By Stephanie Peters
Northeastern senior Pat Haynes left his London hotel Thursday morning with plans to catch the tube at the Aldgate subway station en route to his international co-op orientation on the other side of the city.
However, when he arrived at the station with his father and brother at about 9:30 a.m., they were met with an unusual scene – a highly trafficked station closed during rush hour, streets barricaded by police and a crowd of people pouring into the street.
“We could overhear people talking about ‘the building shaking’ and ‘a bomb going off,'” Haynes said. “Still, no one really knew what was going on. We weren’t even sure the problem was with the subway.”
Hoping to get on a train at the next tube stop, Haynes and his family walked on to Liverpool Street. There they learned that the entire underground, and the buses, were not in service. Although concerned about what could be happening, Haynes walked the remaining distance to orientation.
It wasn’t until after orientation that Haynes learned why the tube was shut down that morning, and how lucky he was not to have been in the Liverpool Street/Aldgate station.
Minutes before 9 a.m. Thursday, four bombs – three on the London Underground at the King’s Cross, Aldgate and Edgware Street stations and one on a bus in Tavistock Square in the city center exploded, killing at least 52 people.
Haynes is one of five Northeastern students who were in England, on co-op, when the four bombings halted the morning commute and, briefly, the city of London.
It was confirmed Thursday by the international co-op office that all five of the newly arrived students were safe.
Senior music major Holly Barron was already on the tube on her way to work, Polydor Records in western London, when the attacks occurred.
“I have to change tube lines once I’m in the Underground three times. So I got to my first switch, and there was a tube delay of 10 or 15 minutes when it usually takes only 3-5 minutes … then there was an announcement that this station was closed, and there would be no more trains leaving from it,” said Barron, who was forced to evacuate the station. “Needless to say I got to work late and agitated, as no one knew what was going on. It wasn’t until an hour or so into the work day that … everyone at Polydor realized it was a terrorist attack.”
What shocked both Haynes and Barron more than the attacks, however, was the general reaction of Londoners.
Barron perceived London residents as initially “definitely surprised and horrified,” similar to the reaction of Americans on September 11, however as the day progressed, so did the atmosphere.
“[My roommate and I] both got the feeling that of course Londoners were devastated about what happened, but they seemed to carry on with life as usual,” Barron said. “I think when 9/11 happened, America seemed to stop, and a real sense of camaraderie emerged. I don’t see this happening as much with the Londoners.”
Haynes too described this as the prevailing attitude in London Thursday. However, he said he received insight from a conversation with a Londoner at a pub that night.
“I asked why the events didn’t seem to weigh on most people. He explained about how Londoners had been used to the threat of terrorism with the IRA [Irish Republican Army] and also how Londoners had persevered through constant attacks on the city during WWII,” Haynes said. “He also felt that the government had prepared the city well for possible attacks by warning that they were almost inevitable. I got the same feeling from the interviews that I saw on the news the next day – almost everyone interviewed said ‘we have to move on.'”
It’s an attitude expressed by Beth Cameron, director of the international co-op department, as well.
After learning of the London bombings, the first thing Cameron did was check her e-mail – messages had already arrived from two of her students confirming their safety. The rest of the day was spent in contact with the British Universities of North America Consortium (BUNAC), a non-profit organization that Cameron used to obtain UK work permits and visas for her students.
With the aid of BUNAC’s London office, all five students were accounted for by the end of the day.
There isn’t a set emergency plan in place for such a situation, other than to make contact with her students and their parents and address any needs or concerns they might have, she said. Students are given both her work and home phone so they can contact her at any time, should the need arise.
Cameron, an 18-year veteran of the position, said she has seen co-op students through similar situations, including the bombings in Belfast and Northern Ireland, without incident.
She attributes the program’s success in such situations to the relationship she builds with her students and the basic advice she can impart.
“What I’ve tried to do with students before they go is work with them to build confidence and street skills … rather than plan for disaster, if you plan for the unknown you stand a better chance of overcoming difficulties,” Cameron said. “You really have to think, ‘OK, this is what’s happening around me, how do I respond to this?'”
Cameron said that by next month, she will have 20 students working the current co-op rotation in countries around the world.
The London attacks, while devastating, will have little impact on Northeastern’s international co-op program, or the desire of students to study abroad, said Katy Heintz, a middler psychology major who will be the sixth co-op student in London when she leaves in less than a month.
“It’s
