On July 14, 2016, a cargo truck was driven deliberately into a crowd of people in Nice, France. The people were celebrating Bastille Day, the French Independence Day. The truck, driven by Tunisian resident of France Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, killed 86 people and injured 434 others. The attack was confirmed to be a terrorist attack supported by ISIL, a powerful terrorist group in the Middle East. The attack ended with an exchange of gunshots between Lahouaiej-Bouhlel and the police officers at the site. During the week of the attack, students from the French program at HSE were on a school-sponsored trip to France. On July 14, these students were in Nice, France celebrating Bastille Day. Sophomore Carly Bohanan was one of these students who witnessed the attack.
What was the school trip for?
CB: Well our French teacher, before she quit, invited just the people that she thought were doing really well in the class. She invited all of the French II and French III students, and then only the French I students if she thought that they had potential and an A in the class. She quit, so my world history teacher Miss McGill went with us.
Where were you during the attack?
CB: We were in Nice, France and we were on the boardwalk. We were standing by a gay pride flag, and we had actually been there like two minutes before the attack happened, but we had moved because our tour guide thought that the band right next to where we were was really bad, so we moved down to a different band and then it happened.
Did you see it or hear it happening?
CB: The bands were so loud, so we didn’t hear anything and we didn’t see the truck. We just heard a couple gun shots and then we saw everyone running toward us, so we didn’t really know what was going on.
What was going through your mind once you found out what was actually happening?
CB: Once we found out what was happening, we were terrified. It was the most terrifying thing that had ever happened to me. We didn’t really know what to do because we were in a whole different country and we didn’t know anyone around us except for our group. We just ran to the hotel and we just sat in there until we felt like we were somewhat safe. Miss McGill brought one of her friends with us and they kind of kept us in control and were telling us when to stop running and making sure that we had everyone. They didn’t really talk that much other than giving us directions and orders.
Were you going home shortly after the attacks?
CB: Yeah, so it happened July 14 and the next day, July 15, we were actually supposed to leave from Nice to go back to the United States. We went to the airport the morning of July 15 and flew out, and the airport and a bunch of stores in Nice shut down like thirty minutes after we took off.
How was security after the attack?
CB: There were actually men from the French army laying out in front of different statues with big machine guns and there were also cops driving on the sidewalk and they had their pistols out the window.
After the attack, would you say you could feel a sense of grief or paranoia among the people in the city?
CB: Yeah, it was very quiet before we left. There weren’t many people talking. For us, I know that even if we would look out the window we were scared of who we would see. We didn’t know who that person is, so we were just really paranoid about everything.
How do you think being in that situation has affected your every day life?
CB: I know that it affected me because it was such a terrifying experience and it was really hard to go through, but this kind of thing can happen anywhere. It can happen here, it can happen in Germany, it can happen anywhere. I have to realize that it wasn’t just in Nice because this kind of thing has happened in so many other places. I think I’ve gotten over it a little bit.
