The Bittersweet Life

Every so often, just when you find yourself alone and vulnerable in a foreign place and in desperate need of help, an angel comes into your life...a very special kind of angel. A travel angel.

This e…

In a re-airing of one of our most fascinating interviews, Amy Herman joins us to talk about visual intelligence. How can looking at fine art, or rather learning how to truly notice what it is you are…

What happens when you dig out the resolutions you made at the beginning of the year just as you are about to make some new ones for the year to come? Tiffany and Katy find out the hard way. Plus, in …

Merry Christmas from your friends at The Bittersweet Life!

This Christmas, we're gifting you with a sweet, sentimental, and surprising piece of radio created by your host, Katy Sewall the Christmas s…

When you move abroad to be with a significant other—not because it was your own dream—what do you do when you don't find expat life satisfying? Whether it's because you struggle to learn the language…

This week, we chat with expat, author, and vlogger Dana Newman, an American living in Germany with a book out next week!

Dana moved to Europe back in 2008, first to Prague, then later to Munich, wher…

It’s December and Advent is upon us! With this unofficial kick-off of Christmastime, we discuss the different ways Italians and Americans prepare for the holiday season. And how have Italians ceded s…

A powerful, unscrupulous man whose two greatest vices are greed and lust. He’s close to his family...perhaps too close (particularly his daughter). He has many children by different women, but the th…

It’s almost Thanksgiving, and if you’re anything like us, you’re partly dreading sitting down at that big, diverse table because you know the person sitting beside you—while you may love them to bits…

This week we are joined by archaeologist and longtime Bittersweet Life listener Christy Schirmer. In her mid-30s, Christy decided to quit her job and pursue a PhD in Classics, something she had alway…

On this week's episode, Katy and Tiffany reminisce about their first experiences leaving home—when they went away to college at age eighteen.

Why was Katy’s experience so bad and Tiffany’s so awesome…

This week, in honor of Halloween, we feature the stories of listeners and friends, whether they be recountings of run-ins with ghosts they themselves have experienced, or just downright scary stuff t…

Join us for a whimsical (and not so whimsical) conversation about ghosts—do you believe in them? Have you ever encountered one? Are you the type of person who automatically looks for “rational explan…

This week, Katy interviews debut author Laura Smith, and the two discuss the definition of wanderlust, why some people spend their lives perennially longing for new experiences, and how you can chall…

There's nothing like a complete political meltdown in your home country to make you feel utterly alone in your adopted one.

Tiffany opens up about her feelings of isolation in the wake of the Kavanau…

You’ve doubtless heard the phrase, “Not all who wander are lost.”

This week, Katy and Tiffany theorize that many who wander are, indeed, lost. Why is it that so many expats come from troubled homes o…

On the first episode of season six, Katy and Tiffany take a trip north (at least in their memories) to the Dolomite mountains in the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige. It’s a part of the country …

In this introspective episode, Katy says goodbye to Rome the night before she flies back to the States. And as she contemplates the end of another chapter, her thoughts turn to John Keats.

Why John K…

Are we the masters of our own fate, or merely unwitting pawns in a larger scheme, the irresistible pull of destiny guiding all of our so-called decisions? Or is the reality somewhere in the middle?

I…

In honor of Labor Day, Katy and Tiffany take the week off from their labor of love, The Bittersweet Life podcast.

But in this special, super-short episode we ask for your feedback for three upcoming …