Imaging taking 3 hours to drive 10 miles, having to be on the road before 6am to get to work before 9am, losing precious sleep cos you need to start your commute really early, and missing the rest of your night cos you’re stuck in traffic for 2 hours. That’s how it was for me in Manila, Philippines. Growing up in a city where traffic defines your daily schedule kinda influenced my desire to drive. I would rather walk than sit in traffic, or live real close to work and shopping- I did the latter.

However due to travel requirements for my previous work, I HAD TO LEARN HOW TO DRIVE. Still, driving is the least appealing thing for me to do. So here I am in the USA where everything is so spread out that driving is a convenience and sort of a must. It took me almost 3 years to muster up the courage to take my driving test. Unfortunately for me, Maryland is more strict when it comes to getting your license versus other states. I could have just had my PH license swapped out for a USA one but would still have to take the test and actually pass it LOL; and since I have not driven much at all since I got here, I decided to do it the right way and do the entire process all over again. I enrolled myself in some driving class- 10-day classroom session with teenagers + 6 hours behind the wheel course. Luckily my classmates were all nice kids and didn’t care that there’s a 30-year old Asian trying to ace every question in the quiz- yes there was a quiz every single day. Because of this class I have discovered that some of my driving knowledge is “old school”, that is according to our first day teacher.

Anyway fast forward to 3 months and I finally finally decided to take the road test. Long story short, I passed. Even though I accidentally stepped on the gas instead of the brakes at a stop sign (oops, I know), I still passed. I took note and followed the signs, got the meanest looking tester, tried my best to stay calm, and just drove. Everything worked out and now America has yet another female Asian driver on the road!