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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

IU students share firsthand experiences following terrorist attacks

“18 dead in Paris.” “60 dead in Paris.” “100 dead in Paris.”

These statements were all text messages IU junior Zowie Genender received from her father on the evening of Friday, Nov. 13, immediately following the Islamic State group terrorist attacks that occurred in the 11th arrondissement of the city of Paris.

“Bombing occurred in Ankara,” read the CNN notification that reached IU senior Grace Burris’s phone when she was out to breakfast with friends the morning of Oct. 10, immediately following the bombing of a train station in Ankara, Turkey.

Genender, who has been studying abroad for the fall semester in Paris, was traveling the day of the attack and was in Lisbon, Portugal, when she received the messages from her father. If Genender had been home in Paris, however, she would have been only six minutes away from the main attack.

Burris is a member of the Turkish Flagship Program and is currently living in Ankara, Turkey, for the school year. If she had been home during the bombing, she would have been 13 minutes away from the explosion.

“I was getting messages from people back in the states and back in Bloomington wondering if I’m OK, where I am and how close everything is happening and what exactly is happening,” Genender said. “That ranged from people that I haven’t talked to in years to my best friends and family members.”

Genender returned to Paris on Saturday morning, the day after the main attack. Upon her arrival, Genender’s host mom told her that her son witnessed many murders, and he also saw a terrorist with a suicide belt just minutes from their apartment. Her other son is a member of the anti-terrorist police force, and Genender said he made an effort to tell her the situation was definitely not over.

Genender is the only IU student on her particular study abroad program, Institute for the International Education of Students. She received numerous emails from the program at the time of the attack and would have received text messages as well if she had been in Paris.

Once she heard IU had confirmed the safety of all IU students in Paris, however, she had no idea how the confirmation was made. She didn’t receive any communication from IU until Monday when the Office of Overseas Study reached out to her personally. This communication was two days after IU had sent out the confirmation of safety.

The attack was not the first to occur in Paris this year. In January the terrorist attacks by Al-Qaida occurred in the same neighborhood where Genender currently lives.

“I didn’t know much about the first attack that happened in January, but one day I decided to just get lunch by myself, and I sat next to this guy in a café, and he had told me why there was so much extra security,” Genender said. “At that time of course I was surprised, but I wasn’t thinking much more besides that. I wasn’t thinking I need to live my day-to-day life in a more safe manner.”

The day of the bombing in Turkey, Burris had planned to travel to Capadokia, Turkey, and was at a restaurant in Ankara, Turkey, before starting her trip when she was informed of the bombing.

“It was really surreal at first,” Burris said.

Burris and friends stopped at a gas station where there was a television and they turned it on immediately to see what was 
occurring.

From there, Burris started to contact friends and teachers to confirm the 
safety of everyone.

Within the flagship program, participants are coupled with conversation partners, many of whom are involved in political protests.

When the bomb went off it hit a peace march composed of multiple political parties.

One partner of a student witnessed his friends getting blown up while on his way to join the peace march.

About seven hours after the bombing, the assistant director sent Burris and her fellow student an email checking up on all of them and looking to confirm 
everyone’s safety. A professor responded, yet no other forms of communication from IU were received.

“The world has a more Eurocentric or ‘Westerncentric’ view, so when something happens like what happened in Paris everyone responds,” Burris said. “But when it’s in Ankara or Beirut or Lebanon, it is just a small blurb on the news. It is a world view, a world trend.”

After the attacks in Paris, IU issued a formal statement confirming the safety of the 17 IU students currently studying in France. There was no statement issued following the bombing in Ankara, Turkey, to confirm the safety of the two IU students currently studying there.

“I believe the government response normalized the violence,” Burris said.

Burris referenced the government responses of both attacks. The president of France, Francois Hollande, had a press conference a few hours following the attacks. In contrast, the president of Turkey released a formal statement three days after the bombing.

In reference to the future of the situation, Burris said there is no way to tell because all of this is happening right now.

“As of now, it is a part of history,” Burris said.

Both Burris and Genender said although they aren’t citizens of their respective countries, they both feel a different connection to the current situation.

“This isn’t my city, these aren’t my family members, and I can’t take the national pride of moving forward,” Genender said. “I can only be a support for those who have been through this horrible massacre and those who have been unfortunately 
affected by it.”

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