Left.

Driving on the left is a disturbing experience. Driving on the left while operating a manual transmission with one's left hand is daunting until you become used to it. Figuring out the assorted other traffic rules of a new place adds spice to the situation; no turns on red, different yielding rules, etc. All an interesting challenge.

What I didn't consider, however, is how much our 'on the right' culture (no political puns will be employed here, thanks kindly) impacts everything else we do. Because we drive on the right, when walking we naturally line up to the right. We look a certain way when crossing the road. We even tend to turn to the right when entering buildings. The pattern is obvious, but not until you have enough distance to provide context. While in the States it is so omnipresent that you stop noticing it.

Now I find myself creating irritated eddies in foot traffic by swinging to the right when everyone heads left. I violate building traffic flows by not instinctively going the way the designers and marketers intend. Heaven forefend, in this most English of southern nations I can't even seem to queue properly.

Undoubtedly the most dangerous is the crossing of roads. For a people as genuinely kind and reserved as most New Zealanders seem to be, they are absolute demons behind the wheel. Dunedin has no significant crosswalks around the university, and they would be ignored if they did. Drivers literally accelerate towards pedestrians. Couple this with my tendency to look the wrong direction when stepping into the street and you have the conditions driving my multiple recent life-affirming moments in the local roads.

I am told I will learn. I simply hope to survive.