Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Introducing the Postcard Academy Travel & Culture Podcast

Episode Date: October 9, 2017

Welcome to the Postcard Academy  Each week, I feature people who packed up everything to start a new adventure in another part of the world 🌎 You'll learn how they did it, and get insider access to the best food, culture, and travel recommendations from expats, authors, and other adventurous souls around the globe 🍴 💃 You'll also discover travel hacks to find cheap flights and travel deals, and hear personal expat stories that offer guidance on how to live, work, volunteer, and travel abroad ✌️  I'm your host, Sarah Mikutel, an American who's spent the last 7 years traveling around Europe and living and working abroad in Italy and the U.K. 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇮🇹   Visit postcardacademy.co for travel guides and stories.   I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel. Ready to travel? Sign up for my newsletter and get your free guide to cheap airfare.    Thank you so much for listening to this show. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.   This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet? Postcard Academy listeners can get a FREE audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via audibletrial.com/postcard   This podcast is also brought to you by World Nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance? Get a cost estimate from World Nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.co/insurance   Thank you to Six Miles High Design for creating the brilliant Postcard Academy logo.Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy, a new weekly travel show for people interested in exploring the world beyond their borders. You'll hear great stories from people who've packed up everything to start a new adventure in another part of the world. Learn how they did it and get the inside scoop on finding the best food, nightlife, and cultural experiences in the most interesting places around the globe. I'll be your host, Sarah Micatel, an American who spent the last seven years living and working abroad in Italy and the UK. So what's my story? Well, I got the travel edge at 18 when I spent a summer in England's Lake District. I was doing very glamorous work as a rachelors-ch-chamber-made, scrubbing bathtubs and lugging vacuum cleaners up and down back stairwells.

And despite this being the most humbling and back-breaking work I have ever done, I fell in love with England that summer. A year later, I spent a semester in London, where the city was our classroom. I studied art history surrounded by masterpieces in the summer. National Gallery, Shakespeare was taught in the Globe Theater, life could not get any better, and I really had to be dragged back home. My heart belonged to Europe. That's where I wanted to live after graduation, but it seemed impossible for Americans without a student visa, so years went by. Finally, at some point while I was living in New York, I realized I was eligible for Italian

citizenship due to my Sicilian ancestry, so I decided to go for it. Now, applying for Italian citizenship is a complicated process. You have to gather lots of documents going back generations, so birth certificates, marriage, death, naturalization, then you need to officially correct any names that may have been changed at Ellis Island or elsewhere, and names were always misspelled back then. You have to get documents certified, translated into Italian, submitted to your Italian consulate, and they can still reject you. But then the American woman translating my documents gave me a very intriguing piece of advice. Just move to Italy and apply there. It worked for her. So on this advice of a stranger I met on the internet, I left New York, moved to Italy, became a citizen,

and since then I have been so fortunate to live and work abroad, travel around Europe, and become friends with amazing people from around the world. Every week on this podcast, I'll share stories of these fellow citizens of the world. I get their travel advice to help you take the journey of a lifetime. If this sounds like something you're into, please subscribe to Postcard Academy. If you have a question or a story idea or you know someone who should be featured, email me at sarah at postcardacadmy.com. If you would like to be friends on Instagram, you can find me at Postcard Academy. That's it for now. Talk to you soon. Have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot?

I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.