You know you are in a little town when... #2

You know you are in a little town when...

If you want to buy clothes, there is only one store to do your shopping... and it's the size of a walk-in closet!

Yes. My town is that small.

I hope I don't have to go shopping any time soon because I may not find my size! ;-)

Useless Fact?? #3

DID YOU KNOW...

That, in average, a wedding in Spain costs approximately $30,000? This is due mostly because everyone invites their family, their friends, their family's friends, their friend's friends, and their family's friend's friend's friends. That is a lot of mouths to feed!

But wait! There's more!

DID YOU ALSO KNOW...

That Spain has a divorce rate of approximately 75%? And, not only that, the average marriage lasts approximately 2 years?

That means that if you get married in Spain, you will spend approximately $30,000 in a wedding and there's a 75% change that you'll divorce in 2 years. That's $15,000 a year! That's someone's salary!!

Honestly, I wouldn't take those odds.

Now, I am going to end this blog with the same ending as the other Useless Facts posts. However, you can't help bur wonder... Is this fact really useless? (aka: Avoid marrying Spaniards?) I'll let you decide. ;-)

Another!... Uuuuuseless fact. :-)

You know you are in a little town when... #1

I am officially in Spain now! I flew into Madrid about two days ago and was fortunate to be picked up by the family I am staying with now. We drove for a little more than an hour and arrived at my home-away-from-home (for the next 8 months): Almorox.

What should I tell you about this town? I am really not sure. After all, I've only been here for two days. But I will tell you what everyone has told me (which I agree with 100%): Almorox is a VERY small town. It is a pueblo. Or how I like to call it, a pueblito.

Now, when I heard I would be living in Almorox, I found out quickly how small it would be. I looked it up in maps.google.com and it was like 10 streets big. I also looked up town information and all I could find was "Max Population: 2,000 people" (my high school was bigger than that!). Furthermore, the fact that I couldn't find any more information also spoke plenty of its size.

But how small is it really? Well, I think it is best explained with examples. After all, it is the small details that the average person doesn't know that speaks volumes of the situation. So, for everyone to get a grasp on how small my pueblito is, I've decided to use the same tactic of "Did you know..." random facts and apply it to Almorox. It's called: "You know you are in a little town when..." So here we go!

You know you are in a little town when...

The dentist comes into town once a week.

...

That's pretty small!

I hope I never get a tooth ache while the dentist is gone! ;-)

Photo Album #2: WINE WARS!

As most of you know, one of the planned adventures for this summer is a special festival held in Haro, the capital of Rioja, one of the "counties" of Spain. This region is known for its amazing wine and it is an intricate part of their culture and lives. To the point where they have a week long festival which ends with La Batalla del Vino - WINE WARS!!! It is the best water fight I've ever been in! Check out the photos! :-)

http://picasaweb.google.com/melissacappiello/WINEWARS

Only In Italy

Only in Italy will you find, in the nicest section of shops in Milan, the Prada store:













and McDonald's right next door!



I do admit that it was the nicest McDonald's I've ever seen! I walked around inside and I was VERY impressed. Though don't worry. I didn't buy a Big Mac! ;-)







Only in Italy!

Fun Changes in Milan

I was in Milan less than a year ago and a couple of little things have changed since I've been away. Wanted to share them with you so here we go!

1) Il Duomo
This is really THE main thing to see in Milan. The reason is that Milan was heavily bombed during WWII, so there really isn't much old stuff still standing. Thankfully, Il Duomo still stands! When I was in Milan last year, this is what it looked like:



As you can see, it is mostly blocked by that big board. They are cleaning it up! Now it looks like:






They are making progress! If you look closely, the board shows you the progress they have done in the past few years. They are almost done!




2) The Bull

To the left of Il Duomo is another section of Milan that wasn't blown up. There are murals on the ground and the most popular is one of a bull. Don't ask me why but someone from who-knows-how-long-ago said that if you put your heel on the testicles of the bull and rotate, it will bring you good luck! Of course, I couldn't miss the chance!



Good luck! Good luck! I take it all! ;-)








And what does the bull look like last year?



See? So many people have done it that it has a hole in it! And now?








Now the hole is MUCH deeper! (OUCH! Poor bull. ;-) )


My sister said that every year they fill in the hole and every year, a new hole is created. Funny huh? In Italy!





Anywayz, those are some of the few changes in Milan that were really obvious and I wanted to share! :-)

Useless Fact #2!

DID YOU KNOW...

The uniforms the Italian police wear were designed by Armani??

I couldn't believe it! But if you look it up, it is true!

And here I thought the officers looked good because they were Italian. Guess it's their uniform! ;-)

Another! Uuuuse-less fact!



(Here's an example of the uniform. The white belt is definitely a nice touch. Good job, Armani! :-) )