Week 9: The Week of the Paris Attacks & Dealing with the Aftermath of Incidents / Attacks Abroad

Week 9 wasn't the easiest of weeks, and I'm not going to lie - this week marked a bit of a turning point for everyone. Moods changed, and suddenly it seemed that everyone wanted to go home. This of course was completely normal considering that Paris was the latest city to fall victim to an alleged terrorist attack.

Obviously, all of us were hours away from the incident, but the stress starts to feel quite close when your friends and family are constantly messaging you worried that you were somehow involved. It all felt a bit too real when our local areas were being raided and people living less than 2 minutes from your university were being arrested for their involvement. In the weeks that followed, I noticed that France wasn't quite like the UK. Having had parents who had worked in public services and lived through incidents like the 7/7 bombings and the 2011 riots, I found that the UK always brought itself back up, and the general motto was 'get on with it'. France was somewhat different - alongside the three days of mourning that the country had, there was a general feel of mourning that carried on in the following weeks. Many bars and restaurants closed their doors, and there weren't as many outdoor seats and people sitting, drinking and chilling in the evenings and weekends as before. 

University changed too - most of us were searched upon entering the canteen in the weeks following, and weren't allowed to wear coats or bulky clothing into our public uni spaces, which made us feel quite uneasy. The best way to get through these sort of things is to rally around all your support networks - utilise your friendship group out there, and tell any teachers / lecturers or your university crisis contacts as your ports of contact, should you feel anxious, as you don't want these feelings to manifest, or to start hating your surroundings. 

All of this, however, did soon pass, and we were back to living life and having fun again. We visited Les Jardins Synthetiques exhibition at the Musée Saint-Raymond, which was a delight, and got back into the swing of nightlife once again after a week or so. To get ourselves feeling like we were living again, we decided to do a group trip the Gaumont Wilson cinema, and saw Joy - if anything gets you feeling like you're enjoying life again, it's a good girls' trip to the cinema. We soon got comfortable with going out and about again, and the nervous feelings of being of being on public transport and in crowds. We enjoyed heading out clubbing again, and went to Opium club, which is good if you're a fan of Hip Hop, RnB and Dancehall etc. 

Week 10 - Cinema, Birthday Meals and Eating Out :)