The Bittersweet Life

Bittersweet Moment #104: Cross-cultural Families

08 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Inspired by last week's episode, an interview with Elizabeth Miki Brian, the author of the new memoir Speak, Okinawa, and the challenges she faced g...

Episode 363: Speak, Okinawa (with Elizabeth Miki Brina)

05 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Elizabeth Miki Brina's new memoir Speak Okinawa is a "searing, deeply candid memoir about a young woman's journey to understanding her complicated par...

Bittersweet Moment #103: New Life Begins

31 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As a follow-up to Monday's episode, What Do I Want to Do Today?, on this mini-episode, Katy presents a radio piece she produced several years ago, in...

Episode 362: What Do You Want to Do Today

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

When trying to come up with an idea, whether it's for an article you're trying to pitch, a school assignment, a book you want to write, or any creativ...

Bittersweet Moment #102: Italy Lockdown (Again)

25 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Italy is in lockdown (again), but this time it feels very different. The rules are mostly the same, but the mood on the street is completely changed. ...

Episode 361: How to Move Abroad (with Jessica Drucker)

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

So, you've decided you want to move abroad but... where do you start? It's not an easy subject to tackle, so today we've asked an expert. On this week...

Bittersweet Moment #101: Seven Years, Seven Questions

17 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we celebrate seven years of The Bittersweet Life! To mark this milestone, on this mini-episode we ask each other seven questions, each one inspi...

Episode 360: Getting Better, Getting Worse

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For much of the pandemic, Italy has been keeping their numbers (relatively) under control, and the United States, on the other hand, has seen their nu...

Bittersweet Moment #100: One Year Later

11 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Tiffany looks back on the week that it all changed in Italy—one year ago right now. Did any of us think, a year later, that restrictions, yellow, or...

Episode 359: Diffused Art

08 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Walking through the halls of a museum like the Uffizi Gallery in Florence—when we're not in the middle of a pandemic, that is—is generally about a...

Bittersweet Moment #99: Feedback, Good or Bad? (with Therese Huston)

04 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Katy gets into the nitty-gritty of feedback from her own point of view, digging into her own past as a senior radio producer. Today's mini-episode fea...

Episode 358: The Art of Feedback (with Therese Huston)

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

How can effective feedback change your life? Today, we sit down with Dr. Theresa Huston, author of the new book Let's Talk: Make Effective Feedback Yo...

Bittersweet Moment #98: The Holiest Place in Rome

25 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Oscar Wilde called it the "holiest place in Rome" and Percy Shelley said it would make someone apt to fall in love with death to think of being buried...

Episode 357: Literary Travel

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Reading books can inspire you to travel, and travel can inspire you to read books. It's what we call a delicious cycle. Today we talk about the books ...

Bittersweet Moment #97: The Scariest Cold Call

18 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

On our "super secret" Truth or Dare episode from a few years ago (available only to our Patreon patrons and long-time donors), Katy did something incr...

Episode 356: Anticipating Travel

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Some psychologists say that anticipation of a desired event can often bring more happiness than experiencing the event itself. And if that's the case,...

Bittersweet Moment #96: Disappearing Languages

11 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Every two weeks, an endangered language disappears from the planet, when the last person who speaks it dies. And one third of the world's languages ar...

Episode 355: Losing Language

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

One of the greatest rewards of being an expat is mastering a foreign language. But what happens when you live in a foreign language so long, so cut o...

Episode 354: Virtual Tour of Rome with Special Guests, Part 2

04 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Today we continue our virtual walk through Rome, were we just happen to run into a few more world-famous authors. What are the odds? Katy's brilliant ...

Episode 353: Virtual Tour of Rome with Special Guests, Part 1

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Katy and Tiffany take to the streets of Rome once again, and this time, they encounter a slew of fascinating and important people, all former guests o...

Bittersweet Moment #95: Why I Don't Trust Trip Advisor

28 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

TripAdvisor might be some people's go-to app for planning their vacations, but Tiffany prefers to steer clear of the anonymous travel review site if p...

Episode 352: Souvenirs

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Is there a specific thing you like to buy when you travel to a new place, like a magnet or a snow globe? Or do you seek out unique and locally made ar...

Bittersweet Moment #94: A New President

21 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

There's a new man in the White House this morning—and a new woman too! Just like we did four years ago during Donald Trump's inauguration, we record...

Episode 351: Paris By The Book (with Liam Callanan)

16 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A missing person, a grieving family, a curious clue: a half-finished manuscript set in Paris... these are just three of the intriguing ingredients of ...

Bittersweet Moment #93: ItalyGate: Vatican Blackout Conspiracy Theory

14 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Was Pope Francis really arrested by the FBI last weekend? Did all the lights in the Vatican go out to hide this event from the world? And most importa...

