The internet is really a series of buildings housing data on rows of servers. If you want to see what it looks like, watch the short video above on the inside of a server farm.
I am a big believer that the teacher is important to learning but that doesn't mean that most of the learning can't be done asynchronously. But it is decidedly hard to do this with world languages. Enter the free app Duolingo . I have heard from so many people (including my wife who loves it) that is a great way to learn one's own, or for a student, a supplement to the class. Above is a very thorough overview of how to use the app.