How often do actual Romans think about the Roman Empire? You probably saw the recent Tik Tok trend, in which women from around the world asked their male partners how often they thought about the Roman Empire. The results were surprising, with a lot more ancient Roman contemplation than the askers expected. We decided to ask Tiffany's husband Claudio, who has lived in Rome his entire life and works in a place full of ancient Roman art and artifacts, just how often he thinks about the Roman Empir...
Oct 09, 2023•28 min•Season 11Ep. 501
500 Episodes! Can you believe it? (We can't!) (And by complete coincidence, we taped this episode on the 19th anniversary of Tiffany's arrival in Rome!) Join us for this unbelievable milestone as we muse on what happens when we do something (a podcast, living abroad...) for a very, very long time. Longer than we could have ever imagined! ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation...
Oct 01, 2023•29 min•Season 11Ep. 500
“You're an expatriate. You've lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you…” A famous quote in Tiffany’s current read sparks a lively conversation about the unglamorous side of the expat life. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in...
Sep 25, 2023•28 min•Season 11Ep. 499
How long does it take, living out of your home country, to lose your cultural fluency? When you grow up and live in the same country for most of your life, you might take it for granted, but understanding a culture, its nuances and customs, both big and small, is a huge part of everyday life. And strangely enough, we've found, if you don't use it, you lose it. Today Katy talks about the things that Tiffany no longer "gets" about the United States because she has lived abroad for nearly two decad...
Sep 17, 2023•35 min•Season 11Ep. 498
Where do you find inspiration—for your writing, your painting, or just the art of living? A listener question about the flowers of Italy, of all things, sparks a conversation about where we find our inspiration, and how to go about seeking it if the well is running dry. As always, we welcome listener questions. Write to us here (or better yet, send us a voice recording of you asking your questions) and we may just do an episode on it. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reac...
Sep 11, 2023•29 min•Season 11Ep. 497
With our August break officially over, we're back with all new episodes, and oh my goodness, I guess that means it's Season 11! (What??!!) On this spontanous episode, we get back into the swing of things nice and slow, with a recap on what we did during our August vacation. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bit...
Sep 04, 2023•36 min•Season 11Ep. 496
Palestinian American poet Hala Alyan and her family fled Kuwait when Saddam invaded. She joins us to explore storytelling, straddling cultures, loneliness, therapy, and what value belongings come to have when you move constantly. Alyan is also a clinical psychologist and author of Salt Houses . Find Hala Alyan at her website . ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. B...
Aug 28, 2023•47 min•Season 10Ep. 495
Why are colors brighter when you travel? Why do foreign doctors' offices seem sketchy sometimes? This has more to do with your brain than with reality. Science writer Erik Vance , author of Suggestible You , helps us examine the science behind our brain and its perceptions. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bit...
Aug 21, 2023•38 min•Season 10Ep. 494
Do I deserve to live a bigger life? Sarah McColl, author of the memoir Joy Enough , joins us to talk about the beautiful life she discovered while living alongside her dying mother. In this probing coversation, we also explore how fear, loss, and the expectations of others can limit our potentially terrific lives. Find Sarah at her website or on Instagram . ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to ...
Aug 14, 2023•34 min•Season 10Ep. 493
Why does time fly sometimes? Why does it slow down when you travel? We explore the notion of time with Alan Burdick, author of Why Time Flies . Alan Burdick is an editor on the Health and Science desk at the New York Times . ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return...
Aug 07, 2023•39 min•Season 10Ep. 492
How long does the magic of Rome last to an expat? We recently received an email from a listener, an Australian who spent 5 years in Milan and has now been living in Rome for over a year. He wonders: when will the bubble burst? How long will he feel like his entire life is surreal, like he is living in a dream? Does the magic of living in Italy ever pass? Does it ever become mundane? Tiffany and Katy have lots of opinions. Listen in as they discuss! PS LIsteners are always welcome to send in ques...
