The students studying at School Year Abroad in Rennes, France are safe following the attacks on Paris Nov. 13.
Katie Schlesinger ’17, Sophia Dienstag ’17 and Danielle Kaye ’17 confirmed that they were safe in Rennes, which is about 40 minutes away from Paris.
“I was actually planning on going to Paris [today] with some friends, but obviously that isn’t happening anymore,” Dienstag said. “Everyone was just freaking out so I really couldn’t sleep. I have some friends who got there [last night] and some of them were 500 meters away from one of the shooting sites.”
Sophia Boynton, a faculty member at SYA, sent students and their host families an email that said local police have increased the level of its security measures to “Plan Vigipirate,” the country’s national alert for vigilance.
“To support these local measures, and in the interest of your greater safety, we will ask that you curtail your evening activities tonight,” Boynton said in the email. “Some of your classmates are presently in Paris, and we wish to reassure you of their safety. We remain in periodic contact with them. They will be returning to Rennes tomorrow.”
Dienstag said that she and some of the other students from the United States have a slightly different take on the attacks than the French.
“I was just saying with my friends that I feel like as Americans and growing up after 9/11, we’re slightly more used to this kind of thing than the French, but at the same time we’re more scared of it,” Dienstag said.
