Honestly I think the bigger pain in the butt will come from it being a right-hand-drive vehicle. Aside from the typical annoyance of being on the wrong side of the car from most people (I'm sure you're prepared for that, not a HUGE problem), this also means the hand/stick coordination is backwards.
This means you will learn to drive a stick oppposte from all your buddies.
On one hand, maybe thsi will be easier to do since you've never driven one anyway and are learning fresh, but it also means that inevitably you'll have to swap over to the other side with a newer, or buddy's, car.
Along those lines all your buddys will have fun trying to learn to drive it too.
I've never dealt with that issue personally, just know that all my friends from the UK intentionally rent A/T cars when here in the US b/c if you put them in a standard, when its shift time they keep whacking their arm against the door while the motor revs, hahahaha.
Just something to consider.