The Bittersweet Life

We've all heard it. We've all said it. But what does "when in Rome" really mean?  Katy reveals the somewhat surprising origin of this ubiquitous catch-phrase, which has become the title of more Rome-based rom-coms and expat memoirs than we could count. Tiffany and Katy have different opinions of the meaning of this cliché expression, and we end up down a rabbit hole discussing the correct way to u...

Twenty years ago, on August 29th 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The Category 5 storm and its aftermath devastated the city, and the consequences still last today. Listen in as Katy takes you on a journey of remembrance to mark the occasion. You'll hear some of the New Orleans voices she has never forgotten in the intervening decades. ------------------------------------- COME TO ROME WIT...

When Tiffany's husband Claudio takes a photo with the karate instructor of his youth, Tiffany realizes that by being an expat, it can sometimes feel like her life has no continuity. She can't revisit old teachers and places. She never unexpectedly stumbles upon people and objects from her childhood, and maintaining relationships longterm takes extra effort. Is this just one of the side effects of...

Have you ever received a sign to do something? Did you listen to it? Do signs even exist?   What about bad and good omens? Are they real or a product of our imagination?   Katy and Tiffany share their experiences and those of our listeners on this episode from our archives.   The Bittersweet Life podcast has been on the air for an impressive 10+ years! This August, we are taking a well-deserved re...

On last week's archive episode, we talked about fantasy, and the benefits and pitfalls of focusing on and working toward your personal fantasies. But somehow, no matter how hard we try, reality always seems to intrude upon fantasy. Is that always a bad thing? Our thoughts might surprise you. Listen in to this week's episode from our archives where we discuss hard reality. The Bittersweet Life podc...

How much of life is us trying to fulfill the fantasies of our youth? And is there anything inherently wrong with weaving fantasies and attempting to fulfill them? Is reality overrated?   We explore this idea on this episode from our archives. The Bittersweet Life podcast has been on the air for an impressive 10+ years! This August, we are taking a well-deserved rest, and in lieu of new episodes, w...

It began with a simple question: what's the most impractical thing you have ever traveled with? Little did we know it would turn into one of our favorite (and perhaps silliest episodes) as Tiffany reminisces about her earliest trips abroad in the 1990s, when bringing two hat boxes and three full-sized suitcases on a solo trip to Europe was actually doable. *** The Bittersweet Life podcast has been...

Why does (seemingly) every single person in Italy go on vacation during the month of August? If you've ever visited Italy in the month of August, you'll know that big cities and small towns alike empty out, particularly during the two middle weeks of August, and it can be a challenge to find a decent restaurant or shop open, or more locals than you can shake a stick at. Why is that? Would you beli...

What percentage of Italian men cheat? Is it really 100% like a family friend of Tiffany's smugly insisted when she first moved to Italy? Or is that number closer to the rest of the world, only it's more acknowledged over here?   Did Tiffany take a terrible risk marrying an Italian, or is cultural background irrelevant to fidelity?   And what about Italian women? Do they cheat at the same (alleged)...

Katy's father Dale and sister Sara join us on this episode from our archives to look back on their past family travels to Southeast Asia, specifically Vietnam. Katy, who was not a travel-lover as a younger person, asks her dad if he invited her to join him on his frequent trips to Vietnam in order to expand her world through travel. His answer surprises her. Dale Sewall explains why he's been draw...

It's a common security question: What is the name of your first pet? Tiffany and Katy reminisce about the pets that they adopted and loved throughout their childhood and what was special about them. Aurelio (Tiffany's son), would like his first pet now , please, and he really wants a dog. Should he get one? This is just a snippet of our most recent bonus episode, available exclusively to our suppo...

Can you remember the first time you were truly frightened—by a movie, a ghost story, or even a real event that you witnessed? On this episode, Katy and Tiffany delve back into their earliest memories to come up with the first instances of true fear that they experienced—and most of the time they can laugh at them now. We also wonder: can one instance of being horrified in childhood create lasting...

