1992 Corolla, loud exhaust?

Hi, I just recently bought a 1992 corolla, which I'm still learning to drive ( 5 speed ) , and yesterday I was driving around, and instead of shifting from third to fourth, I accidentally shifted back down into second, and my RPM's shot up to about 7k or so. When this happened I heard a sort of popping noise, and after that I could hear exhaust coming from the front of my car, almost sounding as if I was running just straight headers or so. Anyone have any clue what happened? The noise comes from before the catalytic converter. I'm thinking I either blew the gasket that bolts the header to the block, or blew a hole in the headers some how. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you - Andrew

the notorious misshifting which ive done several times.....but with any car not very good....1992 things could be at that point where you have to be gentle with how you handle the car. the only advice i can give you is to take a look. sometimes you can see the exhaust come out of where its leaking especially on a car that old since the fuel economy starts to go down hill . i know on my 96 corolla i had to replace the exhaust manifold from a heat crack right down the middle. but ya all i can say is just look under the hood and below the car, preferably while the car is running, you shouldnt have to raise the vehicle and if you have a good eye and sometimes a flashlight helps and it works better at night with the flashlight. you should be able to see the exhaust gases come up if there is a leak if you dont find anything and still arent sure have a mechanic friend or professional take a look.