the official Monero GUI on desktop, downloaded from getmonero.org only. Write the seed words on paper, nowhere else. Then get a small amount (swap a little BTC, or buy P2P) and do a tiny test send. Contra's new address is right there for that. Phone or desktop for you?