On this nostalgic episode from our archives, Tiffany regales Katy with the details of a recent trip to the cradle of the Renaissance, including specific stops she made to research her latest book, a YA historical fiction thriller set in Florence in 1600. Also, we talk about how memory-provoking it can be to travel to a place that you haven't been in over a decade, but that you have a few extremely...

Where would you go if you only had about six months left before travel would be out of the question for health reasons? Most people will never be forced to answer this question, but today's guest was recently asked this question by her husband, as they prepare and plan for the end of her life, after a devastating termincal cancer diagnosis. In this episode, Katy is joined by her sisters Sara and D...

In a world that is becoming ever more homogenized, what sets places apart? What are the blaring indicators that communicate we are in a place vastly different from anywhere we've ever been before? In this episode from our archives, Katy recounts her magical and sometimes maddening week in Bali. She lays out the ways the island delighted and surprised her, the aspects that felt wholly different fro...

School is out in Italy, and the summer is LONG (not to mention, extremely HOT!) and a certain red-headed someone is refusing to go to summer camp. To fill the time (and keep his brain from atrophying), Tiffany has created a daily list of ten things her son Aurelio must do. Can you guess what's on there? This is jsut a preview of a bonus episode available exclusively to our Patreon supporters. Want...

What is a growth mindset and why would you want one? And perhaps more importantly, how do you cultivate one? To answer these questions, we dive back into Dr. Therese Huston's fascinating book, Sharp: 14 Simple Ways to Improve Your Live with Brain Science . We explore the idea of growth vs. fixed mindset in relation to our own lives, learning to do things that once seemed impossible, from becoming...

Since July is a big month for travel, this month we are re-airing episodes from our archives every Friday that revisit trips we've taken in the past. 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. *** The Bittersweet Life po...

Rome is extremely hot and extremely crowded right now, and the Vatican Museums have become an almost unbearable place. Instead of spending a miserable (and potentially hazardous) day inside one of the most amazing but sadly most overcrowded and unpleasant museums in the world, we've come up with a list of places you can go in Rome to find the same kind of art you'd find in the Vatican—and you'll p...

...According to the latest brain science anyway. Katy discovered this provcative tidbit in Dr. Therese Huston's new book, Sharp: 14 Simple Ways to Improve Your Life with Brain Science . She asks Tiffany if she's ever had a vision board and proceeds to explain why the thinking behind this concept is faulty. But Tiffany has her own ideas on this topic, ideas that are more philosophy than science. Jo...

How do you flirt in a foreign language? What if you barely speak the language in question? Is it easier to flirt with a foreigner than with someone from your own culture? What happens when cultural miscommunication crops up? And how do you manage to be witty and charming in a foreign language? On this episode from our archives, we delve into Tiffany's (many) experiences dating and flirting with fo...

A school initiative in Italy is bringing elementary school children and opera together in an ingenius way! On this bonus episode, available exclusively to our supporters on  Patreon , we talk about the sheer delight this project has brought to hundreds of thousands of people on social media. Which brings up the question: what exactly makes something go viral? This is just a preivew of what we offe...

Have you ever noticed that Italian homes don't have closets? Bedroom closets, linen closets, broom closets, coat closets—they simply don't exist (unless you as a homeowner or renter decide to build one). Because of this lack of convenient storage space, Italians, twice a year, every year, have to swap out all their winter clothes (and pack them away) for their spring clothes, or vice versa. This g...

Do expat couples divorce more than couples who live in their home countries? They certainly face different challenges. On this episode from our archives, writer and former expat Debra Bruno joins us to talk about her article  Divorce Global Style: For Expat Marriages, Breaking Up is Harder to Do which appeared on the Wall Street Journal 's Expat Blog. Find Debra Bruno on Instagram or at her websit...

Tiffany does not get Italian beach culture. In this candid (and a bit heated) mini-episode, she wonders: what's the appeal of overcrowded beaches, endless rows of umbrellas and chaise longues as far as they eye can see, baking, inescapable heat, and dirty warm water that most people don't even swim in? Why are Italians so obsessed with spending every free moment of summer here? Tiffany doesn't hav...