Hello Everyone!

Well the month of No-Shave November is drawing to a close and as such I've been looking forward to and thinking a lot about my shave December 1st. This lead to thoughts of a new razor to replace the one I have that's getting pretty old, and lo and behold I stumble upon the lost art of using a straight razor. This is perfect! No hassle with cartridges or new razors, no more spending money every few months, and best of all, a new skill to learn that will have life-long benefits! There's just one problem. I do not own a straight razor. I don't know the first thing about the different kinds or how to use them properly. And what the heck is a strop?

And so, here I am. After stalking around this board for a while, I was very impressed with all that I read and therefore decided that out of the many boards I am prone to stalk, I would take the plunge and actually join this one. And now, my question.

What should I buy? I've read some of the other threads so I won't leave it that generic. As far as my facial hair goes, I'd say it's about average. What I've got is somewhat thin in coverage but the individual hairs are pretty coarse. It grows out straight up until it gets some serious length and starts to curl, but I'll usually shave far before then (it's only gotten that long two or three times when I purposefully grew it out). I usually shave about every other day or before I go out. Now I'm looking to buy a good quality blade, but I'm also a college student so money isn't exactly plentiful right now. I realize though that this is a big investment so I'm open to spending a solid chunk of change for something of quality that will last. Also, what else do I need? I know a strop and a brush and cream, but specifically what kind (same thing on the price here)?

And with that lengthy post I leave it to the capable minds of this forum to guide me on my way. Any advice is welcome, and thank you all in advance!