Well, first let's start by going to the right forum, Strategy

To answer your question of practically "How to Play", we have
The Society of Cooks to help you get a little better at your basic understanding of the game, and how things work before throwing you into the ocean of available CC game settings.
Secondly, the rules on here are not like RISK, to an extent. This site and Hasbro have nothing to do with each other, and you'll find that it is unique to other forms of world domination games. Once you have mustered up a well understanding of the game and how it works on this site, I then suggest to pick a map you like, see if there is an appropriate
Strategy Guide, and go from there. Specializing your areas at first might be the best way for you to build a solid foundation of the game before branching out to other maps and methods of gameplay.
In addition, you may also find a consistent doubles partner beneficial. Ask your boyfriend if he would like to team up with you, assuming he's on this site, to help you know the game if the other avenues seem to lengthy and official, lol. Also, the
Strategy forum may have some other threads you may be interested in for long run play.
Good luck to you on CC!,
-rd