**Donate to Manchester Victims here**

BU's January Boston-London program is a 2-year degree pathway offered by the College of General Studies which entails a London study abroad portion during the Summer I semester of freshman year. I'm part of the 300+ students taking part in this program.

During BU London's mandatory orientation, a police officer came to speak to us about health and safety tips. Aside from the "drink responsibly" shtick, he acknowledged the Westminister attack back in March (read more about it here) reiterating that "the odds of another terrorist attack happening today and tomorrow are the same as yesterday. Slim to none."

That "tomorrow" ended up being the day this happened.

Granted, Manchester is 2 hours away by train from London, but an attack like this causes you to stop and think.

How safe is London, actually?

What will I do if something does happen?

It hasn't reached the point where I'm looking over my shoulder and peeking into trashcans, but you're going to be more aware after an explosion kills 22 -- especially since this is the second attack in the UK in 3 months. The last thing that any of us would want is to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. While you're abroad, you can't run away to the safety of home. You're kind of stuck in the middle of a war, and at the same time, you aren't. The world is getting crazier and more unpredictable as each day goes by.

RIP Manchester Arena Victims and my prayers go out to the affected families.