Hey Ktru19, welcome to the forum.
When choosing a (bitcoin) btc wallet it is better to have one that is not on the internet (like blockchain). You can choose whatever type you want, however make sure that it has good security.
Exchanges come and go. Stay away from the ones that look like scams or are defunct. (Mt. Goxx, Cryptsy). If you would like a tutorial on how to trade on them the Rimbit forum has 2 great tutorials on how to trade on ccex and yobit. Link here:
http://rimbit.com/documents/I haven't purchased from anyone here so I would not be the best person to answer this.
Paypal is not a safe enough method because the transactions can be reversed where bitcoin transactions are final.
Yes, wea re from every continent on the planet earth. Some may be from pluto... whoops... nobody is supposed to know that
Stay excited, digital coins are awesome.