I haven't been shooting film for long, but I've been developing b&w since I started. I'm a chemistry student so it was logical considering a shop selling darkroom chemicals is all of five minutes walk from my house haha.
Start with black and white. It's cheapest and doesn't really need any temperature control, room temp is normally fine. That's in comparison to say, e6 (slide) which needs to be 38ºC +/- 1/2º. Search google for tutorials, they'll be some on youtube. Use deionised water, google it.
Get darkroom equipment on ebay, people are always getting rid of kit they used twice. Chemicals are available from loads of places, I'm not familiar with American places but B&H have a good range. You could also try getting a kit first time, they tend to have instructions of what to do as well.
You know those two rolls of film that you shot through ages ago and don't care to develop? Use them to practice opening the canister, both in light and in the changing bag.
Use a changing bag when you're putting the film into the canister, that way you can do it all in a light room. I do this in my bedroom haha, I only need my uni darkroom for printing. I think most people here scan negatives, but in my mind making prints is the second most fun part of the process, after actually taking the photos. Printing actually requires a fully dark room, then you can use a red safelight. This may or may not be easy, depending on the room.