About a month ago my dad surprised my family with the news that we were getting a new car! (Well, it's his new car.) But it benefits everyone in our family because previously my parents and my twin brother and I were sharing two cars, but now Jon (my twin) and I get my dad's old car to use. The only problem? It's a manual transmission. Jon was an old pro at the stick shift, but I hadn't had the time to learn yet.
So, at ten o'clock on a Friday night in blizzard conditions, my dad announced I was going with him to learn how to drive 'the stick'. Oh. Okay Dad.
I picked it up pretty well at first, but after a week of driving it, I was still stalling and having a lot of trouble. Driving a stick shift isn't easy. I wish I could tell you it is. I can't. After being stuck at a stop sign and stalling the car five times in a row, and may or may not having an emotional breakdown, Jon walked me through the clutch. And I got it. All of a sudden, I was the manual transmission master.
Driving a stick shift is fun, confidence-boosting, and down-right respectable. If I can learn, you can, too. It takes patience and focus and determination. maybe I'm making a bigger deal about it than it deserves, but for some reason, I feel like a noticably cooler person now that I drive around in our nice little gear-shifting vehicle.
Or maybe it's just that I don't have to take the mini-van anymore.
This is a really helpful article to read over before you get in a manual transmission car to learn how to drive it. the best thing I can advise, though, is that you find a proficient teacher who is caring and has a lot of patience, stability, and poise. (In other words, they will remain calm and won't scream like a maniac when you accidently stall in the middle of an intersection.)
http://jalopnik.com/5230172/how-to-drive-a-stick-shift-in-ten-easy-steps
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