When tragedy strikes like it did Tuesday morning with the terrorist attacks against the United States, there is no shortage of media coverage to keep American citizens informed. But the news abroad is sometimes less extensive and opinions from other international students' offer a different perspective.
John Maycroft, a UW-Madison senior from Bloomington, Minn., studying abroad in China, said his access to news has been limited to online sources and fuzzy television stations from Hong Kong.
'The Chinese media is disappointingly apathetic about the situation,' he said. 'Although the terrorism made the front pages of the newspapers, reports have been slim from the TV stations.'
Stefanie Carton, a UW-Madison sophomore from Elm Grove, Wis.. studying at St. Louis University's campus in Madrid, Spain, said the local television channels show the same images and run the same stories repeatedly.
'It's definitely like watching a movie,' she said. 'Being here I felt totally disconnected. ... When I watch it on TV it's like watching a third-world country.'
Carton said representatives of the U.S. Embassy visited the campus Wednesday to give American students information on precautionary measures they should take. They told students to not take the same walking paths and bus routes all the time, for example, Carton said.
'Basically, watch your tracks,' she said.
Maycroft said the study abroad center in Beijing told American students Tuesday to stay in the vicinity of campus, and to avoid the places where Americans congregate.
'For the moment, I feel safer here than I would in America,' he said. 'But I also wish I could be there with family and friends,' he said. 'My stomach was sick, looking at the pictures.'
Being abroad also exposes students to a number of differing opinions from other international students.
'It's a good lesson for America,' said Clea Mailliard, a freshman from Paris also studying in Madrid. 'The Europeans are happy because it proves the U.S. is weak.'
Mailliard said thousands died in 'when the U.S. bombed Yugoslavia' and no one knew, but when the United States is attacked, everyone knows.
When asked if she now felt safe being a student in Madrid, Mailliard said she did not.
'Spain is the only European country that loves Bush and Arabs know that'everyone knows that,' she said.
A Libyan student, Carton said, told her he thought Americans were 'crazy' for thinking Osama bin Laden was behind the multiple attacks Tuesday.
'He said that if bin Laden had done it, he would have said it and taken credit,' she said.
Jennifer Lee, a junior from Los Angeles, also studying in Madrid, said she thought being in the United States would have made it easier for her to deal with the situation.
'We're not feeling the mourning process,' she said. 'People sympathize, but it's not the same. ... I want to feel what [all the Americans] are feeling.'
