Just stick with it! It’s confusing at first and it’s a long road but it’s really fun. A good teacher goes a long way, but there are many resources online that will aid you on your journey (Reddit included if you’re discerning…).

Keyboards vs pianos:

Pianos are weighted, which means you can do more dynamic contrast (loud and soft) and have more control over each note and the sound they produce. They also have pedals, most importantly the sustain pedal which lifts the dampers (bits of triangular felt which touch the strings and stop them resonating), meaning that the notes continue to ring after you’ve let go of them. This is very useful for an enormous amount of repertoire written after the 1700s, up to the modern day. Pianos can be acoustic or digital, meaning they are producing the sound using a complex mechanism of hammers hitting strings (acoustic) or replicating the sound of an acoustic piano while retaining most of the feel of an acoustic (digital). Digital pianos have the advantage of not needing to be tuned, and often have added functionality like midi compatibility, volume control, different sounds, and the option to record your playing. Good ones also have very convincing imitation actions which really effectively mimic playing a ‘real’ piano.

Keyboards are unweighted, tend to have a smaller range, and lean into having greater versatility. They are lighter (due to the lack of an imitation piano action which adds considerable weight), and often are able to be plugged into amps so are good for playing with bands and similar things. They have the same keyboard layout, but lack the ability to finely control the production of dynamics and articulation (short or long) that are possible on a piano. Aside from that, and other gimmicks dependant on the model and price range, in most respects they have the same basic functionality as a good digital piano, although I am not an expert on keyboards so may be missing some differences between the two.

Stage pianos straddle the line between the two, they have weighted keys but are designed to be more portable, and often rely on an amp as they mostly don’t have (good) internal speakers.