You're farely close to canada, so you may want to look into getting a bike from canananananada. They have a better selection, and since Honda of Canada took it upon themselves to get the CBR125r, you may want to take a look at it.
I'll throw in the manditory comment about a 250 as well. Also, I'll cover E's SuperMoto fetish. Let's just say a Kawasaki D-Tracker 250. And for the 250 street bike, Let's call it a Ninja 250.
You sound like you have NO bar-time at all, so I'd stick with a small bike at first. Srsly. Check around, and see if any of the collages in the area offer Basic Rider Courses. After you do one of those (and after your wallet is $250 lighter) then hit up some local motorcycle shops, and talk to the people. It's the same as driving a car, you want to start out with a pinto, then work up to a porsche.
Go in carefully, and watch the classifieds. For now I'll sit back until celerity chimes in.
EDIT: I learned to ride on dirt, with progressivily larger bikes. First a 50cc, then a 90cc, then a 125, then a 250, then a 400. On dirt you can afford to take a spill without killing yourself. Just do all of the courses you can. If a bike club is offering a free course, take it. Take all the free courses you possibly can, it can only make you a better rider.