Stefania comes to Thailand
Coming to Thailand to take up her studies at Bangkok University only days after the bloody Ratchaprasong crackdown, Italian Stefania Pittia didn’t know what to expect.
Stefania comes to Thailand, part 1
Stefania Pittia
I am 25 years old and I am an Italian University student. When I realized that I would have the opportunity to study for 2 months at Bangkok University International, I was very excited. I had travelled a lot with my parents since I was a child, but being alone in an eastern country with the difficulties of language, culture and religion while at the same time attending university courses trying to get good scores – those were going to be hardchallenges for me despite my strongmotivation. I did not know that Thailand would slowly enter my heart. Stefania Pittia THE BEGINNING: My Thai experience did not start in the best way. In fact, I came in contact with one troublesome aspect of the country when I was still in Italy: the Thai political crisis. It was on the 26th of May 2010 that I had to change my flight ticket, arriving in Thailand 3 days later. I was afraid of the situation since TV journalists had shown blood and violence in the city. Fortunately, when I arrived in the “Land of smiles”, the situation was pretty calm. However, I did see a notice at the entrance to the passport check in Survanabhumi Airport warning passengers about the curfew imposed in Bangkok. So, for the first week I stayed in my residence ROOM day and night. Then, I started to go around the city. The main attraction for tourists was to take pictures from the BTS of the burned Central World. After one month I went to a bar IN A HOTEL near that shopping mall and there was still a smell of burning. STRONG FEELINGS: In order to come into contact with Thailand and Thai people, I started to look at them and learn from them. I tasted their typical foods, for example PAD THAI, FRIED RICE, TOM YAM, PAPAYA SALAD. I really loved the way they sell food along the streets. In the evening I used to go out and see the markets, while walking around the city. One evening a strange thing happened to me – an indirect effect of the political crisis. While shopping in a street market, I saw a wallet. I asked the price from the seller; it was cheap but the wallet was somewhat flawed, so I said that I did not want to buy it. The seller was persistent, however, trying to convince me to buy the wallet. I said: “no thank you. Sorry” The seller got angry with me and in a frustrated way she threw away the wallet saying that she had to sell something. She needed the MONEY. I was really scared. Three months of closure and zero profits as the result of the political troubles were behind her emotional response.