Hi
Lucky you!!! Just back from Florida.. you will love it,
Ft. Pierce is a really nice area on the atlantic coast in between Kennedy Space Centre and Miami, its about 3 hours drive from Orlando.
What I would say to you is Florida is cheap for a holiday but can work out quite expensive to live in. If you're there for two years you would want to sort out proper health care, a visit to a Doctor can be at least $100.00.
Cars are relatively cheap to buy and run, you will have to sit a drving test as a foreign licence is only good for about 3 months (I think), however car insurance for males in our age range is not cheap. Might be best to try and get accomodation near the Flight School and use the limited public transport. Might be worth trying to cut a deal with some of the local motels, they sometimes give you a long term rate.
You will get asked for ID everywhere, in restaurants, bars even to buy a lottery ticket. I hope your girlfriend is aged over 21 otherwise you wont get a sniff of drink.. ! The nightlife is tame compared to what you would be used to in Ireland\UK.
http://www.visitstluciefla.com has a lot of visitor info on the area
http://www.hsmv.state.fl.us/html/dlnew.html will give you info on getting your drivers licence
Finally
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/ is the local newspaper for the area which will give you links to accomodation etc.
I hope this is of some use to you, PM me if you have any questions and good luck
