I forgot to ask for a ride. Next thing I knew, the clock changed to 6:20: ten minutes to soccer practice. Normally, my parents and I would leave at around this time to get to practice, but who knew that simply eating a sandwich while watching my dog drool from across the table could make me forget that my parents weren’t home. Most people would quickly call up a friend and ask for a ride, but for some reason, this option didn’t occur to me until I arrived at practice on my bike twenty minutes later. As beads of sweat rolled down my face, all I heard were phrases like, “did you seriously ride your bike here?” and “we would have picked you up!”. You would think that riding a bike was a completely foreign mode of transportation if you listened to what my friends were saying. They told me I had come “the hard way.”

I was never one for thinking things through. Just recently, I visited Spain with my Spanish class and proved this point once again. “You must meet back here in front of the cathedral in exactly two hours,” instructed our tour guide. My two friends and I were about to explore the narrow roads and unique shops of Seville without a counselor monitoring every step we took. However, we were blinded by our curiosity; one cobblestone street led to the next, and one hour and thirty minutes later, we became lost. “We only have thirty more minutes! How do we get back? Guys, this is scary.” I looked at Kate’s fearful expression and Amanda’s aggravated glare, which gave me the impression that they had been relying on me to keep track of where we were going, which didn’t make sense considering my spacey personality. Much to their dismay, I had no clue where we were. So I stayed calm and used my Spanish IV vocabulary to ask a pedestrian how to get to the cathedral. After following the instructions, “A la derecha; camine hasta llegar a la esquina de la calle; tome una izquierda,” we made it back to the cathedral with minutes to spare. My solution also had a benefit, in that I was able to practice my Spanish in a real world situation.
Hidden benefits had not only been evident in my Spanish experience, but it had been evident in my bike riding experience as well. Although some may argue that biking to practice and being ten minutes late is not a good solution to the problem, it just so happens that my effort to get to practice impressed my coach. Plus, who doesn’t want an extra twenty minutes of exercise? I was also able to avoid making one of my teammates late; if I had called her parent to give me a ride at the last minute, we would have all been late. Better one person being late than two.

Admittedly, none of these benefits came to mind at 6:20. I didn’t have a reason for choosing my arduous mode of transport, but instead plainly thought “I have to get to practice.” Give me time, and I can think of logical solutions. Rush me, and I won’t think of the most obvious routes. My quickly formulated solution caused me to be ten minutes late. Big deal. At least I got there. In Spain, when Kate and Amanda were stressed, I stayed calm and led them back to the meeting place by asking pedestrians for directions. I may not come up with Einstein-like solutions, but I always find a way.