#BearsOfBaylor — “I was actually in Paris during the attacks.”

“I studied abroad last year, and I was actually in Paris during the attacks. … I discovered that survivor’s guilt is definitely something that you have to deal with. It’s hard, nowadays. I hear about the attacks, and each one brings back the same memories for a while. Any sirens, any crowds bring back a hand of fear that grips on your heart when you see that kind of thing. It took a little while to get back to normal just walking the streets when I was abroad. …

“Any ambulance alarms, that’s the first place that my mind goes to. Because it’s what I heard when I was walking the streets, and it’s what I heard when it was outside my apartment. I was right in the middle of where all the attacks were happening. You know how you connect certain sounds to certain memories? That’s the sound that sticks with me. So, it’s mainly ambulance sirens.”

[Would you, as a result of your experiences, encourage or discourage studying abroad to others?]

“I would still encourage it, despite everything that happened. I think it’s something you need to do. We’re here in America and — it’s hard to explain — you go over there and you open your perspective. It’s good to see how people live. These people, like the people in France, that was their lives. They couldn’t get away from it. I was lucky enough that I could come back to America, but these people — that’s their home. And I think it’s good to have that perspective and see how other people live and how things like that are affecting them. We’re all connected in some way or another.”

[Every Baylor Bear has a story; #BearsOfBaylor brings those stories to you, one by one. These stories, these people… This is our Baylor.]