I bought a pair of jeans today with 130 dollars. This was kind of traumatizing, since, as Teo articulated, "I'm not used to seeing prices on my clothing in triple digits." Zoran has explained to me that people will go hungry here so they can afford the clothing they want, so it makes sense that stores charge so much, because apparently people are willing to pay high prices.
The going hungry to buy clothes thing probably contributes to the overwhelming tend of being skinny. (That and chain-smoking.) When I was shopping for jeans, I asked the sales woman to help me with sizing, because I can't even understand the system in the US, so I'm not about to take on a new one, and she handed me a pair of pants that I might have been able to squeeze into when I was 12. I had to explain that I am American-sized.
It's not just clothes, either. I went to a perfumerie (??), and the mascara I normally buy at home, which is about 15 dollars, was 185 kn, about 40 dollars. I fled from the store in distress under the disapproving glare of the two sales associates.
Let's not even mention the cost of text messaging.
On an unrelated subject, I immediately noticed that when along with the other RIT students here, I am one of the only people bringing a bag to class. (I don't bring a lot, just my laptop.) Katarina, one of the first locals to speak to us, explained that nobody takes notes, so there's no need to bring student-y things like notebooks/laptops or god forbid backpacks to class. I keep thinking about RIT where it seems that everyone is at all times either toting a computer or a giant portfolio.
