For U.S. student, Belgium attacks are heartbreaking

Kyrie Bussler is a journalism and political science major at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has been studying abroad in Brussels, Belgium since January. Her father, Rick, is the publisher of the Independent.
On Tuesday, March 22, I woke up like any other morning during my semester abroad in Brussels, Belgium. 
Moaning and groaning, I shut my alarm off at around 8:25 a.m. – it was yet another day to head off to my internship at FTI Consulting, a global business advisory and consulting firm. 
I had been out of bed no more than 5 minutes when my roommate came running out of our room to say that there’s been an explosion at the airport and that she was needed at her work, the newswire Reuters.  
This created a state of confusion and hecticness in our apartment as we rushed to get ready for work. What kind of explosion was this? Were people hurt? How bad was it? 
My initial first thought was that the explosion was related to an airplane malfunction or fuel fire. I immediately started to check Twitter and social media for any news, but I didn’t find anything. So I continued onto work without realizing the severity of this explosion. 
At work, I learned that bombs caused two explosions at the airport. The office was still relatively calm, as we didn’t have any employees that were suppose to be at the airport. 
Barely 5 minutes later, frenzy hit the office. News broke that another bomb exploded at Maelbeek Metro Stop. A metro stop that was only a few blocks away from my work and that several of my co-workers used to get into work. 
In fact, my fellow intern, a student at American University in Washington D.C., had just passed through Maelbeek not even 15 minutes prior to the explosion. The look on his face when he told me that made my stomach sink. If he had not been on the train that he had been on, he most likely would not have been sitting right next to me at that moment. 
This was way too close to home for me. 
Senior management immediately started to account for everyone. There was so much panic in everyone’s eyes about the people who hadn’t arrived to work yet or were known to use that metro line. 
We had everyone accounted for except for Vladimir. He hadn’t arrived yet and wasn’t answering his phone. It became a waiting game to see where he was. The loud sighs of relief and happiness pretty much echoed throughout the office when Vladimir walked into the office explaining that his phone was broken and he got caught in the traffic from the explosions.   
 
For many of my co-workers and friends and myself, it was a “It could have been me” moment.
Just a little over a week before, I had been at the airport in that same departures area waiting to leave for a weekend trip to Dublin. Or how about the numerous times I had taken the metro around Brussels and stopped at Maelbeek without a care in the world. 
For 31 people, they were starting off their day just like I had in the past – trying to get to one place or another via the airport or the metro. However they weren’t as fortunate as I was to reach my final destination. 
The city essentially went on lock-down and everyone was advised to stay indoors. For the rest of the day, my eyes were glued to my Twitter feed to see what new development was occurring. 
These attacks were the deadliest events to hit Belgium since World War II. ISIS claimed responsibility for these attacks later in the day. Sadness filled the city. People just seemed to looking for answers to why this had to happen.  
On Wednesday, daily life seemed to go back to normal. Schools and business were opened. The metro began to operate again on a limited basis. 
After the Paris attacks, the city went on lock-down in the days following. No one went into work or around the city, as police looked for the suspects responsible for the attacks that killed 130 people in the French capital. 
But how come when the attacks were in our home ground, life just seemed to carry on the very next day? While I’m not exactly sure, I’m glad that it did. 
I think it was the Belgian way to show that we’re strong and ISIS can’t take us down. We didn’t give these terrorists the satisfaction of completely shutting down life in Brussels. Additionally, it was a way for people to heal and to start moving on. 
In the days since Tuesday, there have been numerous ways that Brussels has honored the 31 dead and 300 wounded. Several memorials have been set up throughout the city. On Wednesday and Thursday, the city had moments of silences. 
As of right now, police officials are continuing to look for the remaining two suspects in the attacks. Several police operations have gone down in the city to look for these men. Everyone keeps holding their breath in hopes that we can have some sort of closure for Tuesday’s attacks. 
March 22 will always be a day that I will remember for the rest of my life. It’s one thing to watch these attacks take place from the comfort of your home and an ocean separating you from the tragedy. But it’s completely heartbreaking when it’s your city, the one that you’ve fallen in love with the past three months.  
Several people have asked me if I want to come home early from my trip. Absolutely not. Brussels has become my second home, and I don’t want to desert it in this time of tragedy.