The Bittersweet Life
WARNING: This show might change your life. What began as a podcast about what it means to live abroad has become a dynamic examination of what it means to live. Public Radio’s Katy Sewall and Italy expert, Tiffany Parks, guide you on a vulnerable, entertaining journey to discover a more wondrous and adventurous life. Their famous guests, topic-based conversations, and visits to Rome will tweak how you see the world, keep you company, and expand your life view.
Episodes
How much of life is us trying to fulfill the fantasi...
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 on the air for an impressive 10+ ye...
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 believe it's a tradition that dates bac...
What percentage of Italian men cheat? Is it really 1...
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 drawn to Vietnam for more than half his...
It's a common security question: What is the name o...
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 trauma throughout your life? And wi...
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 strong impressions of from past tr...
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 Dana. Dana talks about the surprisin...
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 from what she is used to, and discusse...
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 ...
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 fluent in a foreign language to mast...
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 podcast has been on the air for an imp...
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 probably have a much better time doi...
...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.
Join us for this fun conversation that...
How do you flirt in a foreign language? What if you barely spea...
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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 got us thinking: what other things t...
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 website.
***The Bittersweet Life podcast ha...
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 have an answer. But maybe you do: writ...
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