Jul 31, 2023•31 min•Season 10Ep. 491
After her recent two-week trip to Austria, Tiffany reflects on the differences between Italy and Austria. Despite the fact that the countries share a border, it turns out there are many glaring differences between the two. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return f...
Jul 24, 2023•37 min•Season 10Ep. 490
Today we talk names. What names are most popular for kids in Italy these days? Which are evergreen favorites and how does popular culture play a part? And are old-fashioned grandpa and grandma names back in style in Italy as they are in the US? And speaking of, what are the most popular baby names in the States right now? Can you guess better than Katy can? Also, what if our parents had gone with one of the other names they were considering for us? Is it possible that our lives (and even our per...
Jul 17, 2023•24 min•Season 10Ep. 489
Do dead bodies make you squeamish? Have you ever seen one up close? For some, attending an open-casket funeral or a wake is as close as they'll ever come. For others, their career (funeral home director, embalmer, coroner...), close encounters with the dead are a regular fact of life. Then there are Romans, who, whether they notice it or not, are never very far away from a corpse—dead bodies of popes on full display in St. Peter's, graves are underfoot more often than not, and skulls and bones c...
Jul 10, 2023•34 min•Season 10Ep. 488
Mamma Ho Perso L'Aereo! (Mom, I Missed the Airplane!) This is the Italian title for a popular American movie—can you guess which one? On our twice-monthly bonus episodes, which we put out exclusively for our Patreon members and regular donors, we often talk about silly things, off-topic subjects, and deeply personal stories we prefer not to share with the entire world. And sometimes we continue a conversation we started on a regular episode. Today we're offering a peek behind the paywall with th...
Jul 06, 2023•20 min•Season 10Ep. 214
We talk (and talk and talk) about Americans living in Italy. But what about Italians who live in the US? What happens when the shoe is on the other foot? Today we sit down with Rosanna Staffa, an Italian-born playwright and author who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.. Her debut novel The War Ends at Four is out now. Listen in to hear first-hand about the expat experience from the other perspective. Find Rosanna on Twitter or at her website . ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH U...
Jul 03, 2023•33 min•Season 10Ep. 487
Tiffany has been complaining about the criminal way in which Romans park since nearly the dawn of her now-dormant blog back in 2010. And becoming a Roman driver herself has not cooled her resentment towards the selfish jerks who park with complete disregard to their fellow citizens. But last weekend it got personal. After a Saturday evening out in Trastevere, Tiffany and her husband Claudio returned to their (legally parked) car to find it blocked in by an (illegally parked) car. They were, quit...
Jun 29, 2023•12 min•Season 10Ep. 213
This month, Tiffany took her first solo (non-work-related) trip since becoming a mom almost 8 years ago! (What took her so long?) We reflect on the thoughts and realizations that came to her during this much-needed weekend get-away, specifically why she thinks it's vital that every mom take at least one trip away from her family every year. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversat...
Jun 25, 2023•32 min•Season 10Ep. 486
Planning a visit to the Vatican Museums this season? Forewarned is forearmed! Today we hear from three Vatican tour guides who dish the dirt on what it's really like inside the Vatican Museums, from unmanageable crowds to unbearable heat to rare acts of violence against the artwork. But they also share their insider tips for how to survive—and enjoy—a visit to the Vatican Museums in high season. It is possible! ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats,...
Jun 22, 2023•15 min•Season 10Ep. 212
What's it like to be in the Vatican Museums in the middle of the night? Not just during evening hours, but long after they close... Journalist Cullen Murphy got a chance to do just that and he writes about his experience in a recent article in The Atlantic. The article sparked a discussion of places that change character entirely after nightfall. We chat about the places we've been at night and how the cover of darkness and, most of all, the absense of people, can utterly transform a place. ----...
