The Many Faces of Amanda

Americans do not deserve the reputation they have. I left for Italy probably the least patriotic person you could ever meet and came back ready to eat freedom fries. People will always be ignorant no matter what. The news is also incredibly biased. Nobody is going to report about the wonderful programs certain universities offer to their students where nothing terrible happens and every one comes home a better person than they were before they left. They are going to report on the horrific, rare occurrences that happen when people get caught up in the moment and forget how to use their street smarts.

I recently studied abroad in Florence Italy with my school for three weeks and none of acted the way this woman in the article acted. The entire lot of us were girls as well. There is a fine line between going out to bars and socializing and being a psychotic sex maniac that has dreams of raping and murdering other people for their own sadistic pleasure. Just because a small handful of people did stupid things while studying in other countries and while on vacation (hawaii is part of the US...by the way) doesn't give any one the right to judge all American women from this criteria. A lot of the times, it's more than what you see. Who knows what kind of household these girls are brought up in, it does not necessarily have anything to do with the country they live in.
While I was in Florence, I was truly appalled at the behavior of the men. One day while wearing short sleeves and a knee length skirt, I was offered Euro like a prostitute. If you come to NYC, you might be ignored, but you aren't assaulted, grabbed at or treated like pieces of meat. On several occassions many girls had their bottoms grabbed and were groped and yelled at while walking down the street in appropriate clothing. Even if they were wearing unappropriate clothing, they still don't deserve to be treated this way. After all this, and being a victim of it myself, I still did not judge the whole lot of men living in Italy by the ones that tortured you while trying to experience Italian culture. I met many people working in the San Lorenzo market that were polite and respectful.
Americans do not deserve the reputation they have. I left for Italy probably the least patriotic person you could ever meet and came back ready to eat freedom fries. People will always be ignorant no matter what. The news is also incredibly biased. Nobody is going to report about the wonderful programs certain universities offer to their students where nothing terrible happens and every one comes home a better person than they were before they left. They are going to report on the horrific, rare occurrences that happen when people get caught up in the moment and forget how to use their street smarts.

It just proves the old saying that anyone is capable of murder under the right set of circumstances. We have not evolved to the point where we are all powerful over our hidden inner passions no matter how well we think we know ourselves or others. The mind is still the last Basttion of privacy.

If she is from Seattle, she is gulity as sin!

It just proves the old saying that anyone is capable of murder under the right set of circumstances. We have not evolved to the point where we are all powerful over our hidden inner passions no matter how well we think we know ourselves or others. The mind is still the last Basttion of privacy.

WOW "aure19 " thank gawd your not a racist !

My intent was not to be offensive...just to show how ease it is to let ignorance be your guide.

Isn't is time that we get past the white or black issue? If they did wrong, in whatever degree, punishment should be given.

I think this strikes a more important chord; should we be sending american students overseas as exchange students who have mental issues?

If the bra fits you must acquit? lol....you are a fool.

I agree about the bra/guy's DNA on it. There definitely needs to be an explanation for it. It doesn't just get there by accident. And sharing bras? Come on! If that doesn't sound like a load of bull.

Sadly it is pretty common for young Americans to do stupid things once abroad. Somehow they think that they are above the law of a given country and at very least that moral limits and common sense no longer apply. They tend to do things they would never do at home. Look at the girl who fell of the balcony after having sex with two strangers in Hawaii.

My sister's classmates at college drool at the thought of all the stupid things they wil be doing one unleashed on their trip to Europe too... Somehow they think that being locked up for drunken disorderly behavior in London or Paris or Prague is less real than in New York or Los Angeles.