I think it will be good for you to get out there and try some of the alternatives. That way when you come back you will have more appreciation for C2. Not trying to be offensive (and not claiming that c2 is perfect either) but in my opinion this is hands down the best software for ambitious beginners.
Maybe the problem for you was that there wasn't 1 clear cut way of doing everything. It is a shame you didn't ask for help earlier because you would have got it.
As for networking though, designing a network game is hard and you need to plan in advance so it is not the best thing to start with as newt said. When you do return be prepared to put in a reasonable amount of time to learn the fundamentals.
@Winkr7 off topic but regarding the wait 0 thing - basically if you ever find the event sheet skips something (like you create a bullet and assign it a variable and then pick that bullet by its variable and it doesn't work) then a wait 0 or wait 0.1 can allow it to catch up and pick properly. Its rare that you ever have to do it and is kind of hacky really.