On March 11, 10 bombs exploded on commuter trains in Madrid,
killing 201 people and leaving more than 1,700 people wounded. Most
students from Saint Louis University were on spring break when
these terrorist attacks occurred, including students from the SLU
Madrid campus.

No students or faculty from SLU were injured in the attack. As
many members of the community were traveling around Europe on
vacation, the administration at the SLU Madrid campus worked to
reach students via e-mail and telephone. After news of the attacks
had permeated the media and students had returned to their routines
in the city, general elections were held. The victory of the
Socialist party has been attributed to the effect of the attacks on
anti-war sentiment. Several members of the community shared their
thoughts and experiences from this week with The University News
via e-mail.

SLU responds

The SLU Web site immediately posted information about the
attacks, including a link to an extensive site run out of SLU
Madrid. A letter on the site from Rick Chaney, Ph. D., vice provost
at the SLU Madrid campus reported, “We know of no fatalities or
injuries among Saint Louis (University) students or faculty.” This
statement remained unchanged, as no one from the SLU community was
killed or injured in the attacks.

This academic year, 240 students from the United States have
enrolled at SLU Madrid. “We made phone contact with as many
visiting and non-resident permanent students and … their host
families as we could on the day of the bombings,” Chaney said. The
administration also sent an e-mail message to all SLU Madrid
students at the same time, informing them of the attacks and
advising students to call home immediately, Chaney said. Both sites
continued to add updates every few hours during the days after the
attack.

Also on the Web site were links to the U.S. Embassy’s site,
along with information from the Department of State regarding
terrorism in Spain. “While a few students are still returning from
spring break, we know of one U.S. student–not from the home
campus–who returned home.”

Chaney said that parents who have phoned SLU Madrid have “done
so in a calm and understanding manner. And, in a few cases … have
helped their child better cope.”

The attacks occurred on a train that SLU students would not
typically use.

“We do not place students who live within the University
host-family housing in locations that require the use of a commuter
train,” Chaney said.

He added, “A student might use a commuter line to visit an
outlying city for a day trip, but would not be returning to Madrid
in the early morning.

A memorial service was held yesterday morning on the Madrid
campus. “We’ve created a bulletin board titled ‘Todos Somos
Madrile�os’ (We are all citizens of Madrid) with pictures
from last Friday’s solemn anti-terrorism rally, which reflects the
idea that students studying with us this semester, whether they
were in Madrid or not, must come to terms with what happened,”
Chaney said.

SLU Madrid advises students to stay informed, maintain a
vigilant attitude, avoid large groups and use common sense.

“With the elections behind us, what has surprised many students
is how calm things are in Madrid and how quickly day-to-day life
has returned to normal,” Chaney said.

Returning to Madrid

Students and members of the SLU Madrid faculty were scattered
around Europe, traveling during their break. As they heard the news
of the attacks, many contacted their parents and friends. In the
past week, they have shared their stories.

Matt Rysavy, a sophomore studying at SLU Madrid, was hiking in
northern Spain when he heard about the attacks. “We didn’t return
until Sunday–nobody did because housing was closed,” he said.
Rysavy said that he was more aware of his surroundings than usual
as he traveled back to Madrid. “There is the sense of possible
danger now … the creeping idea of the impossible seems a little
more likely now.”

Anne McCabe, Ph.D., director of the ESL program has lived in
Madrid for 25 years. Her family lives less than a block from the
Atocha rail station, the bustling center where the bombs went
off.

McCabe and her husband were in Sicily during the attacks, but
both of her college-aged daughters were home. They were “woken up
by the blasts, which shook the windows and loosened a bit of
plaster in one of the rooms. They both leapt out of bed and rushed
to the front window, to see a large amount of smoke in the air
…”

McCabe’s daughters saw the “train sitting up on the tracks, with
its top torn upwards, the sides blown out. They stared in shock for
several seconds, before they realized that people were crying for
blankets to be brought to the bomb site, to cover up the injured
and those in a state of shock.

“They rushed back home and got out the blankets, but before they
could go back down, they were told by a neighbor that the police
had cordoned off the area, given the possibility of another bomb
and the need to ensure that professionals could work as quickly as
possible,” Chaney said.

Upon retuning home, McCabe wandered through her neighborhood,
which looked much altered by the makeshift memorials. She said that
SLU Madrid has responded well to the attacks, citing seminars that
have been set up. She added, however, that “some teachers have
mentioned that perhaps there is a need for more help in knowing how
to talk about these incidents in the classroom. “

Even though McCabe said that she felt slight apprehension taking
the Metro rail line soon after the attack, but said, “I feel as
safe as ever … it certainly hasn’t changed anything in my daily
movements, or in any plans for travel in the future.”

Anthony Fior, a sophomore who has been studying at the Madrid
Campus this year, has spent more time in Madrid than he has in St.
Louis. “It has become my adopted home. The past few days have been
somber and sad, in that although I am not completely able to
understand the grief of those families that lost loved ones, I
grieve with them,” Fior said.

“The bombings have not changed how safe I feel in Madrid. Madrid
is still a very safe place, much more than St. Louis,” said Chrissy
Donaldson, a sophomore. She related a second-hand story of a
near-miss from the day of the attacks. “The lady who helps clean
our house is from Romania, and everyday she and her friends and
sisters take that train to Madrid to go to work. She was late to
Atocha and just missed getting on the train. All of her friends
were laughing and making faces at her through the train window,
joking around with her because she had just missed getting on the
train.”

Hamish Binns, who teaches ESL at SLU Madrid, was returning from
Zaragoza to Madrid, during the attacks.

“Spain, like many other European countries, knows what it is to
suffer terrorist attacks and people here are more prepared to deal
with it than perhaps they were in the United States after 9-11. My
feelings toward Spain haven’t changed–I was in London during the
big IRA campaigns of the ’80s and know that you have to carry on
living,” Binns said.

“Spain traditionally has had a close relationship with the Arab
countries, due to their shared history–many people are angry at
Aznar and Bush for getting involved in a war that was no concern of
Spain’s, and for damaging relations with the Middle East and
Europe, which in the past have been strong,” Binns said.