Linking to WordPress.com Site & Account

After originally creating a blog directly on the WordPress site (blog.beaconofhope.org) I read that in order to be able to further customize it I should self-host it.

Disclaimer: I’m new to this.

I was able to set up the self-hosting but I am wondering if my self-hosted blog can somehow link to my WordPress.com blog and/or account or if it operates as a fully separate entity.

Reason I am asking is because I would like to know if I can somehow import the design of my WordPress.com blog and if I can still make changes through the WordPress.com dashboard.

Thanks for helping a newbie out!