If you use a tool called Ventoy, you can put multiple distributions on a USB stick, and boot to them to try them out.

I'd check out different desktop environments and see what you like - they're interchangeable, but it helps in choosing a distro. You can find YouTube videos comparing them, or try them out yourself.

Linux Mint, or Linux Mint Debian Edition if you want to bypass Ubuntu. Reliable, users friendly, not incredibly customizable.

If you like KDE, Kubuntu is a good start. If you like GNOME, Ubuntu or others.

You don't have to do something related to Ubuntu, but there's a lot of software for it and plenty of instructions online.