Greetings and Salutations James!
I recommend taking your first ride in large deserted parking lot. That way if anything goes wrong with you or bike, you don't have to worry about traffic on top of that.
Throttle-control is importart part of learning. So practice adjusting throttle and speed in straigh line 1st. Get comfortable with adjusting speed up an down until you're comfortable with FULL throttle. Also practice braking at end of those straights in big empty parking lots. Then turn around and pratice throttle control in opposite direction.
Once you're comfortable with throttle (weeks, months of practice), you can then do turning exercises like squares and figure-8s. A lot of newbies crash practicing turns because they are scared of throttle or are jerky with it (often going too slow in turns causes falling over).