Episode 350: Daily Life: Italy vs America

10 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Do Italian parents really take their toddlers out to restaurants at 10pm? Do they really go home for lunch during the work day and take a nap? Thanks ...

Bittersweet Moment #92: A Call for Souvenirs

05 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Whether a funky mug from Prague, a hand-painted ceramic bowl from Mexico, or a random dish picked up off the street in Japan, there's got to be one sp...

Episode 349: A New Year Begins: 2021

02 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After the catastrophe that was 2020, we go back and listen to the resolutions we made one year ago. Did we manage to accomplish ANY of them? You'll ha...

Bittersweet Moment #91: Rome's Restricted New Year

31 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's finally the end of 2020!! We made it! But the close of what many are calling the worst year in living memory won't be rung in as many people woul...

Episode 348: The Best of the Year: Virtual Tour of Rome

28 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Lots of out-of-work tour guides are now offering virtual tours of Rome (and, I imagine, cities all around the world), as a way to keep their businesse...

Bittersweet Moment #90: Merry Christmas from Aurelio

23 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's Christmas Eve and Tiffany interviews one little child who is looking forward to the big day. Enjoy this mini-burst of holiday cheer and Merry Chr...

Episode 347: A Bookish Christmas (with Nancy Pearl)

18 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Just in time for last-minute Christmas shopping, the "world's librarian" Nancy Pearl, who is also a best-selling author herself, shares her favorite b...

Bittersweet Moment #89: After After Midnight (with Matthew P. Woerner)

17 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Katy catches up with Matthew P. Woerner, the writer and director of Monday's audio play "After Midnight," who also happens to be a childhood friend. O...

Episode 346: After Midnight (by Matthew P. Woerner)

14 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Get a cup of your favorite hot drink, find a cozy corner, and sit back and enjoy a totally different kind of show. Today we're  presenting a special ...

Bittersweet Moment #88: An American in Italy—during Covid

10 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In a time when leisure travel (especially international leisure travel) is all but non-existent, some brave and insistent travel-lovers are going anyw...

Episode 345: Now You See It, Now You Don't

06 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

There are lots of new sights we are all quickly getting used to during this unprecedented time. People in masks, plexiglass partitions, ubiquitous han...

Bittersweet Moment #87: Slow Winter

03 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Winter can be long at the best of times. But during a pandemic with no end in sight, it can be brutal. Katy is joined briefly by author Jess Walter an...

Episode 344: Shifting Goals

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We all make goals—or, at least most of us do—but what happens when we decide to scratch a goal off the list without ever completing it? Whether be...

Bittersweet Moment #86: Gratitude

26 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On this extra-short mini-episode, Katy and Tiffany express their thanks for things in their lives that they are unexpectedly treasuring this year. Som...

Episode 343: Joyful News (with Clare Brown)

23 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

About five years ago, Clare Brown left a predictable life in the UK to move to Split, Croatia in search of writing, exploration, and adventure. A long...

Bittersweet Moment #85: What's Going on in Italy?

19 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Italy is in the midst of a wicked second wave of Covid. In fact, it makes spring's wave seem like a bump by comparison. Instead of instituting a natio...

Episode 342: Sleep

16 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Do you have a hard time falling asleep at night? Or perhaps, like Katy, you sleep fitfully, waking multiple times a night and having trouble falling b...

Bittersweet Moment #84: Biden Wins!

12 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Katy and Tiffany send voice memos back and forth across the Atlantic as one of the most consequential presidential elections in American history is fi...

Episode 341: Around the World in Twelve Months (with Cyndie Burkhardt)

09 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Photographer and visual storyteller Cyndie Burkhardt was living in New York City feeling unsatisfied with her life. Rather than continue to struggle, ...

Bittersweet Moment #83: Election Night 2020

05 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you live abroad, sometimes you have to stay up all night in order to keep an eye on the fate of your home country. And then there are the rare occa...

Episode 340: A World Away

02 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's the eve of the US presidential election, what the vast majority of Americans consider to be the most important election of their lifetimes. But w...

Bittersweet Moment #82: Rat Laughter and Storytelling

29 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's almost Halloween, and to assuage the fears of anyone who is afraid of rats (like Tiffany, see previous episode!) Katy shares a fascinating and li...

Episode 339: What Are You Afraid Of?

26 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Are you afraid of the dark? Spider or rats? Being buried alive or drowning? Encountering a wild ferocious beast? Are you afraid of ghosts? Someone lur...

Bittersweet Moment #81: The Veiled Christ

21 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Considered for centuries to be the most mysterious sculpture in the world, The Veiled Christ by Giuseppe Sanmartino (1753) is an astoundingly realisti...

Episode 338: Cute and Cuddly

19 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

"All things cute and cuddly" was the surprising topic requested by listener Sara, who supports us at the $50 level on Patreon. Choosing the topic of a...

