Things I Took For Granted Until I Moved to Italy

I moved abroad alone at a very young age: to Atri, Italy when I was 15.

Atri is a small mountain town in Teramo, basically a straight line West from Rome.

I always pictured moving abroad to be this idyllic fairytale, where I’d be smiling like the happy couples at the end of House Hunters International, sipping a pretty drink overlooking a beautiful view.

My actual experience was very different.

Coming from Canada, the culture shock I felt was intense. I think it’s important to know them before you go.

I still would have gone, but I would have gone in with more understanding – and probably a better packed suitcase. Hopefully this will help you do just that!

1. 5 Day School Week

North America uses a 5 day school week, but in Italy students go to school 6 days a week.

You typically get to school at 8 or 8:30 am, then you leave at 1pm to go home and have a giant lunch with your family.

I definitely liked having a shorter school day, but losing one day of my weekend wasn’t a pro for me. Especially since we had to be there so early! As a teenager, I just wanted to sleep till 1pm.

It also meant that it was harder to stay up late to go adventure through the town or go to local parties. We were always so exhausted we ended up needing a nap every day.

I desperately missed a 5 day school week where I could sleep in for two days a week.

2. Shops Open After Lunch

Sometimes you just want to run out to grab something really quickly after lunch. Not in Italy!

Like Spain, Italy has a siesta every afternoon. Families all go home to make a large meal – the biggest of the day – and hang out.

Which means you can’t get anything done for a few hours.

Between 6 days a week of school and shops often closed until 4pm, it was hard to get anything done!

It also meant that when you did go to the shops, they were usually busy. Italians like to do things slowly. I come from Toronto where the slowest setting we have is turbo, so I was already constantly frustrated by how slow things moved. But when you throw in a crowd, it felt like moving through molasses to buy some apples.

3. Short Meals

I love eating, really I do. But spending 2-3 hours on every meal got exhausting.

Sometimes you just wanted to grab a sandwich and go.

Italians savour food. They take their time enjoying it and usually turn it into a social affair.

The food is amazing, don’t get me wrong. But spending 3 hours every afternoon having a multi course meal was too much for me.

I have a small social battery and by the end of meals I usually felt burnt out. I just wanted to eat cold cereal alone in front of the TV once in a while.

4. Quiet Walks

Italians are very communal people. Atri is a small town, so everyone knows each other.

Going on a walk felt like the intro to Beauty and the Beast with everyone greeting each other.

I like to go for a walk with my headphones in and just disassociate from the world for an hour. Not in Italy!

You’ll get stopped regularly to chat, wave hello, or even come in for a quick coffee. (It’s never quick.)

I finally had to start walking on the treadmill at the gym to get my silent time.

5. Paved Roads

Driving in Italy is a challenge. Most roads aren’t paved the way we have them in North America.

My mom came to visit and they gave her what we jokingly call a “toaster” to drive up the hill to Atri at night.

That road is slightly more paved, but still quite crumbly and windy. In that tiny little car with no rear wheel drive, it was quite the mission!

And driving in towns means you’re getting shaken like a maraca going over the cobblestones.

Most people walk when things are close by partially because of this, and partially because town roads are so narrow. There was a great Top Gear episode where they actually got a car stuck trying to drive between two buildings.

If you’re in a city like Rome, the roads are better because of all the tourists. But once you leave a big city, you’re driving on dirt, gravel, and the vague memory of a road.

6. Traffic Laws

Driving in Italy is pure chaos.

It made me miss Canadian traffic. Even being bumper to bumper was better than cars just weaving willy nilly through the streets!

I was only ever a passenger in Italy but I got so much anxiety watching cars and vespas zip through traffic without a care in the world – or any awareness of the 4 people they’d just cut off.

I’d look both ways 5x before crossing the street just to be safe.

If you can avoid driving in Italy, I recommend it.

But if you’re going to go on a long road trip, do so away from the cities. Driving in Rome or Florence is pure craziness. There’s traffic, tourists, a lack of rules anyone is following, and vespas whipping through and crevice they can find!

I’d recommend sticking with the train.

I was very happy to come back to Canada where driving is much more laid back.

7. Not Needing to Travel in Summer

Italy is unbearably hot in summer.

Most of the country goes on holiday to the beach for the entirety of summer, meaning that most stuff is closed.

If you want to shop for anything, you’ll need to order it online.

Typically, you just have to give in and go abroad or to the beach, too. That’s great, except that its peak season.

You’ll be packed in with other people and spending 3x more than you would to travel in the off season.

I prefer off season travel or shoulder season travel, so this is not ideal for me. I’m also not a big fan of oppressive heat. Summer in Italy was a definite con.

I missed the cool beaches of Muskoka where you can chill out all summer and not worry about needing to fly somewhere cooler.

In fact, most people in Canada fly to warmer places in the summer!

8. Wearing High Heels

When I lived in Italy, I was in a high heel phase. Now I’m more of a sneaker girl.

But I used to get so frustrated trying to wear heels out. The streets are all cobblestones so you’re always a millimeter away from a sprained ankle!

Even wedges would get caught in the spaces between the old stones.

Most Italians learn to either wear flats and then transfer to heels at the event, or they balance on their toes. I don’t have the dexterity for that, so I had to go without, or have 2 of my friends holding me up to make sure I didn’t trip.

It made me miss getting to wear whatever I want in Canada. I’ve never had to consider dressing for anything other than winter before.

9. International Food

It is so hard to find international food in Italy, especially if you’re in a small town.

Italian food is incredible – and I ate a lot of it – but sometimes you just want a pad thai.

Anytime we went into the bigger cities, we’d go to McDonalds or another chain to get something different. We just needed variety from the sameness of the ingredients we got all the time.

Because we only left the town once every other month or so, I started having literal dreams about chicken nuggets and wonton soup.

When I got back to Canada, I went a little bit crazy eating different cuisines for a month – and definitely messed up my stomach eating too much of them too quickly. But it was worth it!

Before you move to Italy, be sure to learn some international recipes.

Should You Move to Italy?

Yes! Italy is one of my favourite places in the world and one of the best places to live – if you have remote work options.

I was there for a study abroad, so I couldn’t stay beyond my visa. I was glad to come home and get back to what was more familiar, but I couldn’t shake the bug to get out of my comfort zone like that again.

Italy got me started living abroad, and ultimately lead to me making this whole blog a reality!

While I had some complaints or unexpected shocks, I loved my time there. And I actually got reverse culture shock coming back to Canada and waving at everyone I passed. I’m pretty sure those poor Torontonians thought I was nuts!

Read more about living in Europe:

• Pros and Cons of Living in Italy as an Expat
• Living in Portugal Pros and Cons
• Pros and Cons of Living in France
• What It’s Like Living in Ireland
• Pros and Cons of Living in Germany
• Pros and Cons of Living in Berlin as an Expat
• Best Places to Live in Europe for Expats
• Pros and Cons of Living in the Czech Republic for Expats
• Pros and Cons of Living in Amsterdam
• Living in Prague: The Complete Expat Guide
• Pros and Cons of Living in Turkey
• Pros and Cons of Living in Austria
• Pros and Cons of Living in Sweden
• Pros and Cons of Living in Switzerland
• Pros and Cons of Living in Denmark
• Living in Serbia Pros and Cons
• Living in Portugal Pros and Cons
• Pros and Cons of Living in the UK: Should You Move to England?
• Pros and Cons of Living in Scotland as a Foreigner
• Pros and Cons of Living in Oxford, England from an Expat
• Pros and Cons of Living in Spain