Test of virus on Parallels Desktop

Hello,

For an educational purpose, I would like to try viruses.
In order to not infect my own Mac, I was planning of using a virtual machine (a Windows emulation) to try them out.
I've tried to find some information of how risky that would be and how to avoid the risks but without real conclusion.
First of all : If i download a software on my windows virtual machine, does it in anyway download it on my Mac or are the downloads completely independent?
Second of all : If they are "linked", is there a parameter to set up in order to completely separate my Mac from the Windows virtual machine?

P.S. Please excuse my english, i'm not a native speaker...
Thanks for your help !

Sincerely,
a user

 

(Oh and I'm aware that if the virus is well-developed it could bypass every security, but i'm not trying to download one that would be made for bypassing virtual machines, so it should not be capable of it on its own)