Cultural differences apply. I remember realising when socialising with Italian students, that arranging a time to meet was a precursor to 60-90 minutes of chat

Cultural differences apply. I remember realising when socialising with Italian students, that arranging a time to meet was a precursor to 60-90 minutes of chat about what we might do, who was going to turn up etc, etc. I warned a friend who I took on a subsequent visit, that meeting at 7.30pm probably meant eating at 10pm. And in fact I was 15 mins optimistic! This included a visit to someone's house, being invited in for a quick aperitivo, driving 40 mins to restaurant etc...