Yes, you are behind as you say, but good choice to jump in still
There is nothing like "opening an account". Bitcoin de facto does not exist. To have a bitcoin means that you have access to part of blockchain and you can give the access to someone else.
It is very stupid to give your bitcoins to anybody else, like when you have money in a bank. Yes, most people will do it this was, like with Coinbase, but there is no reason for middlemen. You can have the private keys only for yourself.
There are two reasons why to do that:
1. Nobody can ever steal your "bitcoins", unless they steal your privatekeys/hack your wallet.
2. Coinbase and other online wallets are already regulated and it will be even worse. Gamblers from US were complaining to me, that coinbase (pushed by US gvmnt) denies them to use bitcoins for gambling. Incredible but true. No need to go through this.
So I use for example Electrum wallet. It is safe, very easy and intuitive. There are 2 ways how to do backup of it. This is like my cold wallet. Then of course for online transactions some online wallet is handy. I use the one at blockchain.info, but Coinbase will be fine as well.
Maybe you are asking where to buy Bitcoin. For me Kraken is perfect, the best place but for EUR <-> BTC, not for USD.
Bottom line is that nobody should ever leave most of his bitcoins at online wallet or at exchange, like many people did it at MtGox.
If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.