First and foremost, you don't have to stay on the distro you start with. You can try a few, spend a week running it, and then reinstall with something else. Distro hopping is the process if changing distro frequently and is in my opinion a very useful start for learning Linux.

Second, Ubuntu is a perfectly fine distro. I don't like or use it, but I also don't really like chocolate but love licorice, it really is a matter of preference. If you never try it you will never know if it is good for you.

I think the best path would be to either use virtual machines on your main system or try a few distros out on your Windows 8 machine. I would recommend trying a few of the most popular distros including Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, EndeavourOS, elementary, and maybe Pop!OS. That should cover most of the different desktop environments, packaging systems, and overall design methodologies and give you a really rounded sense of what is out there. It should also give you opportunities to have things break a little and for you to try to solve those problems. I find that different distros present failures a little differently and their solutions also work differently, so finding one that works well for you is key.

I personally ended up switching from a vanilla Arch install to EndeavourOS a year or two ago because it had great sane defaults, good packaging, and fantastic performance. The clarity of the logs was better in my mind than what was available in Ubuntu based distros and while I love Arch it was a bit too demanding of my time to figure out each and every choice of package. EndeavourOS gave me good solid defaults and reduced my work load.

Just remember, your choice of distro is like your choice of underwear. You have to wear it, make it comfortable for you and your junk, not for someone else's.