Friday’s Paris attacks started at 2:20 p.m. Central Standard Time and were ended by a raid four hours later. By 9:48 p.m., UW-Madison confirmed on its Facebook page that all 13 Madison students studying abroad in Paris were safe.
The six separate, but coordinated, attacks left 129 dead and hundreds wounded. The investigation is ongoing and a manhunt has begun for one suspect, according to The New York Times.
UW-Madison senior Julia Cullen is studying abroad in Paris and was in her apartment preparing to go out with a friend when she received a text saying “Are you okay? There was this shooting in Paris.”
International Academics Programs Director Dan Gold sent her and the other students in Paris an email within three hours of the first explosion.
“They just wanted me to respond saying that I was safe,” Cullen said. “They also sent me another email asking if I had heard from some other students that are studying here.”
Senior Ben Winding was closer to the shootings and the last to respond to UW-Madison. Unable to sleep, Winding answered a call at 3:33 a.m. his time from IAP Assistant Director Matthew Geisler. Winding was in a bar in Paris' 3rd district, which is between the 10th and 11th districts where several of the attacks happened.
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“When we heard that the death toll was going up and up and up and that the attacks were in different spots and it was really calculated, we started getting really freaked out,” Winding said. “People started gradually finding out and then the bar closed the doors and locked them. Everyone moved away from the windows and we went to the back of the bar. And we just hung out for three hours until we felt like it was safer.”
Winding thought UW-Madison did a good job reporting the condition of the students.
“I do feel like UW has done a good job utilizing their Facebook page, letting everyone know that all of its study abroad students were safe,” he said.
University Communications Executive Director John Lucas said the university will not currently change any students’ plans in France.
“We’ll continue to monitor the situation, but no changes are planned for our students in France at this time,” Lucas said in an email.
He also noted the university has offered assistance to all French students on campus if needed.
