Relief!

When I was a university student Texas A&M University -- Commerce, I participated three times in the study abroad programme to London, once when I was an undergraduate and twice when I was a graduate student. It was a brilliant (and addictive!) programme, and I was able to do things like go on a field trip to Normandy and follow a lecturer from Sandhurst Military Academy up a hill covered in corn to decide how to defend it from the German Army (that was a course on World War II); I was able to ask Tony Banks, a Labour MP and later Minister for Sport, who he liked more, Bill Clinton or John Major; I was able to go behind the scenes to see the medieval stained glass of Canterbury Cathedral being restored as part of an Art History course; I sat at Lords Cricket Ground and watched a game I didn't understand but couldn't help but enjoy as part of a Sociology course.

When the terrorist attacks on London happened Thursday, I didn't know if those students, and my favourite professors from TAMU -- Commerce, were in London yet. Thank heavens my father saw this article in the Dallas Morning News and passed on the link to the online version!

After London attacks, students ask: Stay or go?
Some in study program reconsider plans; others nervously head overseas

07:41 AM CDT on Friday, July 8, 2005

By KRYSTLE FERNANDEZ / The Dallas Morning News

Katie Williams was planning to leave for her "trip of a lifetime."

That was before the bombs exploded.

The Texarkana, Texas, resident was one of about 30 college students bound for London on Thursday as part of a study-abroad program. But bombs ripped through that city, prompting some to reconsider their plans.

"A cloud has been put on it now," said Katie's mother, Carolyn. "You just don't know what could happen."

Mrs. Williams and her 21-year-old daughter drove to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport after hearing about the attacks and struggled all morning with the decision about whether Katie should make the trip. It rained as the two drove to the airport, and then, while on airport property, they had a minor car accident.

The Williamses thought it all might be a sign.

"I feel silly wondering about not going," Katie Williams said. "But at the same time, with the car accident and the ... [attacks] this morning, I don't know."

A few minutes later, they apparently decided. About 90 minutes before her 3:05 p.m. flight, the Louisiana State University student and her mother quietly slipped out of the terminal, telling others they needed time to think. The other students boarded the plane without her.

Kenneth Clinton, director of International Studies at Texas A&M-Commerce, came to the airport prepared to tell the students that they could back out of the month-long trip if they wanted to. King's College in London was offering a full refund.

"For many of these students, it's the first time they've been abroad," Dr. Clinton said. "For some, it's the first time they've even flown on a plane."

Mr. Clinton has been traveling to London with the program since 1983. He anticipated what members of the group would find when they arrived.

"There's a certain resolve among British people," Dr. Clinton said. "They'll respond to this very strongly."

He tried to keep things in perspective for the group.

"It's such a tragedy," he said. "We're thinking about our trip and our families are anxious, but their families [Londoners] are hurting."

Most of those going on the trip took a position like the mother of another student.

"You can't live under a rock," said Terry Robles, the mother of 25-year-old Isabel Robles, a student at A&M-Commerce. "It can happen anywhere."

Said her daughter: "It's kind of put a damper on things. I'm excited, but also a little nervous."

Not fellow A&M-Commerce student Bret Thompson, 21.

"Really, I'm just ... [angry]," Mr. Thompson said. "How can these people have such a lack of respect for life?"

He said that if anything, the bombings made him more determined to travel.

"I'm not going to let the events that happened stop me," Mr. Thompson said. "I'm not going to let these people's actions determine what I'm going to do."

As Mr. Thompson and the other students hustled through security, another group of anxious families gathered outside the open doors to the international gates.

Beth Wood stood, arms crossed and eyes wide as she peered into the corridor leading from customs. Her husband, Ethan, was returning from a business trip on a flight from London's Gatwick Airport that left about 10:30 a.m. London time Thursday.

She was awakened abruptly about 5:30 a.m. when her husband's brother called to tell her about the attacks.

She got up quickly to call the airline to make sure her husband had checked in. He had, but she still spent her morning on edge.

"I won't be really relieved until I see him," she said.

After a wait of almost 45 minutes, Mrs. Wood moved quickly through the crowd when she saw her husband.

"There he is," she said. They kissed quickly and rushed out the door holding hands.

Mr. Wood took a few subways and a train to get to Gatwick for his flight. He traveled through the city about 9 a.m. and knew nothing of the bombings occurring in other parts of the city.

"We had not a clue," he said. "We were at the airport for another hour and a half, and there was nothing on any television. We weren't told anything until we landed in Dallas.

"It's really sad. It's horrible. I still need to make sure everyone I know there is OK."

Dr Clinton was my favourite sociology professor when I was at the university, and since I minored in sociology, went on the British Studies Programme three times (in 1994, 1996 and 1997) and went to a student conference in New York with a group of students advised by Dr Clinon, I was very concerned that he and his students might have been caught up somewhere in the chaos or worse. It was a great relief to hear they were still in Dallas when it happened.