Between the ages of 7 and 12 I engaged in the art of searching for the secret toy in whatever sugar cereal I was devouring. As soon as I opened the box I began my secret cereal box toy-spelunking adventure, digging and shifting the cereal from side to side. Some adventures would last longer than others, depending on the type of cereal. Trix would always give me a hard time, as did Lucky Charms. When I finally found that toy, a victory lap around the kitchen table would soon follow.  I’m still amazed at how long it took me to find that sugar cereal prize that was rightfully mine as soon as my mom brought that box of sugar nutrition home from the store.

Another activity I enjoyed as a kid was looking at maps, specifically my World Atlas book which contained all kinds of cool facts such as: population, capitals, largest city, language spoken and my favorite, land area mass. One day as I was looking at a map of Europe I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before – something small, something that eluded me hundreds of times before. Andorra. My first thought was “Holy crap, I just found the smallest country in the world!” I was hooked. I had to know more. I was fascinated on how a country that size could exist – it was as if my home town (actually suburb) was a country surrounded by the U.S.

In my mind, for about a month, Andorra was the smallest country in the world located between France and Spain in the eastern Pyrenees. Until I saw something in between Switzerland and Austria… could it be…? Yes, it was Liechtenstein, an even smaller country than Andorra. Shortly after that I found San Marino, an even smaller country than Liechtenstein. I went all the way down the list until I came to the Vatican, which is considered to be the smallest country in the world with a land area mass of 0.17 square miles.

What does looking for a toy in a cereal box and finding small countries on a map have to do with one another? With one I knew I was looking for something small, with the other I didn’t know I was looking for something small – it just kinda happened. I suppose it was because both the toy prize and small countries were surrounded by a larger mass or group of things (Trix, Lucky Charms, etc…).

It also could be that I thought of these two relationships on a train ride into work the other day and it seemed to all make sense. (See post from 12/14/2009)

Here are Wikipedia links to small countries in Europe:
Andorra (rank: 16th smallest country in the world – 180 square miles)
Malta (rank: 11th smallest country in the world – 122 square miles)
Liechtenstein (rank: 6th smallest country in the world – 62 square miles)
San Marino (rank: 5th smallest country in the world – 24 square miles)
Monaco (rank: 2nd smallest country in the world – 0.7 square miles)
Vatican (rank: smallest country in the world – 0.17 square miles)

Enjoy a clip from Step Brothers

Tags: cereal, europe, Lucky Charms, small countries, Trix

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