Yes, it has been a while since I've been on here. Moving is so much work, but moving countries really makes moving around in college look easy.
Since I knew I would need a car once I returned to the US (unfortunately that is the case unless you live in the 3-4 cities that have decent public transport), I started looking in the spring. Once I found a newly used car, my parents took it for a test drive. A standard shift Honda Civic was chosen because I wanted to learn how to drive one. It probably wasn't the best time in my life to add another new thing to my list, but I'm always up for an adventure.
An adventure it was...for everyone who rode with me those 1st two weeks home. My 11 year old cousin even commented, "It's like you take your life in your hands when you get in here." It usually went something like this: start the car, put it into 1st gear, focus...focus...slowly lift foot from clutch and other foot on gas...stall out...&^%$. This would happen maybe 4-5 times. Eventually, I would get the right combination and tear out of the parking space with excitement, nervousness and fear in my eyes.
After many frustrating conversations with my parents trying to coach me through it (dad saying, "You're dropping the clutch!" and me snapping back, "I don't know what that means!", my 86-year-old grandpa offered to teach me. I warned him that he might want to reconsider, but he really felt he could teach me. I drove us to an empty parking lot and after an hour, I was able to get into 1st gear more smoothly than any other time.
It took a while to actually enjoy driving the car. Now it is October and I no longer dread a red light or stop sign. It was another one of those learning curves I wasn't prepared to frustrate me as much as it did.
