In a globalized world of increasing inter-connectedness, the ripple effect caused by what once might have been considered distant events grows wider each day.
When London, England, suffered a brutal terrorist attack late last week, just on the heels of the deadly Manchester bombing, Americans looked to their TVs in horror as our closest ally dealt with yet another in a stream of seemingly never-ending attacks.
Just a few days later, on June 6, an Algerian man attacked a police officer outside of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Attacking him with a hammer and a backpack full of knives, the man reportedly yelled, “This is for Syria!” before being shot by fellow officers on the scene.
Both of these attacks occurred while a contingent of recent Corona del Sol High School graduates were taking a European trip to see all the art and architecture they learned about in their senior humanities course.
The students had been in London the day before the London Bridge attack involving three men ramming into pedestrians with a van before running into nearby Borough Market where they proceeded to stab bystanders while screaming, “This is for Allah!” for eight terrifying minutes before British police were able to shoot and kill the terrorists.
The students’ next stop in Europe was Paris, where they would explore sites such as the catacombs, the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame Cathedral.
Bella Aguilar, a Corona graduate on the trip, was in Paris at a local cafe when the Notre Dame attack occurred, and kept a journal in which she recorded the event.
“Personally, I was scared because I knew terrorists were attacking big cities and we had just heard about the London attack,” she said. ‘I felt like something was wrong but the group I was with stayed pretty calm.
“We read about what had happened on Twitter so we immediately left the area and went far away from the Notre Dame.
“When we met up with the entire group after free time, everyone seemed to be a little panicked because some had to evacuate tourist places and metro areas.”
Aguilar reports that, although she felt scared in the wake of the attack, she and the group remained calm and became more comfortable once they saw that the city had beefed up security around popular sites, including those even far removed from Notre Dame that day.
Aguilar said that, in light of these events, she feels she needs to stay more aware of her surroundings, people, and events going on, though she and the rest of the students were still doing their normal sightseeing as planned, enjoying all Europe has to offer.
“The rest of the time I was in Paris, I felt a little scared to go to places such as the Eiffel Tower or the metro because of terrorists attacking popular places,” Aguilar says.
According to Aguilar their tour guides have advised them to bring a buddy anywhere they went, and preferably to go out in groups whenever they have free time.
The students’ tour continued as they went on to explore Switzerland and conclude their tour—safely, we should add—in Germany.
Corona
