The Jellybean of Death

That title sounds a lot cooler that what its really about.

The Jellybean of Death is my car.


Its a 96 Opel Corsa. I think they are made by GM. Either way its definitely a crappy little car.
Don't get my wrong, it does its job. I get from point A to point B, but not without its own share of issues.

First and foremost- It has NO AIRBAGS. Hello?? Didn't they know how important airbags were in 1996. seriously. I would HATE to get into a fender bender in this car much less anything else. Also it has no power steering. Parking this car takes some serious arm strength. I think my biceps are definitely a lot stronger than they were 4 months ago!

I bought my car off a friend of mine for 400 euro. He had bought himself a new car and sold it to me cheaply. I think it used to be cherry red, now its more dark pink. As you can see the steering wheel is on the passenger side of the car. I'm mostly used to that by now. There are still times though that all the years of driving on the left takes over.

For instance I was leaving a friends house late the other night- it was freezing outside so I ran and jumped into my car and put on my seat belt. I go to start the car and realize I'm sitting on the passenger side of the car. HAH. I then jumped out and prayed that no one noticed and hopped in the right side of the car.

Also driving on the roads here- it has made me a better driver. Some of these roads are insanely small and curvy and people FLY down them.

This is NOT a driveway people. This is a proper road. I took this picture driving down to my friends house. Its a two way road. When someone else comes along the other way its a game of chicken. Who will pull over first? Now not all of the road outside of the cities are this small, but its not much bigger. Huge difference than to the states. Even in some of the cities the roads are impossible. Like cork-

I don't know who took this picture- but its the city center in cork and its one of the larger roads in Cork. Its a very old city and the way it was built the roads can't be made any wider. Most of the time only one car at a time can fit down the street so that means that the cars in the other direction have to pull on the sidewalk in between parked cars so traffic can get through. Talk about a tight squeeze. I was freaking out in the passenger seat. My poor friend Aoife.

End of story is that while I'm thankful for my car I can't wait for the day that I can afford something a little newer and nicer. and with some safety features. But its kind of fun having a clunker again, it adds to that whole starting over in a new country experience.