I am having trouble putting in place the variables, does anyone have any tips.

Sure thing. In Java we make variables like this:

[Type] [Name] = ...;

For example, let's say I want to make favouriteNumber equal to 10. I'd write this:

int favouriteNumber = 10;

(int = Integer which is just another word for number).

Or a piece of text:

String welcomePhrase = "Hello";

When you do more advanced variables, you'll learn about public, protected and private, final, static and void keywords. All do different things. Public, protected and private declare where the variable can be used (See http://gyazo.com/8b8381a173f6d11b96884a912e3579f6 for more details) whereas final, static and void mean different things too (final means can't change, static means that only one instance of the variable can exist and void means does not return anything). There are other keywords I haven't mentioned here but, these are probably the main ones you'll come across during these courses.

Hope it helps!