After a year of getting my driver’s license

It’s been a year now that I’ve had my driver’s license.

Since getting my car somewhere in June and driving it, sometimes I still feel that incredulous feeling of, “My goodness, I’m actually driving!” but lately, it feels quite second nature, I don’t even think about which pedals to push, changing of the gears … it just comes naturally. And I’m surprised at how relaxing it is, just to drive down the road, listening to music and to see the scenery pass you by.

Not to say that I’m such a perfect driver – I still need to improve my parallel parking, have to calm down while going uphill in bad traffic and have the mental skills of not letting an Italian man distract my driving.

Heck, there are people who refuse to take lifts from me anymore, but that is fine. Sometimes I get too carried away in wanting to share something that I enjoy or am excited about, that I forget that others might not feel the same, so I shouldn’t have insisted. Perhaps it’s a better idea to not offer anything unless it is asked for … although I still get clueless in deciphering what is in people’s minds when they don’t speak out.

(Seriously, I cannot tell. You’d have to tell me or else, I have no idea. Neither do I have a gaydar, so much so that unless he’s super flamboyant, every dude is the same to me. But that’s totally diverging away from the topic of the day)

Which is why, I’m leaving my Principiante sticker up, possibly for another 6 months to make it a full year. Somehow it gives me a peace of mind that the other drivers see it and avoid being too close to me as I’m still a new driver. Nevertheless, there are still monsters that cut me off, and bumped into me but I imagine that there could be more instances like these without my sticker. I did good in getting a used car. What a heartache if I had damages on a new one!

Nevertheless, I’m kind of happy with my achievements so far (think of it as a game!) … I’ve unlocked

1. Driving in Rome! (5 points)
2. Driving in Rome … alone! (10 points)
3. Driving my family around Rome … and they are still alive! (15 points)
4. Driving on the highway in Rome alone! (10 points) (bonus points for doing it 3 times)
5. Getting impatient with slow drivers (-5 points)

Here, I should do a self pat :

Nevertheless, I still prefer taking my scooter as it’s a lot more economical – with the fuel consumption, the tune up costs, the insurance and whatnots. While having a car is freaking costly. Just last week, I had a flat, and decided to have all of them replaced as they were ancient. And for that, I had to spend 265 euro on new shoes for Ash.

You could just imagine how dry I feel this week, that on top of having to pay for the Sports doctor.

In any case, I was debating with Cart, that it might be cheaper to get the wheels online. But if you do that, take note that there is an additional charge for delivery, the mechanic will charge you extra and did you know that one is supposed to pay a sum to have your expired wheels disposed? Oh Italy, you are such an expensive country to live in. In the end, it’s much more convenient to have the gommista handle everything.

You know, if I didn’t have the car, I think I would have an additional more than 2 thousand euro in the bank (not including the amount I already spent for driving practicals and exams) To me, that’s a lot of money and stuff I could potentially invest on (like I really wanna learn how to sew and I really wanna travel around and explore Italy and eventually Europe on a train or even get a plane ticket back to Singapore … I really miss my folks and friends much too much)

Nevertheless, I think having the experience and skill overweights the odds, and is something that is quite priceless. Looking back, I don’t think I’d change a thing. Although I’m quite tempted to sell the car away somewhere in the middle of next year, once my insurance starts to expire :p