Long story short: I’m (24M) American, and I’m visiting my long-distance Romanian boyfriend for the first time soon. In Romania, most cars are manual - including all the ones owned by my boyfriend’s family (I’ll be staying with them). I’ve never driven a manual before. His dad told me he can give me a quick lesson, and that I’m welcome to use their cars if I want; otherwise, I can rent an automatic. I don’t have access to any manual cars here in the U.S. to practice on, so I’m not sure what to do.
Yeah, you’re going to stall the engine in the beginning. A lot. That means turning the engine back on in traffic in unfamiliar surroundings.
Also, if you’re going to be driving on any hills, you’ll need a separate new skill set for a manual car.
Stick to automatic, but take the offer to learn.