I am a little late since you already have the frame, but I think the complete bike has a good set of component choices at a cheaper price than you are likely to get buying parts individually. I would have recommended buying the complete bike and if you really wanted to learn more about it you could always take it apart and put it back together, but I really don't see that much benefit to that. I guess if you really must do that you could always tear down and reassemble an old beater bike.

Bike maintenance that you will need to do on the road is mostly pretty simple and the process of buying and assembling parts really does not do that much to prepare you for that, in my opinion. I think it makes more sense to take a bike maintenance class or read up on bike repair, rather than build up a bike.

Sorry if that isn't helpful in your current situation, but maybe it will help someone else save a few bucks.