Not enough ‘Gun Pron’ on this thread.
Missy, the most important thing is to "try before you buy". Only you can balance 'felt recoil' versus power, judge how comfortable you are with a semi-auto versus a revolver, and most importantly what is a natural holder and pointer for YOU. It varies. So shoot a wide range of firearms before you come to a decision. In fact, I would finish the course and get some quality range time under your belt before you shell out the first dime for your own firearm.
With that said, be careful not to limit yourself to the smaller calibers and especially not the smaller firearms. A small caliber in a small firearm may well have more felt recoil than a larger caliber in a larger firearm. I have a little Walther PPK/S in .380 (9mm kurz) that I carry in the summer, and that rascal kicks like a mule compared to my full size 1911A1 in .45 ACP. What is more important is how the larger handguns fit in YOUR hand. I have large hands for a woman, so size is not really an issue, but I find that the flat sides of the semi-autos fit my hand better than the curved grip of a revolver. I'll guarantee that your mileage will vary!
If you are going to be a regular range shooter, I would say go with the semi-auto, but if you're just going to carry or keep it in the home without regular practice, I'd go with the revolver. Semi-autos require that you learn clearing drill to quickly clear stovepipes, failure to feed, etc. So long as you're ready to do that and keep in practice, great. If not, the revolver is fairly foolproof (although they CAN jam too, and it's happened to me, it's much more rare).
Personally, if I were not going to be doing a lot of shooting, I would buy a .357 revolver -- NOT an "airweight" but just an ordinary medium frame -- and load it with .38 specials for practice and carry the .357s in it.
But I would suggest taking up a shooting sport of some kind -- not necessarily pistol but even skeet or trap -- because it trains your eye and your hand. Like anything else, you won't be good at this until your motor memory is trained. My current shooting hobby is Cowboy Action Shooting, which I bet you would enjoy. The only downside is you have to buy a buncha firearms (oh rats! < g > ). I shoot .357 revolvers but use downloaded .38s in competition. There's basically no recoil (the first couple of times I shot one, I did a doubletake - "did it go off? was that a misfire?")