The Bittersweet Life

Latest Episodes:

Episode 318: The Nature of Time May 31, 2020

Show notes

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 it mean to truly live in the present? Are the past, the present, and the future all happening at the same time (at least in our minds), and has the future already happened?

These are just some of the intriguing questions we ask ourselves this week, particularly given the unprecedented time we are all living in. (By the way, did you know that "time" is the most commonly used noun in the English language?)

We revisit an earlier episode, an interview with author and time expert Alan Burdick, to get some insight into our discussion.

Grab a copy of Burdick's book Why Time Flies, a deep dive into the mysteries of time, here.

Listen to Episode 148: TIME FLIES (with Alan Burdick) here.

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NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Bittersweet Moment #60: Italy's New Rules of the Road May 27, 2020

Show notes

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 coffee at your local bar? What's the deal with shopping and trying on clothes?

On this mini-episode, we give you the nitty-gritty on what to expect when you head out into the world again—at least for those of us living in Italy. And for the rest of the world, here's what might be in your future.

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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! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 317: Out and About in Rome May 23, 2020

Show notes

Italy has officially reopened for business. While masks are required in public places, social distancing is (supposedly) non-negotiable, and tourism is still non-existent, life is nevertheless quickly returning to normal. Perhaps too quickly?

After Tiffany's first aperitivo in Rome since the beginning of lockdown, she's a bit apprehensive about how carelessly many of her fellow Romans (and sometimes herself) are picking up their old habits. Will the irrepressible sociality of Italians cause a second wave of Covid cases? Have we learned anything at all or will 2+ months of quarantine have been in vain? We discuss this and more on our latest episode.

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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! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Bittersweet Moment #59: MEMORIZATION (with Katy's dad, Dale) May 21, 2020

Show notes

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 dad Dale stops by to talk about the challenges and rewards of memorizing a speech of prose as opposed to rhyming rhythmic poetry.

He also explains why he chooses to memorize things and what it means to want to have the words in him. He explains how, even after years of not revisiting a poem or speech he's memorized, parts of it never leave him, and continue to reinforce who he is.

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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! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 316: The Nature of Memory (with Susan Engel) May 16, 2020

Show notes

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 get better at? Perhaps most intriguing of all: how reliable are our memories really? Do our stories change to fit our perception of ourselves?

This week, we muse about the nature of memory, particularly in regard to the fact that we're all living through an unprecedented moment in living history. We wonder, are we more likely to remember the details of this time as opposed to our "regular" lives, or less so?

We're also joined by Susan Engel, psychology professor and author of, among other titles, forthcoming The Intellectual Lives of Children. Engel is an expert on memory who answers some of our most pressing questions, and debunks some of our long-held beliefs about memory.

***Find the book we talk about on the show, Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, here.***

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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! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Bittersweet Moment #58: EMPTY ROME May 14, 2020

Show notes

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 at midday.

From the Spanish Steps to Piazza Venezia, from the Pantheon to Piazza Navona, Tiffany finds empty streets, chirping birds, and precious few residents out for a stroll.

On this mini-episode, Tiffany takes you along on her walk around empty Rome, capturing the sounds she hears and describing the sights she sees, from a deserted Trevi Fountain to church bells at noon ringing for (almost) no one to hear.

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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! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 315: THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL May 09, 2020

Show notes

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 is travel going to be like once everything is back to "normal"?

Will it become unaffordable to fly? Will museums limit the number of people who can enter at a time? Will prices on everything skyrocket making travel once again a luxury for the elite? Or will airlines and other tourist providers offer amazing deals to lure reluctant travelers back into the sky and around the world?

We tackle these (frankly terrifying) questions on this week's episode, and we also discuss the potential benefits that could arise from the decline of mass tourism.

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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! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Bittersweet Moment #57: DISPATCH FROM SEATTLE May 07, 2020

Show notes

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 store for the city in the near future, as well as how she's doing, and what she's doing to stay safe, sane, and well during this crazy time.

She also talks about how and why Seattle is one of the cities in the US that has been first to begin to flatten the curve, and she muses on why that might be.

Find the New Yorker article that she cites here.

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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! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Episode 314: STRAY (with Stephanie Danler) May 03, 2020

Show notes

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 author Stephanie Danler to talk about her forthcoming memoir Stray, but also to discuss what it takes to make the hard decisions that will allow you to claim the kind of life you know you want.

Danler examines her overwhelming desire to wander the world and spend time in places where she can be anonymous, as well as what it took to face her fears and put down roots.

Stray is a "memoir of growing up in a family shattered by lies and addiction, and of one woman's attempts to find a life beyond the limits of her past. Stray is a moving, sometimes devastating, brilliantly written and ultimately inspiring exploration of the landscapes of damage and survival."

Find Stephanie on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

Pre-order your copy of Stray here.

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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! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

Bittersweet Moment #56: ITALY BEGINS TO OPEN Apr 30, 2020

Show notes

Italy's lockdown restrictions are finally about to begin (and, more essentially, we finally know what they entail). In this mini-episode, Tiffany goes through the new rules, as well as her reactions to them. (Hint: she's slightly frustrated, and plenty perplexed.)

She also hears from Aurelio about the places he's most looking forward to going once Rome is fully open again.

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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! Visit our Patreon site to find out more.

SUBSCRIBE: Subscribe to the podcast to make sure you never miss an episode. Click here to find us on a variety of podcast apps.

WRITE A REVIEW: Leave us a rating and a written review on iTunes so more listeners can find us.

NEW TO THE SHOW? Don't be afraid to start with Episode 1: OUTSET

BOOK: Want to read Tiffany's book, Midnight in the Piazza? Learn more here or order on Amazon.

TOUR ROME: If you're traveling to Rome, don't miss the chance to tour the city with Tiffany as your guide!

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