The Bittersweet Life

What does it take to capture the sounds of the world's rich and diverse wildlife? On this extraordinary interview, we are joined by sound and nature recordist Martyn Stewart.  Stewart has one of the largest collections of natural sounds in the world, having recorded more than 90,000 different sounds in more than 55 different countries for a total of over 60,000 hours of natural sounds. Stunningly,...

What is life like when you grow up in no fixed place and in countries that neither of your parents are from? The term for this kind of person is Third Culture Kid, and longtime listener Chelsea Hicks joins us on this mini-episode to explain what it's like. Not only is Chelsea a Third Culture Kid, but both her father an her partner are as well. She talks about the positive as well as the negative a...

You've taken your Italian lessons, you've memorized your vocabulary, you've practiced all your most useful phrases. Then you get to Italy...and it all flies out the window. It's a common problem that many language-learners face. But how to get around it? Why can speaking to an Italian in Italy be so much harder than speaking in a classroom setting? Today we are joined by someone who can help with...

Wander into one of Rome's hundreds of churches, and you might just find yourself face to face with an artistic masterpiece that, in any other city, would be the main attraction of the city's biggest museum—and would come with a hefty price tag and probably lots of crowds. But in Rome, these works are all around you—if you know where to look. On this mini-episode, Tiffany shares with you some of th...

When the sons of a centuries-old noble Roman family and the American widow of their father, the prince, can't decide who gets to live in the family's priceless villa, a forced auction ensues! Princess Rita, a glamorous American, has been living in her late husband, Prince Nicolò Boncompagni Ludovisi's historic family home, Villa Aurora, since they wed over a decade ago. It was the American princes...

When you decide to hop a plane to LA and recreate your favorite childhood film with your sisters, you contact the writers and directors and ask if they'd like to meet up. At least, if you're Katy, that's what you do. As a follow-up to Episode 411: A Sisterly Quest to Midnight Madness , Katy and her sisters sit down with David Wechter and Michael Nankin, the writing/directing team behind the cult c...

Seven years ago, Katy and her sisters—who each live in different states—started gathering once a year for "Sisterfest." But this year they are doing something different. When they were little girls growing up outside Seattle, they watched a little-known 1980 movie called Midnight Madness . It became a kind of cult classic in their house, and everything about it somehow took on a special meaning. O...

We get lots of mail from our loyal listeners and we love reading it! You guys always have the best questions and the most insightful commentary on our episodes. We often get inspired to make entire episodes based on a listener email. On this mini-episode, Katy dives into the mail bag to read some of the most interesting notes we've had in the past month or two. If you have a question, comment, or...

After the disaster of the last two years, Katy and Tiffany are a bit reluctant to make New Year's Resolutions this year. After all, what will the year be like? If 2021 taught us anything, it's that we can't presume to think we know when (or if) the pandemic will end. Nevertheless, they can't help making just one or two (maximum three!) little tiny ones, just for the sake of tradition. Hear what th...

After hearing from Katy's own lips before and after her experience going scuba diving in the frigid waters of the Pacific Ocean in winter, listen to Tiffany's own deep-sea adventure in Sumatra, when she accidentally came face to face with a terrifying sea creature. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an ema...

New Year—new experiences! At least that's the idea. That's the way we used to do it pre-pandemic anyway. On this first episode of 2022, Katy digs back into her vast personal audio archive to relive what it was like to fulfill a rather adventurous New Year's Resolution several years back. Hear her as she prepares to go scuba diving in the frigid winter waters of the Pacific Ocean to get her diving...

About a month ago, in Bittersweet Moment No. 129 , you learned about the 24-hour Radio Race, a competition that challenges radio artists to create a 4-minute story based on an assigned theme—in just 24 hours. Katy teamed up with reporter Casey Martin and created a story they titled "The Thirty Year Secret." They share this magical story with you today. This is the story they created based on the t...

Instead of looking back on the entire year of 2021 (because that might not be too fun), today we look back on the year through the books we read. Find out which we loved best, which surprised us, and which were not as good as we had hoped. PS Listen to this mini-episode to hear what Aurelio read this year. Katy's Books Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead The Lover by Marguerite Duras Cloud Cuckoo Lan...

