My first driving lesson!

Today I had my first driving test! I was meant to have it last Friday, however I decided I wanted a longer lesson (1.5 hours instead of 1) for my first time, so rescheduled it for today. I eventually lost interest and was just like "Whatever".

I arrived home, and after eating and hair-spraying my hair to avoid it falling in my face whilst driving, my instructor arrived 5 minutes early. I ran downstairs like a hot mess. My driving instructor seemed really nice and we got all the necessary stuff over with (payments, my progress booklet, etc). My cousins had been with him before, and passed their first time, so I figured he must've been a good instructor. I was a little nervous about having a male instructor, as I have no male friends and don't really talk to men — other than my dad!

We drove to a un-crowded (but not empty) cul-de-sac and the lesson begun! I'm learning in a manual car, which is a lot more difficult; but in the UK there is stigma around driving automatic, and my parents have this too! The instructor taught me about the basics of being in a car, how to set off (going up a hill and down a hill), how to use mirrors, set up the seat/mirrors, etc. He also taught me how to turn the wheel (and the method is actually really frustrating) without crossing my arms, how to change gears, how to park, etc, etc, etc. Just basic stuff. I went up to gear 3 (well, 4... you'll understand later).

Overall, I did pretty well (only stalled twice!), but talking about good things is boring and unentertaining. Here are some mistakes I made...

1. Gear 2 and 4 are next to each other. Accidentally moving from gear 1 to 4 instead of 2 was scary!
2. I was taught a really weird way of steering, to avoid crossing arms. I'm not going to go into it as it was hella complicated but basically if you do it wrong you can set off the air bag and break your nose lmao not cute, I was in fear of this whole time.
3. Driving in the lane. Last year in psychology we learnt that males biologically or pre-historically (I can't remember which) have good spatial awareness. This clearly isn't the case with me...
4. Ignoring the instructor. You are supposed to take your foot off the accelerate when you press the clutch, but at first I was scared to take my foot off the accelerate (it just feels odd!) so would just ignore the instructor.
5. Forgetting the order of things to do. Before you set off, you have to do like 5 things and I always forget the order :(
6. Crashing into the side of someones house — just kidding.

Do you drive? How did you find learning? Do you drive automatic or manual? Comment about how sorry you feel that I'm driving manual!