The Bittersweet Life – Episode 212: ETHNICITY

Due to being out of town for much of last week, my weekly blogpost highlighting the newest episode of The Bittersweet Life podcast is coming to you a little bit late, sorry about that!

This week we had the pleasure of interviewing our amazing former intern, Estrella Gomez in our latest episode: {ETHNICITY}.

Issues of race and diversity are on everyone’s lips and minds in the United States right now. But people in Italy are just starting to have these conversations. In a country where, until quite recently, everyone had a similar racial make-up, perhaps it simply wasn’t necessary until now.

We sat down with first generation Salvadorian American Estrella Gomez to probe the issues facing an expat of color in a place that is just now getting used to its status as a country that people immigrate to, rather than from. Does Estrella get treated any differently than an expat who can pass for an Italian, like Katy, or one who fits the American racial stereotype, like Tiffany? How has her experience as an expat in Rome differed from ours?

We also ask the question: if your parents were immigrants, do you have the right to move abroad? Does it somehow make their sacrifice less meaningful? We broach these and other thought-provoking topics on this week’s episode {ETHNICITY}.

A bit more about Estrella:

Estrella was born in New York to Salvadorian immigrants and later moved to Charleston, SC at 7 years old. She has a total of 8 siblings, 2 brothers, 2 sisters, and three half-siblings. After finishing university she promptly moved to Miami, FL and lived there for 4 years until she traveled to Italy on a one week vacation and realized that she wanted to live there. In 2016, she made the move abroad and taught English at a private language school, whilst traveling, learning the language, and exploring Italian culture. She is now back in Charleston... daydreaming of Italy, and spending time with family and her poodle, Marley.

Learn more about Estrella Gomez at her blog, La Casa Bloga. You can also find her on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

Stream the episode for free here, find us on iTunes here (and hey, why not subscribe while you're at it?), or listen to a preview today's episode on SoundCloud below.