Surfing uber-JONG question

So I just found out that I will spending a couple days at South Padre Island, Texas next week. I was thinking it would be a good place to take a surfing lesson with my girlfriend? It's on the Gulf Coast, so I would guess that the surf is way mellow. There is an outfit that does 1 hour lessons for $40, I was thinking about doing that.......should I bother? Can you even learn to get up after an hour? I have never surfed before (in case that wasn't obvious) and I know shit about this, so any input would be much appreciated.

i'm from TX and the surf sucks. unpredictable currents. step a) buy skim board. step b) you and friends get drunk. step c) eat shit all over the beach trying to do funny, cool things on said board. repeat. its more fun than surfing down here. i promise. have fun