Welcome to scuba diving.  You are beginning your journey in the right way by taking a beginner course.  At the end of your course you will make four dives with your instructor.  Your instructor will also probably invite you to participate in an "Advanced Open Water Course" shortly after you finish your entry-level course.  That is an excellent way to gain more experience and confidence in the water.  These training courses are designed to prepare you for diving with a buddy, independently from an instructor or dive master.  To be a good, safe diver you will need to take the responsibility for your diving on yourself.  Reliance on a dive professional will really not increase your safety and will only give you a false sense of security.  Remember than only you can swim for you and only you can breathe for you. 

Both your open water and your advanced open water dives will probably be in a local lake or quarry.  Such locations are good choices for relative easy dives in a moderately controlled environment.  Look around your local area for dive sites.  Talk to other divers.  Hang out at the local dive shop.  Join a dive club.  Find other divers who want to dive regularly and go diving with them.

You don't say where you live.  If you are in the Chicago area, Haigh Quarry and Pearl Lake are popular training sites.  There are several Charter boats that take divers out to beginner shipwreck sites on Lake Michigan.