I had an exciting day yesterday. I learned a lot too. For example, I learned how to jump a car. But let me start from the beginning.

Wednesday evening I drove to Fairlane to get something I’d left in my apartment. I haphazardly parked and ran inside to get it. When I got back like 2 minutes later, my car wouldn’t start. Que raro, I thought. And of course my cell phone was not working so I had to walk all the way to campus to call my dad and ask him what to do. He told me to jump the car. Since it was dark and raining a little bit, I decided to wait until morning. (Then my cell phone started to work mysteriously.) So I learned my first lesson:

1. Be careful where you park your car, because you never know when it won’t turn on again.

Thursday morning my roommate Sara and I jumped my car with her car. It was great fun and we were kind of learning things together. My second lesson:

2. Cell phones are wonderful. So are dads who are on the other end of them.

I drove the car around Upland/Gas City for about 20 minutes before I decided the battery was charged enough and I needed to go to work at the library. I turned off my car, but then it didn’t start again. *sigh* Lesson #3:

3. If you’re having problems with your car, don’t park in a crowded parking lot unless you can back into the spot.

After lunch, Tim the maintenance guy came and jumped my car (the car across from me fortunately had left). I drove it to the Taylor Garage to have the mechanic look at it. Lesson #4:

4. Maintenance guys are really nice. They have a great sense of humor too.

The mechanic’s diagnosis: bad battery (alternator is fine). He jumped the car again and I drove it to Fairlane to get my cell phone to call my dad and ask what to do. I left the car running while I went to get my phone. When I got back, I put the car into drive and it died again. I spotted another maintenance guy, so I went over and asked him to jump my car (for the fourth time). After that, I drove around campus, trying to decide what to do and how to get a new battery. I was driving right in front of Gerig when the car suddenly shut off. I was able to coast into the grass a little bit, but I was still in the road. I ran into Gerig and found Bethany, who helped me push the car into the grass and off the road. By this time it had started to rain, and I was getting tired of jumping my car. Bethany took me to campus safety so I could tell them my car was there, and then she took me home. Lesson #5:

5. Bethany is awesome. So are other friends who drove me around (Joanna and Frankie).

The decision was for me to get a new battery. So Frankie came, picked me up, and took my to Upland tire to get a new battery. Then today, Sopeak put in the new battery. Hooray! I drove my car back to Fairlane very happy that it turned on when I turned the key. Oh, yeah, and I also went to campus safety to protest the ticket on my windshield. They didn’t give me any problems, thank goodness. Lesson #6:

6. People take care of me. My dad bought really good jumper cables for me (which came very much in handy). The maintenance guys and other people were checking up on me, to make sure everything was okay.

Yeah. So that was interesting. And I’m glad it’s all better. I’m headed to Michigan this weekend to visit Katherine (friend from Peru), so we’ll see how the car runs. :-)