Do you read to your kids? Tiffany an Aurelio read together every night (and sometimes, when the book is especially good, at every meal). Tiffany and Aurelio gather up all the books they read together in 2021, and sit under the Christmas tree to talk about which Aurelio liked best (and why), which he like the least, and which ones perhaps should have waited until he was a bit older. ---------------...

Tell us your favorite Christmas movie, and we'll tell you what to do in Rome at Christmastime. All alone like Kevin McCallister? Feeling romantic à la Love Actually ? Or are you a regular Grinch this time of year? Whichever iconic holiday film speaks to you, we've got an idea for the perfect Roman activity for you. If you want a list of all the places we mention in this episode, as well as address...

If you listened to A Gift , the charming and heart-warming radio play we aired on Monday, don't miss the short epilogue, which we are airing on today's mini-episode. It is, of course, also by the great team at AudioImagination77 led by Matthew P. Woerner. This touching and bittersweet (no pun intended!) radio play touches on regret, loss, human weakness, redemption, and the comfort of a stranger....

In the flavor of Its a Wonderful Life , this original radio play is about a mysterious, magical shop where the customer might just find what they long for. When a woman takes a walk on Christmas Eve, she notices a shop she's never seen before—though the owner says it's been open for over 100 years. Why has she never noticed it before? And what amazing discovery will she make there? Turn down the l...

From pandora to panettone and everything in between, follow us a dessert-rich tour of Italy at Christmastime. From Cremona's super-sweet and sticky torrone, to the delightful struffoli famous in Naples, on this mini-episode, Tiffany fills you in on all the traditional Italian holiday desserts that warm us up on cold December nights.  ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach e...

How do you dress in Italy so you blend in? No one wants to be pegged as a tourist the moment they step off the plane, so today, in response to a listener question, Tiffany gives her advice on how to dress when in Italy so you'll look more like a local. ------------------------------------- ADVERTISE WITH US: Reach expats, future expats, and travelers all over the world. Send us an email to get the...

Imagine you hear a note—any note—from a ding in an elevator to the whistle of a bird, and somehow, without even having to thing about it, you just know what note it is. F-sharp. B-flat. Middle C. It's just there, as easy as it would be for the rest of us to recognize a color. This phenomenon is a gift shared by very few people on the earth, and one of them is Katy's nephew Evan. He didn't have to...

We spend a lot of time on this show encouraging our listeners—especially those who write in for advice—to throw caution to the wind and move abroad if that is their dream. But what about when the timing just doesn't seem right? Today we read a letter from a listener asking about a possible move to France, but this time we offer different advice. Listen in and decide if you agree. -----------------...

We spend a lot of time on this show encouraging our listeners—especially those who write in for advice—to throw caution to the wind and move abroad if that is their dream. But what about when the timing just doesn't seem right? Today we read a letter from a listener asking about a possible move to France, but this time we offer different advice. Listen in and decide if you agree. -----------------...

For Adrianne Castro and her husband Joe, a move to Rome had been a very long time in the making. At first it started out as just an idea when they were on a trip with their young son. But then soon found themselves wondering: why not? Several years, a son settled at college, the recognition of Joe's Italian citizenship through ancestry, a pandemic, the sale of their home, and a lot of planning lat...

Do you suffer from anxiety? Is it a chronic problem, or something that only flairs up at certain times? Or are you one of the lucky ones, blessed with calm under pressure? Today we talk about anxiety from a few different angles, including the stress that comes along with moving outside of your comfort zone, whether it be moving to a foreign country, leaving a stable job, or simply trying a new hob...

Can you produce an entire creative project in just 24 hours, from start to finish? This week, Katy attempted just that. She and her good friend and fellow radio producer Casey Martin decided to participate in the KCRW 24-hour Radio Race 2021. The challenge: produce an entire radio piece from scratch in no more than 24 hours. With the somewhat lack-luster theme of "Won't You Be My Neighbor?", these...