When you go away to school or meet new people in general, a lot of the times the typical "so, what are you?" conversation comes up. A lot of the times you hear Irish, German or Spanish just to name a few. Sometimes you get other nationalities such as Portuguese, Jamaican or Chinese. Then you have us: Italians. You are more than proud to say that you're Italian and that leads to follow up questions like "Do you have family in the mob?" or "Do you live off pasta?" (Yes to that second one, btw.)

These are just a few signs that you grew up in an Italian family:

1. Sunday dinner is the best dinner.

Sunday dinner means a ton of pasta and you eat by 3:00 so lunch really doesn't exist.

2. Your family doesn't yell, they talk.

And you will get all your friends asking why they're always yelling. Trust me, they aren't.

3. You get confused when people eat turkey on Christmas.

Turkey is for Thanksgiving. Christmas is pasta, lasagna, chicken parmesan, cavatelli, tons of antipasto, and of course more pasta.

4. But we all know Christmas Eve is the best day of the year.

And it's even better than Christmas day. You eat way too much fish (and of course pasta) and helping your Grandma (or Nonna) make strufoli is the best.

5. You live off pasta and have it all too often.

Pasta is life. That is all.

6. You laugh at people when they say restaurants like Olive Garden and Caraba's are "Italian food."

No.

7. You know the right way to say words like mozzarella and calamari.

And people who aren't Italian look at you like you're crazy when really they're the crazy ones.

8. You watch movies like The Godfather, My Cousin Vinny and Goodfellas and it makes you even more proud to be Italian.

Marisa Tomei is everything.

9. You can never go on a successful diet.

Your Grandma will always be shoving food down your throat. It's her way of showing she loves you.

10. You tend to fill up before the meal even starts on the antipasto and bread.

It isn't a meal without some prosciutto slices with mozzarella and Italian bread or bread sticks.

11. Andrea Bocelli is a frequent CD played in your house.

When your dad or Grandma decide to play it so loud for all the neighbors to hear so they know that you are in fact an Italian family. (You also know exactly who Andrea Bocelli is).

12. When you go to weddings you know you won't be getting out of there until 2 a.m. the earliest.

Italian's can party, no secret about that.

13. Saying goodbye at family functions is an hour long process.

So if you plan to leave at 6, plan to start saying your goodbyes at 5 and maybe you'll get out at 6.

14. Family comes before everything.

They're way too in your business, but you wouldn't change it for anything.