Part of my job description is to drive the kids to school and then to their after school activities. Most of my duties are driving, so I basically had to re-learn how to drive during my first month here in France.
Learning to drive stick shift and learning the rules of French roads has been overwhelming. It would be one thing if I just had to pay attention to the road. But I also have to pay attention to the car, change gears and use two feet!
The Stick
My journey started back in May, when I paid for a 2 hour lesson on how to drive stick shift. I was in an old Mazda pick up truck and could not get out of 1st gear. I started to panic… maybe I made a bad decision in raising my hand to drive in a foreign country. After my lesson, I asked around for anyone with a manual to practice with. Crickets. I finally found one, a Penn State alumni. I went around with him 2 times for a total of 3 hours. So coming to France I had about 5 hours of practice and barely any real driving on roads with other cars.
My New Steering Wheel
The first time I got behind the wheel in my families Mitsubishi, I was very nervous. I wanted to impress my new dad to make him feel at ease with me driving his kids around. I got out of 1st on the first try! But the trouble came when I was trying to get into 3rd… after about 20 minutes I realized I was going right to 5th, which made me stall every time.
Reading Material my Host Dad gave me: typical accidents and who is at fault
I was lucky that not many people were back from vacation so the roads were not very busy. However, there are many different traffic patterns and rules in France:
- There are almost NO Stop Signs
Thats right. If you must stop, its because you are at a traffic light. How can there not be any Stop Signs? This brings me to #2 - You must ALWAYS yield to the Right
This is the complete opposite of what I learned in the States. Anytime you come to an intersection, even if there isn’t a stop sign, you look to the left before going. If someone is coming, you must stop for them because they have the right away. Not here. I must force myself to slow down every time I get to a new street and turn my head to the RIGHT. If no one is coming, I can continue. If someone is coming, I must stop for them. Its all just very strange and something I am NOT used to. - Circles, or Roundabouts, are EVERYWHERE
Along with no Stop Signs and yielding to the Right, driving in a traffic circles is the complete opposite from the States. Any time you are about to enter a circle you must yield to people already in the circle. This is tricky, as they are either turning before you, or going past you. If someone has their blinker on, I can go. If not, I must let them pass. I am used to having lights around a circle, giving the driver more information than an oncoming car. This being said, for some reason, my town does the opposite. If I am in the circle, I must yield to others coming in. This is complicated because I must remember where I am and what kind of circle I am about to drive thru. - You can park different directions on the same side of the street
Since the streets are so narrow, you park wherever you can find a spot. This means some streets can have cars driving both directions at the same time (while in the States it would be a one way road). If cars are parked on the left and another car is coming at you, its their job to semi-park so you can pass them. This is tricky as sometimes you don’t see them until its too late to pull into a tight space. On top of that, you MUST parallel park. I’ve actually surprised myself on how well I’ve done with it. BUT if I’m coming back to the house on my left, I have to parallel park to the left. Us American’s only learned to parallel park to the right. It feels unnatural and illegal to be parking the opposite way of the street.
Normally I would think one car is parked wrong… the middle one
- You must park on the curb
Again with the tiny streets… in order to give people room to drive past your car, you must park on the curb. So now, not only am I parallel parking to my left, but I’m doing it up a curb.
My Park Job on the Curb in front of my Families House
- Some traffic lights just flash Yellow
Apparently this means watch out. Watch out for what? What out for people crossing the crosswalk. You would think they would change the light to red and give the pedestrian a green signal, but that would be too safe for both parties.
Even though this is all very stressful, I feel as though it is making me more of an adult for two reasons. One, I am learning how to drive a stick shift. Manual cars are a dying art in the States, but now I will be able to drive anywhere in the world! Two, I’ve braved the roads for a solid week, alone with French children in the car, and I’ve succeeded. This makes me an adult because I am trusted by another family and I am doing it without incident. I’ve learned a new skill and using it as my room and board!
My first month has been a lot of ups and downs. From packing up my life, to traveling to new places, I am finally finding some order again. I love my mini apartment. I love my new family. I love being in France. For now, I know the manual will become easier with more driving. And so will these new rules of the road. But I’m still going to go as slow as I want until I feel more comfortable. At least I’m driving on the “right” side of the road compared to the Brits!
Have you ever had to drive in the foreign country? What was the hardest part?