I was in Brussels two days before the attack
The city now means more than just a Spring Break destination
“Have fun and be safe. Don’t forget to send me your pictures from the trip. I love you.”
My mom ended the call as I was sitting in the aisle seat of my plane before it took off. A couple close friends and I traveled to Europe this past spring break for an innocent vacation. Brussels was just one of our last-minute additions to our itinerary, as we planned to stay only one night there.
When I first arrived in Brussels, I was a tourist. Less than a week ago, I walked down those cobblestone streets of the Grand Palace and breathing the stale morning air. We ate Belgian waffles for breakfast and visited an overwhelming number of chocolate shops, and I jokingly told myself I would never want to be near any sweets ever again after this trip. Little did I know that my twenty-four hour stay in Belgium would leave an everlasting impression on how I see humanity.
Grand Palace (All photos taken on 18/3/2016)
With just a couple days short from experiencing terrorism first hand, my experience and interaction with Brussels was ripped away from the privilege of being labeled a tourist. Now I’ve been inextricably linked with a global network of terror, narrowly escaping an even shorter timeline.
Belgians and tourists alike shared a space in which we would collectively thrive and live together.
This morning when I heard the news about the attacks, I was overcome with instinctive relief, gradually devolving to extreme sadness as the world slowly discovered the ever-expanding number of civilians were instantly stripped of their lives.
Life is a game of roulette where you’re betting your entire life. We live in a world where it’s not about deciding where to go, but having the luxury to travel safely and freely to our destinations amid global unrest. I still look back on my trip to Brussels as one filled with laughter and cherished memories, but now it’s marred with a burden of the privilege that I was one of the fortunate ones to return home safely.
I’ve shared my photos from our visit to Brussels. It torments me to see such a beautiful city now infiltrated with hatred towards mankind, but I now know that life isn’t fair — it’s lucky.