When I was growing up in Spain, my father had no problem getting a local bank account (with Barclays, IIRC), renting a house, etc.

Spain and Italy also have the tradition of taking August off. Our parent company (Italian) shuts down (yes, the whole company) for over two weeks in August, so if we need anything from them in that time frame, we have to ask for them to ship it before they go on vacation.

Restaurants do the same thing; they'll shut down for a week or two, and when they open up again, the customers come back.

Strolling around downtown with the family, looking at the shops is
popular in north Italy; I did that in Ferrara with a co-worker and we had plenty of company. What makes it really nice is that the core downtown area is closed to cars; the streets are packed with people. I wish they'd do that in the U.S.

The CA DMV is hell. It's ironic for a state that prides itself on being high-tech, but all the other DMV's I've dealt with (PA, MD, and FL, with FL being the best) were much better.

Good luck,

Tony