ORVIA\VIVRE

Continental Drift: Venice? Later. France? Maintenant!

L.A. Fatzinger — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 16:53:40 GMT

Editor’s Letter

Unless your last name is Bezos, or you’re one of the 400 guests sipping champagne behind the blackout curtains installed for the wedding of the decade, this weekend is not the time to be in Venice.

Private jets have clogged the airspace. Protesters are lining the canals. And locals, already strained from high-season overtourism, have been …

Old Clothes, New Life: Inside Europe’s Vintage and Second-Hand Revolution

L.A. Fatzinger — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 16:21:30 GMT

In Vienna’s pewter-colored dawn, tram bells still pulse along the Gürtel. The Hernals Mistplatz, one of eighteen municipal recycling depots, erupts in an avalanche of denim and brocade.

Some of the garments dropped at these depots migrate five kilometers south to the Flohmarkt am Naschmarkt, Vienna’s Saturday-only bazaar that commandeers the asphalt behi…

Portugal at a Crossroads: What the New Immigration Shift Means for You

Evodince GmbH — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 12:06:49 GMT

Portugal has long been the darling of global relocators. The sun-soaked coastlines, a cost of living index that seems almost nostalgic, and a residency path historically among the most accessible in the EU. Changes, however, appear to be on the near horizon.

Portugal, an Iberian nation of approximately 10.5 million people, has experienced a significant i…

Continental Drift: Vienna Waits for You

L.A. Fatzinger — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 21:50:06 GMT

Editor’s Letter

Vienna has always had a knack for patience. It doesn’t rush to claim (or reclaim) titles or outshine its neighbors. So when The Economist placed Copenhagen at the top of this year’s Global Livability Index, the spot Vienna had occupied for the previous two years, the city responded in character: with composure and restraint. Publicly, any…

For American Students, a European Master’s Degree Could Open Doors for the Whole Family

Evodince GmbH — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 21:02:53 GMT

When considering a long-term move to Europe, most Americans over 45 tend to focus on familiar priorities: taxes and finances, healthcare, housing, lifestyle, and retirement planning.

But another factor is beginning to reshape the decision-making calculus: where, and how, their children will be educated.

In recent years, Europe has quietly emerged as one o…

The Moment the Honeymoon Ends: Living Europe Beyond the Postcard

L.A. Fatzinger — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 12:57:34 GMT

Those first weeks after moving to Europe feel like a windfall. No matter how many times I’d traveled to Europe prior to moving here from the United States - for vacation or for business - it felt very different in the early weeks of living here than it does now, two years later.

As a tourist, there’s a sense of awe. Terraces glow. Every espresso seems ci…

Continental Drift: Trieste

L.A. Fatzinger — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 18:55:27 GMT

Editor’s Letter

I first visited Trieste, Italy eight years ago, knowing nothing about it. What I did know is that my accumulated hotel points went a long way at a new property just outside the city that had opened the month prior to our European vacation that year.

It grabbed me because, aside from its unique location at the top of the “boot” of Italy (on…

City Profile: Trieste, Italy

Evodince GmbH — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:58:42 GMT

For early risers out on their morning walks, the Gulf of Trieste resembles a sheet of smoked glass. The waterfront at Molo Audace is usually dotted with runners. As delivery vehicles make their stops among the flower shops, restaurants and cafés, locals begin to sip piccolo espressi on the terrace at Caffè Tommaseo.

And not just because it’s Italy. Becau…

Five Places in Europe You Can Border-Hop Like a Spy

Evodince GmbH — Sun, 08 Jun 2025 18:26:58 GMT

This summer, Mission: Impossible returns with its final, larger-than-life installment. A reminder of just how often Europe plays co-star to the world’s most iconic spy thrillers.

Think about how Europe is portrayed in these films. James Bond’s Aston Martin slips from London to Rome like it’s down the block. Jason Bourne boards a train in Madrid, and by t…

Escapes To: Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic

L.A. Fatzinger — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 14:51:25 GMT

Visitors who drift across Europe soon learn that hospitality comes in shades. In some cities, say, Rome’s photogenic piazzas, Amsterdam’s cobbled canal loops, Paris’s elaborate arrondissements, the welcome is a commercial reflex. A well-rehearsed smile offered in exchange for a credit-card swipe. In quieter corners of the continent, the greeting is gent…

Welcome to our Newsletter - Continental Drift

L.A. Fatzinger — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 07:26:02 GMT

Hello!

As an early subscriber to ORVIA\VIVRE, I want to personally welcome you to our new platform. We’ll get to why we call it a “platform” versus just another Golden Visa or Expat blog or news site in the coming months. For now, let’s just have some fun…and talk about the possibility of moving to, and living in, Europe as an American.

My own journey fro…

Postcard to Postcode: Welcome to ORVIA\VIVRE

L.A. Fatzinger — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 18:54:25 GMT

Hello!

My own journey fro…

A Lifeline for Discovery: Why Europe is Luring American Researchers and Scientists

Evodince GmbH — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 17:38:05 GMT

From my home office in Salzburg, the Alps rise like a jagged stone curtain, just a few miles south of the city. I don’t see a horizon from this view. What’s on the other side…is often a mystery.

In the United States, where landscapes taper more predictably toward coastline, American scientists, researchers, and academics do their best to understand what’…

Any Postcard…Can Become Your Postcode.

Evodince GmbH — Tue, 03 Jun 2025 19:22:25 GMT

Have you ever stepped off a plane in Lisbon, lingered over a gelato in Florence, or watched the street lamps glow along the river in Paris and whispered to yourself…one day?

ORVIA\VIVRE (pronounced: or-VEE-uh VEE-v, meaning loosely, “To begin anew, and to live fully.”) exists for Americans who refuse to leave that feeling in the customs declaration queue…

Wort by Wort: The Cognitive Power of Learning a Second Language

L.A. Fatzinger — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 22:04:03 GMT

I’m not going to lie, it hasn’t been easy. Learning a new language, I mean.

My last serious attempt was decades ago. High school French with Madame Gibson. In class, I was Léon. But I was barely attentive. To this day, my most complete French sentence remains: “Je parle un peu le Français.” Which, appropriately, means “I only speak a little French.”

Accor…

Why Record Numbers of Americans Are Considering a Move to Europe

L.A. Fatzinger — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 13:56:14 GMT

On a grey January morning in 2023, a tech-startup founder from Colorado opened a browser tab titled “Austrian Elective Residency Visa — Requirements.” In the next room, his wife was researching immigration lawyers and skimming apartment listings. Their two children were still asleep, yet the decision was made: 2023 would be the year the family crossed t…