Hi! So I just downloaded the free trial of adobe Lightroom cc, is that anything like the actual product I'd eventually purchase? it is nothing like any tutorials I see.

The free trial of Lightroom IS the full program. But you need to understand that there are two different programs. You indicated that you have downloaded the free trial of Lightroom CC. Lightroom CC is NOW a cloud-based program. It is new, introduced late in 2017. When you use Lightroom CC your images are imported and sent directly to the cloud. You can choose to also have the images are stored locally on your computer but that's a choice you have to make. Images that you import are immediately made available on all your mobile devices as well, and can be modified on those devices. Lightroom CC has a more limited set of tools, but it is growing and will continue to grow.

Lightroom Classic CC is a more mature product. It has been around for about a decade. Images are stored in folders on your computer. It's possible to create collections that can be shared in the cloud. These images are not full-sized images and do not count against allotted storage limits.

Both versions of Lightroom have trial versions. So you need to decide which version you prefer and then make your choice. You'll find that many of the tutorials that are available online are probably for Lightroom Classic CC or older versions of that version.

Try the forum for Lightroom.