how do i find & access the /private/etc/ folder?

You can get to it via the Finer's Go To Folder option - just choose the 'Go To Folder' menu option and enter /private/etc

However, you probably won't (and shouldn't) be able to edit that file if you're logged in as a regular user since it's a protected system file. Only the root user can edit this. That's OK if you're just viewing it, but you can't make any changes.

If you need to use the GUI to do this, then you'll need to log in as root before trying to edit the file.

Alternatively you can do it in the command line via the sudo command, which will temporarily elevate your privileges. However, that requires the use of the command line, and it sounds like that's new to you. Let me know if you need to make changes and I'll come up with a plan.

open terminal and try:

open /private/etc/

which opens the etc directory or if you want to open the hosts file:

open /private/etc/hosts