Students abroad in Madrid react to terrorist attack

As Zinzi Bailey '06 left for class at Madrid's Universidad Complutense on March 11, her host's cleaning lady told her there had been a train bombing and that at least 30 people had been killed.

"I was completely horrified," Bailey said in a telephone interview. "I didn't know what to think. I was in complete shock. I didn't know what to do."

Bailey said she continued to the bus stop en route to the Universidad, but a representative from the Universidad's study abroad office called Bailey on her cell phone and instructed her to "head home."

"At that point, I forgot about my studies and my schoolwork and everything and just started watching the TV," Bailey said.

Bailey is one of two Princeton students currently studying abroad in Madrid through the Institute for the International Education of Students.

The other student, Kevin Carranza '05, arrived at his contemporary Spanish history class only to find an empty classroom. Carranza located his classmates downstairs, also huddled around the television and watching coverage of the morning's terrorist attacks.

"It really reminded me of September 11 in many ways," Carranza said.

The March 11 attacks consisted of a series of 10 explosions on four morning commuter trains in Madrid, killing at least 202 people and injuring more than 1,750 — casualties that exceed Spain's previous worst bombing in Barcelona in 1987 and any global terrorist attack since Sept. 11, 2001.

Islamic extremist groups are suspected to be responsible for the latest attacks.

Both Bailey and Carranza know people whose loved ones were injured in the train bombings.

Bailey's home-stay señora has a friend whose nose was completely destroyed and who nearly lost his hearing.

"With attacks like these, everyone knows someone," Bailey said.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

But both students also commented on the resiliency of both Madrid and its citizens.

"The city snapped back right away," Bailey said. "People were not necessarily as paralyzed by fear [as] I know they were in the United States [following the Sept. 11 attacks]."

The day after the attacks, Bailey attended an anti-terrorism demonstration in Madrid that drew nearly 2.5 million participants.

"I did go to the demonstration, that first one," Bailey said. "It was amazing. It was pouring. Everyone was soaked, but everyone was there."

The possible role of Islamic terrorists in the attacks also drew attention to Spain's role in the Iraq war, which was controversial among the Spanish populace. Consequently, during the March 13 election two days after the bombings, the conservative Spanish government, which supported President Bush's Iraq policy, was replaced by a socialist administration that has promised to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq by June 30 without a U.N. mandate for the presence.

But Carranza said the rallies over the past week have not been specifically anti-American in nature. And since the elections, he said, people seem satisfied.

"But I think people in the States got quite a different impression," he said.

Both Bailey and Carranza said the Princeton Study Abroad Program was incredibly responsive in contacting them immediately after the attacks.

"They did a pretty amazing job, actually," Carranza said.

Carranza said the program encouraged him to call his parents and all of his loved ones to assure them he was safe. IES also organized a program-wide meeting and offered counseling services. But no one spoke of leaving Madrid and going home.

"No one really brought it up," Carranza said.

Bailey also said she did not consider leaving. In fact, she thinks it is an important time to be there.

"There's always those who know the difference between the government and its people and those who generalize. It's good we're here as study abroad students and can discuss this week's issues so people's opinions can be less unfounded."