Jun 19, 2023•25 min•Season 10Ep. 485
On Monday's episode we explored the music that we grew up listening to and loving—as well as how we discovered and acquired that music. (Call-in radio request, anyone?) Today, Katy digs up some old cassette tapes she recorded off the radio back in the 80s, when sometimes, the only way to find a favorite song was to sing it to the DJ and hope he recognized it. For anyone else who grew up in the 80s, get ready for some audio nostalgia. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach...
Jun 14, 2023•9 min•Season 10Ep. 211
A question from a listener sparks today's conversation: What music do we love and listen to on a daily basis? Have our tastes changed and matured over the years or do we still love the same music we loved as kids? Also, find out why Katy says that listening through her music library takes courage. Join us as we dive into the music we love. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversati...
Jun 12, 2023•29 min•Season 10Ep. 484
Fries, chocolate, canals, art, gabled houses... what's not to love? Fresh off a long weekend in Ghent, Tiffany sings the glories of one of her favorite European towns, and explains why Belgium is Europe's best-kept secret. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return f...
Jun 08, 2023•11 min•Season 10Ep. 210
Looking for the perfect summer read, something light yet introspective and thoughtful that takes place in Rome? You're in luck! This week we are joined by nationally bestselling, award-winning author Liam Callanan to talk about his new book, When in Rome , a "story of an opportunity to start over at midlife, a chance to save a struggling convent in the Eternal City, and the dramatic re-emergence of an old flame . . ." We chat about what it's like to write a book that takes place in a city you've...
Jun 05, 2023•33 min•Season 10Ep. 483
School's almost out! Hooray for summer! Aurelio stops by to tell as about his summer plans, and why summer vacation for Italian kids is not quite as freeing as it is for their American counterparts. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRON: Pledge your monthly support of The Bittersweet Life and receive awesome prizes in return for your generosity! Visi...
May 31, 2023•9 min•Season 10Ep. 209
Do you ever have days when everything just lines up perfectly? When you couldn't have planned your day to work out in a more ideal if you had had it under your own control? Those days are rare when you live in Rome, but they do happen! In the spirit of serendipity, we let this conversation lead us where it wanted. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the conversation started. BECOME A PATRO...
May 29, 2023•26 min•Season 10Ep. 482
What makes a place magical? A lot of factors can go into it, but one of them is certainly, as author Jess Walter puts it, when "history connects with the experience you're having." In this case, he's talking about the Hotel Donna Camilla Savelli , the very hotel where we are hosting our magical Roman Adventure this October. ( Email us to find out how you can join us!) Today we talk with Jess to discover just what makes this hotel so magical, and why he chose to feature it in an article he wrote ...
May 25, 2023•12 min•Season 10Ep. 208
Today we're joined by Marti Buckley, an author, cook, and journalist living in San Sebastián, Spain. Her award-winning cookbook is called Basque Country , and her second book, The Pintxo Book , will be out in spring of 2024. Listen to the interview to learn more about Basque Country (the place as well as the gorgeous book). We also discuss life in Spain vs. the United States, the challenges of single parenting abroad, and the effect that tourism has on places. Also: discover why pintxos (pronou...
May 22, 2023•38 min•Season 10Ep. 481
One of the most fascinating places in Rome by far, the one that packs the most layers (literally!) of history into a single site, is without a doubt the Basilica of San Celemente and the archeological excavations that lie underneath it. Today Tiffany takes you on a virtual tour of this amazing site, a sneak peek of what's to come this fall. You see, San Clemente is just one of many places Katy and Tiffany plan to take the lucky guests on the upcoming Bittersweet Life Rome Adventure, taking place...
May 18, 2023•13 min•Season 10Ep. 207
What is the deal with the story within the story device? When reading 19th century literature, you're very likely to come across this technique, also known as a "frame story." And if you're like Tiffany, you find it annoying and distancing. Then again, if you're like Katy, you find it intriguing and charming. Why did the authors of mega-works like Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights decide that, to tell their stories properly, they needed to frame it with an external narrator (wholely unconnected...
May 15, 2023•31 min•Season 10Ep. 480
