Start with C as first real programming language. It might have a higher entrance barrier but in future you'll blaze through new languages with ease

Definitely. Learn C and you'll know programming, learn Python and you'll know Python.
(Not exactly right obviously, you won't know about OOP or FP but you'll definitely master imperative programming)

Not sure if this is an ok question but here goes. I only have only a semester's worth of C knowledge where I learned up to how to do pretty basic backend development. What are some things you can do to further improve your C skills? It's a pain in the ass language and I just want some idea on what you can do with it.

@bhsh96 well at this point i would move on to c++. You could as well play around with the Win32 vor X11 API to see what original GUI programming felt like ;)

I'm learning C# as my first C language