I had decided to rent a car to drive to Konstanz from Stuttgard. The only thing I was worried about, when I arrived at the Avis counter to pick up the rental car was that I might need an international license to drive in Germany. I called Avis ahead and asked about this and they said I didn’t “But ya never know” I thought. Turns out it wasn’t a problem. Everything was in order the nice Avis lady even informed me they got me a little station wagon deal, which was great considering all the stuff I had. She also said she would be more than happy to watch my luggage and cats while I took the shuttle to get the car. I took one suitcase to the shuttle and once at the lot had no problem finding the car. It was a pretty green color, nice size and actually quite cute. “This is great!” I thought. So I plopped in the luggage the truck and sat in on the drivers side to discover “Hey it has three pedals...” It was a standard. I can't drive a standard. My first thought was, well how hard can it be, I’ll just teach myself right here in the parking lot. So I start the car and it hurls forward right toward the parked cars on the other side. In the first fraction of a second I thought “Great I’m gonna have a accident right here!” The in the next fraction I figured out which pedal was the break and which was the clutch and managed to stop the car inches before it collided with another Avis car. Then my second thought was, “okay I’ll have someone teach me” The only person that was around was the shuttle bus driver, who didn’t speak English. "Ich nicht fahre Standard, Ich fahre nicht Standard." ( I couldn't remember where the "nicht" went.) He was very nice. He tried to teach me how to drive stick in German. He showed me how to get to each gear, then he put the emergency break on and left me to it, while he went back to man the shuttle bus. “I can do this” I thought as I proceeded to try to get the emergency break down. I pressed and pushed and pressed again, but the stupid break wouldn’t release. Then my third thought was “I need an automatic” So the nice shuttle driver drove me back to the counter to get an automatic. I explained to the Avis lady I that I can’t drive a standard and that I would need an automatic "You didn't request an automatic" she said with a stern German face. The nice accommodating Avis Lady was not so nice anymore. She called around to see if they had one. She said they may (stressing the may with a puckered frown) be able to get one by four (it was 1:30) if I wanted to wait that long. “I can wait” I said decisively. This apparently wasn’t the answer she was hoping for. “Oh” she said really disappointed. “Or maybe I could take a cab to Konstanz” “Yes go check on a cab” she said suddenly very excited. The cab, as it turns out would cost 480 marks. I went back and told her “I can wait” This seem to really upset her. She said it could be longer than four and actually she didn't know when it would be, then she asked “...and you've never driven a standard?” I said I was willing to learn from the non-English speaking shuttle driver, but I just couldn't get the driving and German at the same time. So she got a English speaking Avis guy to teach me. After in 20 minutes in the rental car parking lot and I picking up the cats and the rest of my luggage I was let loose onto the streets of Stuttgard!!! Well, needless to say I stalled a lot and may have made a few Germans mad, but some were really nice. A guy a lane over saw me struggling and he stopped to give me a few pointers, and another guy gave me great directions to the autobahn. Once I was on the autobahn, I was fine. I got pretty good at the gear changing thing. I was going about 150-170 Kilometers/hr and still cars would race up behind me and signal me to get over! Finally I arrive at the University about 5:30 Monday.
The shorter version of this story is I simply say to friends “Yeah, when I went to drive my rental car I discovered it was a standard.” To which they usually reply “ I didn’t know you could drive standard” Then I reply with a grin “I didn’t, but I do now.”