Bittersweet Moment #80: Virtual Book Tour (with Jess Walter)

15 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What are book tours like in the time of Covid? For this week's mini-episode, Katy sits down with bestselling author Jess Walter to discuss what it's l...

Episode 337: Before and After Baby

12 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

This week we give all our listeners a peek into some of the extra bonus content that our Patreon donors are receiving. Every month we offer one or mor...

Bittersweet Moment #79: Moving Abroad during a Pandemic (with Gabriela Proietti)

08 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Moving abroad is already a daunting experience at the best of times. Imagine doing it during a deadly pandemic. For this mini-interview we are joined ...

Episode 336: Silver Linings

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As devastating as this pandemic has been, to our lives, our loved ones, and our livelihoods, is there a silver lining? In the midst of the suffering a...

Bittersweet Moment #78: Grave-robbing Artists? (with Jennifer Dasal)

01 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's a much-told legend that Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci used to rob graves in order to dissect bodies in secret so they could achieve anatomic...

Episode 335: Art Curious (with Jennifer Dasal)

28 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Is the Mona Lisa in the Louvre fake? Was impressionist painter Claude Monet a radical? And was Caravaggio—our show's muse—murdered? Art history ho...

Bittersweet Moment #77: Back to School, Covid Edition

24 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It's that time of year again, but this year everything is different. In Italy, kids are now back in the classroom full-time but the rules are complica...

Episode 334: Voting from Home and Abroad

21 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Ready or not, election season is upon us! And it's never been easier for Americans living abroad to vote—well, in some states. Tiffany is lucky as A...

Bittersweet Moment #76: Smoke and Good News!

17 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Katy, and all of our fellow-West Coast listeners, are seeing massive tracts of their states destroyed, smoke blotting out the sun, and highly hazardou...

Episode 333: Numbers

14 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

From lucky and unlucky numbers to numbers that make almost magical equations, from significant date to the "perfect" numbers, this week's episode is a...

Bittersweet Moment #75: Exploring Pompeii

10 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Pompeii, an entire ancient city preserved exactly as it was when it was covered in lava and ash during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Even for a s...

Episode 332: How We Live Now (with Bill Hayes)

07 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Daily life during a devastating pandemic—something nearly no one alive has ever experienced before—is captured poignantly and artistically by Bill...

Bittersweet Moment #74: More Questions!

03 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Monday's Conversation Starters episode just didn't cover all the things we want to know about each other! In today's mini-episode we continue the ques...

Episode 331: Conversation Starters

31 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you're looking for a great question to break the ice on a first date or just want to get to know your best friend, parent, or spouse even bett...

Bittersweet Moment #73: Mail Bag

27 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When our listeners reach out to us to share how we've inspired them, delighted them, challenged them, or simply kept them company—well, it doesn't g...

Episode 330: America Grounded

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A record number of Americans—42%—now hold passports (up from 27% in 2007) but much good it will do them. In the wake of this unprecedented pandemi...

Bittersweet Moment #72: A Long Way to Italy

19 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tiffany is 19 and desperate to meet up with her boyfriend in Italy in the final weeks of summer before heading back to university in the fall. She's w...

Episode 329: Expat Move Time Warp (with Stephanie Fuccio)

17 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

The uncertainty of the expat life is magnified by life during a devastating global pandemic. But how often to you get to hear from the same person, ju...

Bittersweet Moment #71: Looking for the Little Things

13 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

A lot of us are walking more these days, in some cases, around and around the same neighborhood. On today's mini-episode, Katy takes us outside to the...

Episode 328: Summer Game: This or That?

10 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Sometimes you just need to tune out the cacophony of terrifying news and the anxiety over an uncertain future, and play a silly game. Don't you agree?...

Bittersweet Moment #70: A Birthday Revelation

06 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

On a magical summer evening in Rome to celebrate her birthday, Tiffany has a sudden revelation. She shares it—and what Christian Dior's cologne Fahr...

Episode 327: Rome's New Normal?

03 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Is Rome back to normal? Is that "new normal" what we expected it to be? This week's topic was sparked by an article in Esquire Magazine, "Things Are N...

Bittersweet Moment #69: How's Coping Going?

30 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In response to a listener question, Katy talks about what she's doing during the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown to keep her spirits up and get thr...

Episode 326: Finding Life in the Surf (with Diane Cardwell)

27 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What's the difference between having fun and having a happy life? This week's guest, award-winning journalist and author Diane Cardwell, tackles this ...

Bittersweet Moment #68: Outside the Vatican

23 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Tiffany finds herself just outside the walls of Vatican City on a summer morning and marvels at the dramatic change in the neighborhood. In an area th...

