When I was in college, I had the pleasure of studying abroad in Italy for two consecutive semesters. I had never initially planned to spend an entire academic year in Florence, but within a month of arriving in the city, I knew that one semester wouldn’t be enough for me. Not only was I studying the language, but I was trying to get to know the country and its history, and it seemed that a year of cultural immersion would be the perfect way to round out my Italian minor.

What surprised me the most during my time in Florence wasn’t the difference in time, or architecture, or climate, however, it was the culture, and the smaller facets of the ways in which we live our everyday lives. Things I had always taken for granted, like leaving the house with wet hair, were suddenly faux pas, while things I had never even considered doing, like kissing new acquaintances on the cheek, were suddenly commonplace.

With that in mind, I’ve compiled a list of some of these observations. Obviously, the more nuanced cultural aspects are probably best explained by a real Italian—my observations are all from the perspective of a clueless American tourist. That being said, here’s what I learned while living in Italy!

The North and South Have Vastly Different Cultures…

It’s easy to think of another country as culturally homogenous, especially when you’ve never been there before, but the area of the country you’re in ultimately causes the lifestyle to vary as well. In northern Italy, where the economy is more industrial and the regions are closer to the rest of Europe, you’re more likely to see fevered businesspeople, skyscrapers and sculptures, and American businesses, like Starbucks. In the southern areas, the pace of life is slower and agriculture is a greater economic focus.

…and So Does Each Region

Italy is divided into twenty regions, and past the north-south divide, you’re apt to find that the character of each area is different. Much like the way of life varies in America from state to state, it also varies between places as close as, say, Tuscany and Umbria.

Dinner Happens Later

This was a tough one for me. I’ve always tended to eat between five and seven in the evening on most days, so finding out that Italians commonly don’t have dinner until eight or later was a bit of a shock. Granted, there are restaurants that are open earlier, but I can promise you that these are geared towards tourists. If you want to go where the locals go, look for places that don’t serve dinner until later.

Different Regions Have Different Dialects

This may go without saying, given my last point, but it certainly wasn’t something I considered during my time abroad. I made the mistake of thinking that my conversational-level Italian would see me through my time in Italy, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. On more than one occasion I found myself at a dinner table in Campania, listening to everyone speaking Neapolitan and barely following the conversation. While in some areas, the language differences are small, like using different expressions, in some, the local dialects might as well be different languages entirely.

Food Is More Than Just Food

In a country celebrated for its cuisine, it may not come as a surprise that food holds an important place in the Italian lifestyle. What I didn’t understand at first was just how important that place was. In Italy, food is about more than just eating; meals are a social gathering, a chance to bring family and friends together, sometimes for hours on end. The food and company complement one another. Because food is seen as more than simple sustenance, you won’t find Italians eating while distracted, so expect a look or two if you decide to eat your pizza on the go.

This is just a sample of what I discovered about Italy while living in this beautiful, storied country, and I hope it helps paint a better picture of the Italian way of life from an American perspective. Despite these lifestyle differences, however, it is important to remember that beneath it all we still have a lot in common, and this was the most significant thing that I learned while I was abroad.

We all go to work every day, we enjoy time with family, we use our own slang, and we recognize that there is cultural diversity even within our own countries. Perhaps, at the end of the day, an article like this will always come up short, because, regardless of what time we eat dinner or whether we speak the same language, our cultures align when it comes to the important things. Like pizza. I think we can all agree on that.