Notorious exchange student Amanda Knox faced intense scrutiny for mocking a journalist who said she hated studying abroad, after she sarcastically commented that her program was “amazing” despite the fact that her roommate had been murdered. .
Knox, 35, commented on the essay by young writer Stacia Datskovska, who was sharing her experiences as a New Yorker studying in Florence, writing: ‘Girl, what are you talking about? Studying abroad is amazing!’
She made international headlines at the age of 20 after she was accused of killing her British roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007 while the couple were studying abroad in Italy. She spent four years in an Italian prison before finally being acquitted.
However, her response to the story was met with fierce criticism as many criticized it as “tacky” and accused her of downplaying the fact that Kercher was brutally murdered while they were together in Perugia.
Amanda Knox at a murder trial session in Perugia on April 18, 2009. She was accused of killing her British study abroad roommate. But 15 years later, she now enjoys her experience and says studying abroad is “incredible.”
Meredith Kercher, 21, was found stabbed to death with her throat slit in her bedroom in the apartment she shared with Knox in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia.
One person wrote: “Incredibly tacky,” while another added: “You can believe Amanda is innocent and still think the joke is tacky given there’s a dead woman at the center of it.”
A third said: ‘It’s not funny. It must be incredibly painful for Meredith’s family.
While another online user criticized her for her response: “Amanda Knox might not be guilty, but the way she behaved is disgusting.”
Another reviewer quipped: “So you loved studying abroad, it was until the moment your roommate was murdered, or it wasn’t relevant.”
Despite many seeing the tweet as outrageous, there were some online who found Knox’s response hilarious considering her own experience being locked up in an Italian prison before being exonerated.
Users called her tweet ‘outstanding’ and said she ‘won the internet’ with her reply.
Amanda Knox, center, is escorted to court in Perugia, Italy, September 2021
Police officers take Amanda Knox from the Perugia Court of Appeals after the first session of her appeal against her murder conviction on November 24, 2010.
But the praise was also applauded by others: “I don’t think I could pull this joke if my roommate was killed, but I guess he enjoys the applause from the internet.”
The Twitter backlash stemmed from the post by the young writer Datskovska, who recounted her own experience abroad. She wrote that although she had high hopes for her semester in Florence, she hated her seven roommates, the ‘unfriendly’ locals and her online internship.
He said that he “grew to despise the sights, hated the people, and couldn’t wait to get back to my campus in New York.”
Datskovska’s essay provoked a wide range of reactions: some people seemed to empathize with her struggles, while others accused her of being entitled to not enjoy the luxuries of studying abroad.
Knox, among many others, began to point out that Datskovska’s story showed that the student had little self-awareness.
Journalism and international relations student Datskovska described how she had high hopes before embarking on her journey and wanted to live minutes from the famous Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.
“But when my semester in Florence ended, I began to despise the sights, hated the people, and couldn’t wait to get back to my campus in New York,” he wrote.
Not only was she unable to enjoy the city because she was working to keep her GPA up, but Datskovska also signed up for an online internship, which she said took up most of her free time.
Journalism and international relations student Stacia Datskovska described in an essay published by Insider how she had a terrifying time studying abroad in Florence.
The British student was murdered in 2007
To make matters worse for the student, her classmates were constantly making weekend visits to places like Amsterdam and Ibiza, which she described as “a vain form of escapism.”
Instead, he wanted to plan his life after graduation and embark on more thoughtful journeys. That’s why she traveled alone to Nice, Switzerland, London, Malta and Dubai.
Knox’s time studying abroad was also marred when he was only 20 years old. She was charged with Kercher’s murder in 2007, but due to lack of evidence, she was later acquitted.
Leeds University student Kercher, 21, was found stabbed to death with her throat slit in her bedroom in the apartment she shared with Knox in the Italian hilltop town of Perugia.
