I love the stick shift

My driving lessons are in full swing now. I've so far had 7 hours out of 20. And guess what...I actually like the manual transmission! Now that I have the hang of it, it's really not so bad. My last 2 lessons, I've only stalled once each! (Don't ask how many times I stalled before that). I like how that car '"tells" you when it's time to switch gears. I am mostly in 2nd gear driving around Paris - there's not much chance to go faster on city streets. However there's a few times I've been able to go into 3rd gear, that's been fun. And the driving instructor said I was ready to try l'autoroute, the highway! That means high gear baby! Vrromm, vrrroooom, vroooommmmm.

All is not perfect though. The instuctor said mechanically I drove well, but I did not sense the dangers and did not know well enough the rules yet. Well, I know I don't know all the rules and signs yet, but I sense danger everywhere!!

Yesterday when I went to the auto-école, there was someone there conducting and filming interviews for a little piece on driving schools for a cable TV channel. Despite my fear of inflicting my accented and non-perfect French on cable TV viewers everywhere (or because of it?) I agreed to answer some questions. I was asked things like why am I applying for a license, what are the differences between learning to drive here versus in the US, etc. I don't have cable so I won't be able to watch it, but the guy filming said it would be on the internet too. It will be broadcast next Saturday, so I'll check it out...if I don't look like too much of a fool, maybe I'll post a link. :)