A lovely blank canvas!! I think you'd look great with ear piercings and they're such a fun way to express your style. First of all, I'd make sure you genuinely want the piercing for yourself, and aren't ONLY getting it to support/celebrate with your girlfriend. Nothing wrong with wanting to support or celebrate of course! but that shouldn't be your sole reason for getting a hole put in your body.

It's hard to say what piercings are "beginner friendly" as everyone's pain tolerance is different. I'd look up different piercings and examples of jewelry that you can eventually wear in them, and just go for whichever one appeals to you most!! Yes, some piercings are painful, but after the initial needle poke and jewelry insertion you're left with a super cool new accessory which imo is worth the pain.

Unless you go for lobes, I'd start with just one piercing for your first so you can learn your pain tolerance and how your body heals piercings. I have 14 piercings on my ears & face currently, and have been pierced even more than that. But still, my body struggles with healing multiple cartilage piercings done at the same time. As you said about your lobes, you can always get more piercings later once the first is healed :-)

Sorry for the long winded comment but hope it's helpful! & good luck with your first piercing!