don't downshift to 1st

So this Christmas, my family, bf, and I will be taking a cruise down the Danube (River, in Germany). After the cruise, we plan to spend a couple of days in and around Munich. Since there will be six of us, we decided that it might be good to rent a car to be able to see the areas outside of Munich, too. But, being the cheapskates that we are (the whole family), Terence (brother) decided to reserve a car with a manual transmission. So while this saves hundreds of dollars, the problem becomes who's going to drive it... since none of us know how to drive stick.

Thus, within the next six months, I need to learn and become comfortable enough to drive stick in a foreign country. I started last night in my friend's Nissan Maxima (Max). While faring better than I expected, I haven't quite made it to the point where I can reliably get the car going from a complete stop without lurching or stalling. At least I can handle shifting and braking. We'll see how the next six months go :)