12-05-2009, 05:34 AM
AlphaDog, I understand what you're saying. I wouldn't venture to speculate that her behavior "asked" for anything of this nature, it's honestly not a crime to be young and irresponsible. Millions of people do it every day, and tens of thousands do it abroad, without consequence. Not just American students. Any student from anywhere that kids like to drink, get stoned, party, and get laid.
My own thinking is that had she and her friends behaved this way in Rome, or Milan, it would have barely registered a blip on the radar. Large, populated, cosmopolitan European cities are a more favorable environment for mobs of sexually voracious, stoned young exchange students. But to behave like this, so disconnected and unaware, in a medieval little catholic village, well, students should take into account the customs and social climate (and legal system) of the region they're in. On that, I think, most of us agree.
My own thinking is that had she and her friends behaved this way in Rome, or Milan, it would have barely registered a blip on the radar. Large, populated, cosmopolitan European cities are a more favorable environment for mobs of sexually voracious, stoned young exchange students. But to behave like this, so disconnected and unaware, in a medieval little catholic village, well, students should take into account the customs and social climate (and legal system) of the region they're in. On that, I think, most of us agree.