<p>I would just say that even if the risk of *something *happening to *somebody *has gone up, the risk of anything happening to any particular person is still microscopically small.</p>
<p>I’m glad Consolation brought up the IRA; we only heard about terrorism back in the 70’s/80’s in Britain, hadn’t experienced it. The Brits have been dealing with this for decades and are really quite good at it. Does it mean you’ll worry less? No, but it is a bit calming to know.</p>
<p>France on the other hand…</p>
<p>My concern would be with the touristy areas based on the recent closures and searches of the Eiffel Tower. With students that are in Europe for a few months, I think the best approach would be to stay away from landmarks for a while until the ‘chatter’ dies down. The best way to spot a tourist is someone with camera slung around their neck who walks slow and looks around & points alot. If you just walk like you live there, with your head pointed down, you should be OK. It’s not like the entire population of Paris & London are evacuating!</p>
<p>My DD is in London for the semester. I am a little anxious, but am just trying to stay calm and not let fear drive my behavior.</p>
<p>I just got back from London myself and noticed zero police presence in the Tube. I will probably advise my DD to avoid the tube when possible, but realistically, she’ll have to be on it occasionally. She also plans to travel through Europe using the rail system, so there is no way to completely avoid risk.</p>
<p>As my DD is a student, I don’t particularly think she looks like an American tourist, but a young Brit did tell us that he can always spot the Americans because “they all have beautiful teeth.”</p>
<p>My D in study abroad in London just had her first classes today. Classes for two of them in Art History will take place in the Tate, National Gallery, and the V&A, 4 times a week. They are great courses but that means she needs to take the tube 8 times a week (with two or more lines each time) just for classes…and obviously museums are also tourist destinations. Ugh, …just makes it more worrisome.</p>
<p>She’s also going to take the Eurostar a couple of times to Brussels and Paris for weekend trips.</p>
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<p>A great point for all to keep in mind. </p>
<p>I recall when D (the one who is in Europe now for a year) was back in HS, and the French trip was planned to Paris and then 9-11 occurred and many schools were canceling trips and our school had a meeting and every parent still wanted their kids to go (including us) and I’m glad that they carried out life as usual.</p>
<p>To make a similar point, there are over 28,000 commercial air flights in the U.S. every day. Even though 9-11 was a horrible, gruesome tragedy, it directly affected only a tiny percentage of people flying on that day, not to mention over a whole year.</p>
<p>^^^Exactly. </p>
<p>(she writes as she sits here anxiously waiting to hear from D2 who should have landed in NYC after a 14 flight from Abu Dhabi around now and still no call yet and cannot seem to track this flight online!!! LOL)</p>
<p>While there may not seem to be a great police presence in the London Tube, the people are under the watchful eye of CCTV (all over England) There are also very few public trash bins to prevent bombs being put there.</p>
<p>My older child was abroad in Spain for 9/11. Reverse fear from what you folks are going through. He was living there(still does) when the Madrid train bombings took place, but was not on any of the trains that were hit. That day was horrible for H and me.</p>
<p>Vigilance is always wise, regardless of where one is.</p>
<p>There is probably the same chance of terrorism in the U.S, so as a parent, it wouldn’t matter where my child was - nobody is really safe anywhere, you just have to be careful and observant and hope for the best…or lock yourself in your house and stay there.</p>
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<p>Absolutely! </p>
<p>I’ve now had two daughters spend semesters in London and have myself spent quite an amount of time on the Tube when I visited them. CCTV is everywhere! And not just underground. Made me feel a bit more comfortable as a tourist (and believe me, I’m sure I stood out despite my best attempts to blend in… could not go anywhere without a map in my hand). That being said, I hated the lack of rubbish bins as it always seemed like I had something to get rid of (disposable coffee cup, pastry wrapper, water bottle, etc.) and many times ended up carrying it back to my hotel for disposal because I could never find a bin.</p>
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<p>THANK YOU. That makes me feel a tad better. </p>
<p>My DD has been dreaming of this semester. Even though I feel a little anxious, I wouldn’t have done anything differently even had I known in advance about this security warning. She’s so happy and excited. I’ll just have to deal with it.</p>
<p>also have a s in London for a study abroad year…started classes today~ while we skyped earlier we didn’t actually discuss the warnings as we had family over and we all gathered in front of the computer ~the call was fun, grandma amazed at being able to see him live…may seem odd but I think the risk is as others said, small for each individual student, and not unlike being in other cities or public places. wondered about suggesting not using the tube but seems unrealistic, and living in fear brings it’s own set of problems. </p>
<p>does anyone else find the warnings in general to be a rather odd approach, in that wouldn’t it seem more likely that once the alerts are broadcast that whatever terrorist activity planned might be delayed or changed to alternate locations where there is less security in place? </p>
<p>I do appreciate having this thread to connect with others who have kids abroad especially on this issue…</p>
<p>It seems several of our kids are in London. My D has met several from the US already.