Episode 325: Good Teachers

20 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you tuned in last week, you heard us commiserate about the awful and sometimes destructive teachers of our past. If that episode left a little blue...

Bittersweet Moment #67: Collecting Collections

16 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Today Katy looks at collections, and the people who keep them. What makes people collect things—or not? After asking our listeners to write in about...

Episode 324: Bad Teachers

12 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We all remember our favorite teachers, but what about the horrible ones? The ones who crushed our ambitions, treated us unfairly, or were just plain m...

Bittersweet Moment #66: Villa Doria Pamphilj

08 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Have you noticed the birds more during lockdown? If your lockdown is over, do you find you're more aware of them than you were before? On this mini-ep...

Episode 323: Travel Trauma

04 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Has anything traumatic ever happened to you when you were traveling—a natural disaster, a personal tragedy, or maybe even a global pandemic—and as...

Bittersweet Moment #65: A Sleepy Bittersweet Moment (with Drew Ackerman)

02 Jul 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Do podcasts put you to sleep? Well, there's one out there that aims to do just that, Drew Ackerman's Sleep With Me podcast. Sleep with Me tells "bedti...

Episode 322: Introvert or Extrovert: The Covid Edition

28 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We all think we know if we're an introvert or an extrovert. But what does it really mean? On this episode, we dig into the true meaning of these perva...

Bittersweet Moment #64: Visiting an Empty Colosseum

25 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What's it like to visit the Colosseum in the time of corona? This iconic monument usually crams thousands of tourists in at a time, making the experie...

Episode 321: Living Alone during Lockdown (with Nicole Hardy)

22 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What is the reality of living alone during this pandemic, when your entire town, state, or even country goes into a strict quarantine? What are the wo...

Bittersweet Moment #63: What's Going On in Seattle? (with Casey Martin)

18 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Wondering what's going on in Seattle's police-free zone? The national media's reporting on the CHOP (Capital Hill Organized Protest) has, at times, be...

Episode 320: Facing Death (with Jim deMaine, MD)

13 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Whether you regularly contemplate your own mortality (like Katy), or give it very little thought (like Tiffany), we all have death on the mind more th...

Bittersweet Moment #62: Quarantine in Trastevere (with Amy Knauff)

11 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

You've heard all about how Katy and Tiffany spent their quarantines (or are still spending them, in Katy's case), but what was quarantine like for a s...

Episode 319: Who Is Rome For?

07 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

In cities like Rome, tourists are part of the city's identity, its reality, its way of life. When they go away—and don't come back—the city will i...

Bittersweet Moment #61: A Nation in Protest (with reporter Casey Martin)

04 Jun 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Protests over the murder of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis, have sprung up in cities across the United States. In Seattle, peaceful protests...

Episode 318: The Nature of Time

31 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why does time pass more slowly or quickly depending on what we are doing? Why is it that we sometimes completely lose track of the time, and what does...

Bittersweet Moment #60: Italy's New Rules of the Road

27 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What can you expect when you go out to eat in Italy during Phase Two? What about if you want to go to a museum, get your hair cut, or just grab a cof...

Episode 317: Out and About in Rome

23 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Italy has officially reopened for business. While masks are required in public places, social distancing is (supposedly) non-negotiable, and tourism i...

Bittersweet Moment #59: MEMORIZATION (with Katy's dad, Dale)

21 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Memory is the buzz word on The Bittersweet Life this week! Monday's episode was all about autobiographical memory, and on this mini-episode, Katy's da...

Episode 316: The Nature of Memory (with Susan Engel)

16 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Why do we remember certain things and forget others? Do some people simply have a better memory than others, or is it something we can practice and ge...

Bittersweet Moment #58: EMPTY ROME

14 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Rome has finally opened up for walks in the center. Even so, when Tiffany finally has a chance to wander through the city, she finds it all but empty ...

Episode 315: THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL

09 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With international and even domestic travel all but ground to a halt in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the question on everyone's lips is: what...

Bittersweet Moment #57: DISPATCH FROM SEATTLE

07 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

What's going on in Seattle right now? More to the point, what's going on with Katy in Seattle? On this mini-episode, Katy checks in with what's in sto...

Episode 314: STRAY (with Stephanie Danler)

03 May 2020

Contributed by Lukas

How do you transcend a childhood marred by addiction and go on to pursue the life that is calling to you? This week, Katy sits down with bestselling a...

Bittersweet Moment #56: ITALY BEGINS TO OPEN

30 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Italy's lockdown restrictions are finally about to begin (and, more essentially, we finally know what they entail). In this mini-episode, Tiffany goes...

Episode 313: Virtual Tour of Rome

26 Apr 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Longing to wander the streets of Rome, visit its most beautiful squares, and marvel at its monuments? Since, for now, that isn't possible for any of ...