The Bittersweet Life

One of the most interesting thing about our show is that people are listening at all over the place—and no, we don't mean from all over the globe, although that is also true—but that some of our listeners have been with us from the very beginning and hear each episode as it comes out, some joined late and are binge listening to catch up, some have just joined us and are currently on season one (we always suggest new listeners start at the beginning), and some rebels like to hop around and pick episodes whose names strike their fancy.

So when we get listener mail (which we do on a regular basis), the listener might have a question or a comment about an episode from any one of our (so far) nine seasons. Sometimes we have to really think back to remember episodes that we taped years and years ago, but it's always fun and it's always worth it.

For this mini-episode, Katy reads a few more listener letters. Keep them coming!

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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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!

Today we dig into our overflowing mail bag and pull out a few listener letters that have particularly struck us lately. We always appreciate hearing from our listeners, whether with a questions, a comment, or a criticism, so if you are so inclined, drop us a line, you might just have your letter read on air—and discussed at length!

***Save the date! We are hosting our first ever live virtual meet-up on 20 October 2021 at 9pm Central European Time (Rome), or 12 noon PST (Seattle). The meet-up is open to all of our patrons and regular donors. Join us on Patreon if you haven't already, then come say hi on the 20th!

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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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!

What's it like to return to the city where you studied abroad? What's it like return 50 years later... and in the company of your former classmates, many you haven't seen for half a century? Today's guests can tell you. For this mini-episode, we're joined by a number of former students who studied abroad in Rome in 1970 and 1971, and have come back for a reunion fifty years later. They talk about how the city has changed, how it has stayed the same, and most intriguingly, how their time abroad all those years ago change their lives forever.

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If you liked this episode, be sure to also check out Episode 133: EXCHANGE, an interview with a husband and wife, Sunny and Doug Strong. Sunny studied in Florence in 1963, and sent her then-boyfriend Doug reel-to-reel tapes chronicling her experiences. We talk to them over fifty years later, and hear her words on the tapes that Doug saved all this time.

***Save the date! We are hosting our first ever live virtual meet-up on 20 October 2021 at 9pm Central European Time (Rome), or 12 noon PST (Seattle). The meet-up is open to all of our patrons and regular donors. Join us on Patreon if you haven't already, then come say hi on the 20th!

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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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!

You did it! You've landed that amazing job, or maybe you're successfully living abroad in the country you've always dreamed of, or you've published your book, bought your dream home, won a major award in your industry (you fill in the blank). The question is: can you chalk it all up to hard work? Or was there some luck involved? And how much of what you've achieved can be attributed to privilege?

It's tempting to claim you did it alone, but is that even possible? Today we dig into the topic of luck, privilege, and hard work, and how, when they all come together, amazing things can happen.

***Save the date! We are hosting our first ever live virtual meet-up on 20 October 2021 at 9pm Central European Time (Rome), or 12 noon PST (Seattle). The meet-up is open to all of our patrons and regular donors. Join us on Patreon if you haven't already, then come say hi on the 20th!

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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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!

Last week we heard from Tiffany about her very first days living as an expat in Rome 17 years ago. Today, it's Katy's turn. She digs into the daily journal she kept back in the fall of 2013, when she moved to Rome with not only no ability to speak the language, but also no clear idea of what she would do there, or even who she would be. In this intimate mini-episode, hear from Katy's own experiences how moving abroad is not always rainbows and roses—especially not at first.

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, the book Katy talks about on this episode.

Hear about Tiffany's first days in Rome if you missed that mini-episode.

**This episode was sponsored by SafetyWing, a fully remote team building a global safety net for digital nomads and travelers worldwide. Their Nomad Insurance is subscription-based coverage for anyone living or traveling outside of their home country. Find more information or sign up at SafetyWing.

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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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!

The COVID pandemic has separated many families around the world, including that of today's guest, Diana Opong. Normally, her parents travel to Ghana, their home country, several months of every year. But during the pandemic, they got trapped there, and could not return to the United States. That caused some major problems and a lot of worry for Diana and her siblings—but there was one silver lining.

Diana, who is an audio producer and host, joins us to share what it was like to have her parents trapped on the other side of the world.

Find Diana on Twitter, on Facebook, and on Instagram at @diana.opong and @d.o_tell.

***Save the date! We are hosting our first ever live virtual meet-up on 20 October 2021 at 9pm Central European Time (Rome), or 12 noon PST (Seattle). The meet-up is open to all of our patrons and regular donors. Join us on Patreon if you haven't already, then come say hi on the 20th!

-------------------------------------

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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!

What was Rome like when Tiffany first moved there? On this mini-episode, Tiffany reminisces about what it was like to find an apartment, look for a job, use a cell phone, keep in touch with family, and make friends way back in 2004. (Spoiler alert: it's all way easier now.)

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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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!

Tiffany and Katy dig into their mail bag and pull out a letter from Tyler, who had been just about to move abroad when the pandemic hit. As he waits and waits (and waits) for things to go back to "normal," he feels time (and perhaps his expat dreams as well) slipping away. He writes to ask what we think he should do—should he throw caution to the wind and go ahead with his plans, or continue to keep his dreams on hold.

As you might have guessed, Katy and Tiffany have VERY different opinions on what he should do. Listen in to hear them get into it.

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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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!

How has one of our listeners adjusted to moving back to the States after years as an expat in Europe? We find out on this mini-episode. In a follow-up to Monday's show on reverse culture shock, Katy reads an email from long-time listener Sonali, who shares some of the things that shocked her most—from expensive food staples to excessive patriotism—about living in the US again after so much time abroad. Also, Katy explores the various stages of getting used to living in a new culture.

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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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!

When you've lived abroad for 17 years, going "back home" can sometimes feel like going to a completely foreign country. Things that were once normal feel odd. You find you're no longer used to the way things are done in your former home. And sometimes, you realize that things have changed so much since you last visited, that it doesn't even seem like the country where you grew up anymore.

On the heels of Tiffany's recent trip to the US—after over two years away—she comments on the things that surprised her, unsettled her, and baffled her. She also shares her thoughts on the prospect of moving back to the States one day.

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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.

TIP YOUR PODCASTER: Say thanks with a one-time donation to the podcast hosts you know and love. Click here to send financial support via PayPal. (You can also find a Donate button on the desktop version of our website.) The show needs your support to continue.

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.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: If you have a question or a topic you want us to address, send us an email here. You can also connect to us through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Tag #thebittersweetlife with your expat story for a chance to be featured!

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!