So, here I am, back down south for one night only. It's been really strange to have to drive again, but I was lucky enough to have found an automatic car this late in the tourist season. Though technically, it's a "sensodrive" car, sort of like half-manual and half-automatic. I got the keys from the (cranky) rental agent and got in the car, and then realized I had no clue how to drive it! It looked like a manual, but there was no clutch. There was no way I was going back in to ask Miss Crabbypants how to use it, so I took out the owner's manual and saw that if I put it in E, it was in automatic and that if I put it in M, I could shift up and down as I wished (still minus the clutch). I kept it in automatic, and I have to say that I'm not really a fan. The whole car kind of lurches forward every time it changes gear. I also learned the hard way that even in E, I had to keep my foot on the break when stopped or it would start rolling backwards. Oops.

And good lord are gas prices high - diesel is at almost 1.60€/L down here - that's like a 30 cents/L rise in just the past three months!! Makes me really glad I no longer have a car and can use public transportation. Besides that, I'm feeling sort of like I have a split personality. Or maybe a double life. It's just so odd to go from playing Barbies and Battleship one minute to taking a flight to do an upgrade on a $150,000 machine the next.

What a strange life I lead.