"It's devastating:" Milwaukee's Alliance Francaise mourn victims of Paris attacks
MILWAUKEE -- A number of people in Milwaukee are mourning in a place you hear French spoken every day. At Alliance Francaise, there's great sadness as a number of people were gathered for a workshop on Friday, November 13th.
Alliance Francaise
Inside, a workshop for French teachers goes on as scheduled, but every few minutes there's a break as people who know Paris very well listen for updates.
"A lot of us in the meeting have friends and family and know people in Paris, so it's obviously a deep concern for us," said Mary Alice Thomsen, directs French Immersion camp in Madison.
Several of the people have lived in Paris -- or even grew up there.
Alliance Francaise meeting
"My gut reaction is one of, kind of horror, and feeling really sad for what's happening both to the victims, the victims' families, and to Paris -- a city that I love quite a bit," said the Alliance Franchise Executive Director, Anne Leplae.
"I was kind of reminded it was almost like the second World War, that violence can happen in your place," said Celiane, grew up in Paris.
Paris attacks
The women want to know what's happening this very moment, but their thoughts also drift to the future, how the world will react.
"I hope the people who terrorized Paris will not win, won't be able to terrorize people but I think everyone now hesitates to start a fight outside and to have repercussions in their own family, that's for sure," said Celiane.
They know the city, and nation they love cannot be the same after these attacks. They just wonder how much it will change.
"Attacking a democratic society, attacking a place where people can come and go freely and you know that`s going to change this and people are going to be afraid and maybe the military presence has to be upped, it's devastating because it's like it's overturned centuries of work," said Thomsen.
The women FOX6 News spoke with say they will wait until Saturday to call their friends in Paris. They say they've always felt extremely safe in Paris and hope this won't change that feeling when they return.