Take for example, the price of gasoline. Mind you, I am very thankful that I am not driving here (never mind the price of gas, but the drivers here are flipping psycho!). Plus they have the most amazing train system that takes you just about anywhere you want to go with ease. But I digress.
1 liter - .26 gallons. So for math’s sake, let’s call it 4 liters to a gallon. At 1.49Euros per liter, that’s 5.96Euros a gallon. Convert that into dollars based on today’s exchange rate of $1.46 dollars to a Euro, that’s a grand total of…..$8.88 for a GALLON OF GAS.
I shall never complain about the price of gas again. Oh who am I kidding, I’m sure I will. But now I will have a bit more perspective when doing so, and argue that the price of gas sucks everywhere!
Another example, shoes. I am not nearly the shoe fanatic that many of my friends are (and you know who you are). As I glance by the store window, I do see the occasional pair that would look really cute on my feet. And then I pseudo-faint when I see the price tag. So far, I haven’t seen a single pair of shoes under 50Euros. And that’s for the cheap looking ones. Most average shoes seem to be priced anywhere from $100-175Euros (translation: $146-255). Now I can’t say that I remember the last time I paid $146 dollars for a pair of basic pair of ordinary sandals (and I have never paid $255 for shoes!)
Clothing too is very expensive (and very tiny as there are no fat people here. There aren’t even moderately rounded individuals? How is that possible?????) For example….
And this was at an ordinary average store. Compare it to, say, Forever 21. Or Express. 60 Euros for a basic top????? That's almost $100 for something that i thought was worth more like $19.99.
I figure the Italians must have a significantly smaller wardrobe selection than Americans, lest they would be broke. Plus they have tiny apartments so less places to store things. There is something to be said about that in a positive light.
Here’s one for my mommy friends. Baby stuff is also very very expensive. For example, here, you see a small package of diapers, quantity 28. At 10.59Euros, that’s $15.46 a package, or $.55 a diaper. At that rate, i'd be back to cloth diapers! Lucky for me, I brought a few packages over with me and will hopefully coerce my friends and family to squeeze a package or two in with their luggage when they come to visit.
Luckily, by living here, we aren’t subjected to eating every meal out on the go, so being about to cook at home helps out a lot both on the pocketbook as well as the waistline. More free cash for gelato then! My goal is to eat to my heart's delight, walk it all off and hopefully come home without gaining too much weight (wishful thinking has me losing 5lbs......).
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