On the crowded commuter train that American-born Renee Pontbriand takes to her office near the Eiffel Tower, an unnatural silence set in late last week as a terrorist spree unfolded. "It was spooky," she recalled.
The tower, the Champs-Élysées, Notre Dame – the iconic landscape of Paris remains unchanged. But last week’s two terrorist attacks in and near the city have at least subtly altered the psychological terrain, not only for the French but also for Americans living among them.
Affection for the City of Light has not dimmed among nearly a dozen American Francophiles – educators, students, writers, political activist and faith leaders – interviewed for this story.
"France is so wonderful and so beautiful and so rich," said Pontbriand, a Rhode Island native who has lived in metro Paris for more than half of her 45 years. "People take time to talk to you about things. … You sit around the table for hours talking – with very good food and wine."
She, her French husband and their two children live in the southwestern "satellite city" of Etampes. In a solidarity demonstration there last week, participants sang Pontbriand said. But when they reached the point in the national anthem "where it says raise your arms, raise your weapons, someone said, 'no, no, you have to be unified.'"
Pontbriand directs Boston University’s study abroad program in Paris. Fourteen of the semester’s 51 students were in the area when the attacks occurred. The rest of this semester’s class arrived Sunday.
"No students dropped out, no parents called," she said.
"This generation – it’s kind of sad," Pontbriand continued. "They’re almost used to" security alerts and terrorist attacks such as the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013.
Gilda DiCarli, who was in the BU exchange program and now is a graduate student at the (Sciences Po), was home in Boston on winter break when the attacks occurred.
But she felt an immediate connection, she said. Her senior thesis on French satire had included a study of .
DiCarliwill return soon to Paris, her home almost steadily since 2012, with increased concern for her own safety and that of a city and country she respects. She said she worries about "cultural repercussions" if government authorities are pressured to impose stricter surveillance and other counterterrorism measures.
The child of Argentine emigrants to the United States, DiCarli has been researching education issues in some of Paris’ immigrant communities.
"Some of the schools are just neglected. The education is supposed to be [about] equality, fraternity and liberty," she said, referencing France’s national motto, "but there really isn’t that equality."
Another American student, Lila Hassan, is less worried about personal security than the prospect of more misunderstanding.
After last Wednesday’s massacre at the offices of a satirical weekly publication, "my initial reaction was shock," she said. "My second thought was why ? I was hoping it wouldn’t be Arabs or Islamists."
Hassan, 20, is a native New Yorker - and a Muslim of Arab descent - who has participated since August in a . She studies political science and journalism at and works on press freedom issues with the nonprofit .
Though her parents offered to fly her home, Hassan insisted she felt safe. She’d already lived with her family in Cairo and was in Tahir Square in January 2011 as crowds demanded Hosni Mubarek’s removal as Egypt’s president.
"I know Paris isn’t following those same trends. It’s not at risk of revolution that way," she said.
At Sunday’s massive solidarity march at the Place de la Republique, Hassan engaged with other marchers and was encouraged to discover "a lot of them really understand the differences between a practicing Muslim and radicalism. Being here and trying to clarify that in my own way is really important."
Dual-citizen Eileen Horowitz Bastianelli took part in Sunday’s demonstration at the Place de la Republique and in a spontaneous gathering there just a few hours after the attack.
"In the realm of something so tragic, it was extraordinary to see how people have banded together,” said Bastianelli, a native New Yorker who grew up in California and moved to Paris in 1988. "… All of us keep saying, let it last."
The digital media consultant ran social media for Democrats Abroad in 2012 and was disappointed that no top-level U.S. official took part in the Sunday solidarity march.
She called it "a very, very bad representation of my country and my president, who I really believe in."