Paris Attacks: Emory student pens essay detailing her experience

Credit: David Ramos

Credit: David Ramos


Just 20 minutes before terror unfolded in Paris on Friday Nov. 13, Emory University Student Tori Kargman was sharing crêpes with friends in front of the Eiffel Tower.

The junior from Livingston, New Jersey, was safe and sound back in her dorm room in Paris, France as the attacks were carried out that night. Kargman details her personal experiences the night of and in the days after the Paris attacks in a personal essay she wrote for Emory's student newspaper 'The Emory Wheel.'

"It was hard to imagine that just 20 minutes earlier I'd been showing my friends Trocadéro, eating crêpes and taking lighthearted pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower. But in just 20 minutes, I felt changed," Kargman writes. 

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The 20-year-old has been living and studying abroad in Paris for the past three months.

“In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, I am living with the fear that there are people who want to destroy those parts of us that allow feelings of love, life and happiness,” Kargman writes.

In her essay, Kargman also addresses other terrors that have taken place outside of Paris in the past week.

“My heart goes to those who have lost loved ones in Beirut, Baghdad and Paris in the past week,” she writes.

On her Facebook page, Kargman updated her profile picture to blue, white and red and shared her essay with the following message to her friends: "Reading about attacks like those in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad is heartbreaking, but feeling and seeing it in the streets of your home elevates it to a level I've never experienced before. I hope I can share part of the experience with you."

Reading about attacks like those in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad is heartbreaking, but feeling and seeing it in the streets...

Posted by Tori Kargman on Saturday, November 14, 2015

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