American on the Outside

A quick update after a summer of Covid, travel, moving, job changes, and all other sorts of chaos. We’ll be back soon with more interviews with Americans on the Outside, but this is what we’ve been up to during the hiatus.

We grew up with this as a nightmare, and thought these days were over.

Russia has invaded Ukraine, and we are stuck reliving the kind of Cold War panics we went through as children. We’re mostly just taken aback, so we don’t have any of the social media integration we’re supposed to this week, except to urge that you assist the International Red Cross.

Dona nobis pacem

After an unexpected break (thanks Omicron) – WE’RE BACK! Our conversation this week is with Al and Lies in St Albans. We talk about:
– What it’s like to cross the English Channel after Brexit during a pandemic for the holidays.
– Becoming a US citizen.
– Life as an American and Belgian/(newly) American Belgian couple.

We also talk Picardy, potatoes, finding bombs from WWII, heart attacks, and when your family finally gets Covid.

LINKS!
– Get to know the little known French region of Picardy
– Just a Little Heart Attack
– St Albans is a lovely little village.

It’s been one year since the January 6th insurrection. The week we are sharing with you an early conversation that we recorded just days after the events. Here are just a few things we discuss:
– Watching the events unfold
– Conspiracy theories
– Reparations
– Silver linings and Overton Windows

It’s our last episode of 2021 and this week we reflect on the past year and look forward to the next. We’re talking about:
– The Christmas Markets in Strasbourg, France
– The Omicron wave in Europe
– Celebrating New Years and the Southern US traditions we still keep.
– Our greatest challenges this year
– The best books we read this year: SPOILER it was The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen for Weldon and The Deepest South of All by Richard Grant for Chesney
– The things we are looking forward to and a few things we are worried about in 2022
– Our mottos as we begin a new year

As always, thank you so much for listening! We hope you’ll join us for more conversations and stories in 2022.

Stay safe. Stay healthy.

Happy Holidays!

In this episode, we talk about:
– sourcing ingredients for our favorite holiday meals
– our favorite holiday recipes
– Christmas traditions at home and abroad

We also talk with Whit in Stuttgart about:
– life as an academic in Germany
– alienation and identification
– the Afro- Deutsch Movement, Audrey Lorde, and May Ayim

November in Europe is full of important historical events. In this week’s podcast, we talk about how knowing history is important because we experience places on a deeper level. Knowing the history of a place helps us to see the ghosts.
Just a few of the things we talk about:
– The Night of Shattered Glass, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the German The Day of Fate.
– The Southereastern Ceremonial Complex
– The Slave Cemetary at George Washington’s Mount Vernon
– Guy Fawkes Night

We also talk with our friend Bill in London who shares with us his thoughts on:
– Growing up as a twin
– Sharing a name with this popular movie
– The Great American Summer Road Trip™
– The importance of British pub culture
– The joys of good Mississippi BBQ

It’s a big day for us here at American on the Outside. After years of planning and months of getting our feet wet learning the process of podcasting, we’re jumping in with the show as it was conceived way back in 2016. We recorded this interview the day after Election Day 2020. It’s fitting to release it today – the day after Election Day 2021. We are so excited to finally bring you the first of many stories from Americans on the outside with our interview of Gwen in Biggleswade.

Just a few things we talk about:
– Growing up Mormon in Mississippi
– Expectations of assimalating into a new culture permanently
– How politics in the US and the UK are different and how they are the same

Weldon, back from a trip home to the US, and Chesney, having just sent her in-laws back home, talk about the rentrée season in Europe, and what moving to a post-COVID world means.

In this week’s episode, Weldon and Chesney discuss the sacred European vacation, vaccinations, and international travel in The Time of Corona.

Curious about what we’re talking about?
The State Department’s Covid travel adivsories.
The European Commission’s page on leave.
Vacation rentals in France and Denmark.