UB student, faculty reflect on terrorist attacks in Paris

At first, Gabrielle Duval didn’t know it was terrorism.

She was traveling through the Place de la Republique on the metro when she heard something. It was loud, but the UB PhD student didn’t realize it was the sound of an attack.

“We got off the metro and things got really scary quickly,” Duval told the UB Reporter in a telephone conversation earlier this week. “We thought it was localized or maybe something at the metro station. Then everyone disappeared. The streets were empty.”

Duval, who is spending a year in France as part of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures exchange program with the University of Paris, said it wasn’t until her mother called her and told her what was happening that she knew the noise she heard was part of a larger terrorist attack.

Duval and her friends hid at a locked-down bar near the metro station for two hours. She said she then had to walk home, which is on the other side of the city. Her family in the United States was in contact with her the entire time, keeping her informed of what was going on.

“Paris is lonely right now,” she said. “It’s scary. They targeted what Paris is to me: youth and entertainment, and places that represent that liveliness, like cafes and bars and concerts. But we have to pull it together and not let it stop us.”

All four UB students studying in Paris are safe, as well as the two students studying in the south of France.

For Duval, the feelings that came to mind with these terrorist attacks were similar to how she felt after Sept. 11. She said people in France stocked up on groceries and mostly stayed at home in the days right after the attacks. She honored the victims by lighting candles and saying a prayer at one of the incident locations on Sunday.

Duval said police told people to stay home unless they absolutely had to leave. Streets were pretty deserted in the days after the attacks, she said.

“It’s crazy because we don’t usually go to the area that was attacked, but we just happened to be there that night,” said Duval, who is studying French language and literature. “I’m lucky because I didn’t know anyone injured, but it’s still so scary.”

Amy Graves-Monroe feels lucky, too. She went straight to Facebook after the attacks to make sure the people she knew in France were OK.

Graves-Monroe, an associate professor in the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, typically visits France once or twice a year. The last time she was there was the week following the Charlie Hebdo attack.

She lived in the neighborhood where some of the attacks occurred and compared it to Buffalo’s Allentown. It’s an up-and-coming neighborhood, she said.

“The places targeted were where young people congregate, like Chippewa or Allen Street,” she said. “These were young people out at a soccer match, or a concert, or out for dinner. They couldn’t have really hit a nerve more open than that. You can’t help but feel for all the young people who were so exposed in the middle of their Friday night enjoying what France is supposed to be.”

Maureen Jameson, associate professor of French, was last in Paris in 2009-10. She lived on a street where five people were killed during the terror attacks.

“I felt bad for the French people because, as they say, it really is a place where they celebrate the enjoyment of life,” she said. “That really took a hit last week.”

Jameson said she has been studying French since grade school and there is a reason why it is the most visited country in the world.

After the attacks last week, Jameson said she was pleased to hear that people took Duval under their wing and looked out for her.

For Jeannette Ludwig, director of the French language program, the terror attacks will change what she does in the classroom.

“We have to have conversations about this,” she said. “Today, our world is so interconnected that you think it happened really far away, but it affects all of us. We have to assist our students in learning how to think about things like this.”

Those conversations have already begun, she said.

Ludwig said she spent time on Monday talking about what happened with her class and plans to keep doing so.

“For me, it is personal,” said Ludwig, who has lived in France several times and teaches a course called "Islam in France." “It is what I do. But everybody has an obligation if they teach to help students reflect on issues that events like this raise. A student said to me, ‘I hope 2016 is better.’ We need to talk through these things. That’s what universities are for.”