Wouldn’t it be a hoot if some of our kids are actually sharing a suite or sitting side by side in a classroom. Who knows, they may be sharing anecdotes of their moms’ admonishments to avoid looking like American tourists and to be vigilant in the tubes and crowded spots.</p>
<p>everything about the warning I’ve heard is that they are worried about something “mumbai” style, aka gunmen. The British police that don’t carry guns will probably not be much help against someone who pulls out an automatic weapon. CCTV might be useful after the fact, but you can’t tell which guy with a backpack is carrying a weapon.</p>
<p>When I was in France in 2008, I did see uniformed (camouflage) personnel with automatic weapons in various train stations.</p>
<p>That said, as has been mentioned, the likelihood of something bad happening to one particular person is immensely small, and probably not worth worrying about. IMO.</p>
<p>The State Department has to be careful about what they do because they are responsible for US citizens abroad, but they also don’t want to induce excessive fear and loudly proclaiming all of Europe as “dangerous” will likely have negative political consequences due to potential harm on the European tourist economy.</p>
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<p>I know my daughter would chuckle about it. She told me she doesn’t use the Tube much anyway because she prefers to walk. But I know she has no fear about it no matter what I say.</p>
<p>One of her suite mates is from the US. Could be a CC member’s daughter!</p>
<p>Doesn’t statistics show that the chances of your kids being injured in a car accident are higher than being injured by a terrorist attack?</p>
<p>I know we are always worried about our kids, but we should always put it in perspectives. BTW, my D was mugged in London and she didn’t even tell us until she was back home.</p>
<p>[Euro</a> terror alert spotlights voiceprint technology - Yahoo! News](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101005/ap_on_re_eu/europe_terror_threat]Euro”>http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101005/ap_on_re_eu/europe_terror_threat)</p>
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<p>When I left DD in London, someone asked me if I was going to worry about her a lot. My first response was no, not really, but if anything worried me it was the fast traffic coming around corners. I appreciated the “Look right” and “Look left” markings on the street, but even so, there were a few times when I looked the wrong direction. DD actually did a better job of it, now that I think about it.</p>
<p>Okie dokie i’ll chime in here. Firstly our daughter, aged 17 is in northern germany as a freshman where she will be doing her full 3 year degree. Last weekend she travelled by train to where-you guessed it Hamburg! We lived from 1995-2001 in London, arriving in the US (NYC) in August 2001. </p>
<p>All I can tell you is that the Europeans, especially Londoners, have been dealing with these situations way before it even became a blip on the radar here in the US after 9/11. As a previous post said, London is almost 100% covered by security cameras, and little things such as oh…no trash cans on any of the streets in the center of London for example. </p>
<p>The other thing to point out is that your child may not be any safer on a US campus either through guns, drugs/drinking, mean spirted people filming your personal life and sharing it on youtube…</p>
<p>At the end of the day tell your kids the same as if they were visiting any big city anywhere in the world</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Always be aware of your surroundings. If something doesn’t feel right or look right, get out of there. If there’s something that makes you uncomfortable on a subway get off at the next station and wait for a different train.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t wander around being conspiculously a tourist. That means dressing in an understated manner, trying not to speak loudly, wearing flashy designer things and letting your pocketbook or bookbag flail about beside you. Hold on to it, don’t flash a lot of cash, dress down.</p></li>
<li><p>If the police directs you away from an area, follow their instructions. Take anything of that nature seriously and do as you are told by the authorities.</p></li>
<li><p>Try to stay out of London, if at all possible during a tube strike.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t wander about at night by yourself</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t trust those cute guys just because they have an adorable accent. Just because they speak like Robert Pattison doesn’t mean they are a good guy. </p></li>
<li><p>Have a mobile, tell people where you are going and when you are expected back, don’t get drunk in unfamiliar places with people you don’t know</p></li>
<li><p>Use the buddy system.</p></li>
</ol>