I hope it all worked out for you.
But, automation is there to help you, but please pay attention to what you are doing. One of the first things you have learned in training is to "fly the airplane".
Whatever happened with your passenger could, and absolutely should, have been postponed till after you leveled off at FL350. You have nothing to do between 34,500 and 35,000 but one thing: to make sure that it levels off.
It might even make a point to them (your company, future companies, the FAA, the JAA and whoever else you might work for at some point) that you might not have been in control of your airplane as a PIC. That would be my biggest concern.