I'm using Krita for the first time, and I'm super confused as to why the tablet interface is showing up instead of the desktop interface when i open up Krita. can anyone help me?

I think Krita Gemini is the version for tablets and notebooks.
There is a desktop version on the downloads page, that might be what you're looking for.
http://krita.org/download

Edit to add:
i am assuming that you are on a Windows computer.

If the tablet gui shows up that means that Windows isn't telling the truth: we rely on Windows to tell us whether your convertible ultrabook is in tablet mode or laptop mode. If you don't have a convertible, download the plain, ordinary Krita, as tparrot suggests.