I think you should pick a lower speed design for your first project.
At 8GB, to achieve any reasonable transfer rate you're going to want USB2.0 throughput, which means differential, controlled impedance traces that are length matched for performance up to spec. It's also the case that the vast majority of USB sticks are fully integrated - a single chip, or often, a die bonded directly to the board, so it probably wouldn't make for a terribly interesting project even if you design it successfully. What's more, those chips are probably hard to find individually - they are sold in bulk to flash memory manufacturers and aren't seen as often on the general market - and if they are, it's probably cheaper to buy a 8GB drive, desolder the chip, and use it in your design.... which again seems silly to me.
There are lots of complaints to be had with it, but I've been using CircuitMaker with good success. Some options/hotkeys are hidden, but are usually still functional, and while it does require a login and some degree of public sharing, it's not really a problem for hobby use, and the software itself is powerful. I've heard plenty of good things about KiCad as well, and I think it's come a ways since I picked software initially.