Describe a person you met for the first time and liked immediately

I'd like to describe a girl named Alina, whom I met on my first day at a language course in Istanbul about two years ago. I was feeling quite anxious, because it was my first time travelling abroad alone, and I didn't know a single person.

We met in the corridor before the placement test. I was holding my papers and looking lost, and she approached me with a big smile and asked whether I was also new. That was the ice-breaker. We started talking about where we were from, since she was from Kazakhstan and I'm from Uzbekistan, and discovered that we had many cultural things in common, including similar food and even some words. We then sat together during the test and compared our answers afterwards, which made us laugh because we'd both guessed the same wrong one.

I liked her immediately, for a few reasons. First, she was warm and sincere. She didn't behave as though she was trying to impress me, and she genuinely seemed interested in my answers. Second, she had a lively sense of humour, which relaxed me at once. Third, she was helpful. After class, she offered to show me where to buy a local SIM card and a good place for a cheap lunch.

Within a day, we were spending all our breaks together. That experience taught me that first impressions can matter a great deal, and that one friendly gesture can make a stranger feel at home. We're still in touch, and she plans to visit me this autumn.