from autodesk maya to this?

[d0gv0m1t]

is this easy to use compared to maya?
I'm just an animation student looking to mess around with pre-made models

[Pte Jack]

Personally, I wouldn't know. I haven't looked at anything els, no Maya, 3DSMax, Modo, or any other 3D editor. But, each has it's own little perts.
As a student you have an option I don't, and that is you can try most of these for free because you are an animation student and are entitled to use them until you finish school that way (I believe). So, why not download what you can and compare them yourself. As you work through one, you're picking up skills you can transfer to the others.

[Kozi]

From what I’ve heard from my friend that has been using maya for several years blender is much easier to use.

[EvilReFlex]

I used 3DS Max for many years and I'm switching now to Blender 2.8, I found every function what I need and more like sculpting and texture paint.

[njdevel77]

I think when you start Blender it has an option that mimics Maya's shortcuts.

[Leaf_It]

I started out in Maya. I recommend starting with this tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYj6e-72RDs
It covers the basics of the software, where everything is, as well as basic modeling and texturing

Then once you've figured all of that out, go to this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_HoWL5bSnA
This will walk you through modeling a Dragon, Texturing it, and then Rigging, and Animating it.

They have a bit of overlap in what they teach, but you will learn most of what you need to be fully functional in Blender. They won't cover everything, but you can look up specific things through Google.

P.S.: In the first Tutorial, when you start using reference images for modeling, look up Image Empties, so that you can see the reference image without needing to be aligned exactly with the Z or X axis.