The young student: “I hated everything about my semester in Italy”
“Studying in Italy, in Florence, was a real nightmare for me as an American”. It is the piece, published on Insider, by Stacia Datkoska that infuriated her most famous compatriot, Amanda Knox, convicted and then definitively acquitted for the crime of Meredith Kercher in the Tuscan capital. “What are you talking about? Studying abroad is fantastic” she retorted, causing a social storm.
Girl, what are you talking about? Studying abroad is awesome!https://t.co/xlEgCKTzqg
— Amanda Knox (@amandaknox) March 15, 2023
“As a journalism and international relations major at NYU, I was asked to study abroad for a semester. While NYU is famous for its foreign offerings in places like Abu Dhabi, UAE, Berlin, Paris and Shanghai, I chose Florence, Italy in the fall” wrote Stacia in her story.
“Before arriving in Florence, I knew I’d be living downtown, a two-minute walk from a beautiful cathedral, with seven other girls. Quite a change after staying in a studio apartment in New York last year.” “I imagined fun dinners together, romantic adventures, being called ‘beautiful’ on the street, as well as wine, ice cream and the best ham ever eaten. But when my semester in Florence ended, I began to despise the views, I hated the people and I couldn’t wait to get home to my campus in the Big Apple.”
“Most weekends I stayed at home in Florence, while my classmates traveled. During those lonely weekends, I ran along the Arno, visited free art galleries and cooked with produce from the local market. The others in the weekends they went abroad, I was left in the apartment completely alone. This lack of human interaction didn’t help me feel optimistic.” “Then there were the Italians who were hostile towards me. For example, once, two women were talking about me on the bus, looking me up and down: you could see they were making fun of me. And I also had two verbal clashes with the inhabitants of the Tuscan city”.
“I started dressing like I knew they would hate it. I started wearing American branded clothes, Nike Air and oversized hoodies. Italians rolled their eyes when I passed them on the street. I felt like I was wasting precious time in Florence and I imagined my colleagues making progress at work and in their studies in New York. For me it was truly a nightmare”.
Source-www.adnkronos.com