The Eiffel Tower stood dark on Friday, Nov. 13, when horror struck in an unprecedented manner in Paris, France, by what was later identified as ISIS attacks.

Gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people throughout the city, inlcuding several outside of  a sports stadium.

CI English teacher Ms. Mylinh Sajor felt devastated during her 5th period class here at CI when she found out about the terrorist attacks. The reason? Her son Bruno was studying abroad in Paris at the time, and she knew he was at a soccer game at the stadium.

Bruno Sajor, finishing up his last semester at California Lutheran University, was at the Stade de France watching the home team play against Germany with other students studying abroad, having what was thought the time of his life.

According to news reports, a few moments later, a deafening detonation was heard. Sajor and the rest of his friends thought it was a celebration from the soccer game when someone scored a goal or something. What they didn’t know was the chaotic event that was actually occurring.

Sajor and his friends saw everyone scattering around the soccer stadium and began following the crowd. Next thing you know, they began running for their lives.

“I fell apart,” stated Ms. Sajor when asked how she conducted herself not knowing if her son was alive or not.

“I’m a very composed person, but, just – that’s it. There was nothing in my head but his safety and I didn’t think that he was safe. I basically couldn’t function.”

Mrs. Sajor indicated how her son actually called her that same morning stating that he was going to a soccer game and when she found out about the bombings that were occurring, she put the puzzle pieces together.

As distressed as she felt, she kept trying to contact her son, but got nothing as a result. As she was trying to learn more about the tragic event, she mentioned how cooperative her students were being.

“My students have been really really good to me. They just knew something was going on and they kept themselves busy,” she said. “They looked up and they could see that I was crying. I didn’t even have to speak to anyone; they just knew something was going on.”

Mrs. Sajor spent the entire period trying to locate her son, still, not knowing if he was safe or not.

After what seemed liked forever, Mrs. Sajor was able to contact Bruno after school when she arrived home. He stated how there was another bomb that exploded just after they left the stadium and that’s when people began running for their lives. Bruno ended up getting separated from all of his friends due to the disastrous event. He was all on his own at that time. He proceeded to the Metro back to his apartment; that’s when he was able to contact his mom.

Mrs. Sajor said that her son  was still in shock and was trying to process while he was on the phone with his mother. He stated how he was OK and he informed Mrs. Sajor about his experience. They were only on the phone with each other for a few minutes, but the resonance of his voice took a huge amount of weight off of Mrs. Sajor’s shoulders.

“I was so relieved with the fact that he was safe,” she said. “I didn’t have any questions to ask him.”

Bruno went out to try and find his friends after getting off the phone with his mother. After what was thought to be about 45 minutes later, he called again. Unlike the last call, this time he was pouring out in tears. He was petrified.

“He was supposed to come back home on the 16th of December, so he ended up his semester early — a whole month early,” Mrs. Sajor said. “He was given a choice to either stay there, or come home and still get credit for that. And so, we just wanted him to be safe.”

With her son surviving such a frightening event, and him being back home in California, Mrs. Sajor considers her family lucky. Bruno had various trips planned, which included traveling to Dublin, Rome, Amsterdam, and many more places around the world. But he decided to miss out on them.

“That really doesn’t matter to me,” stated Mrs. Sajor, her voice cracking a bit with emotion. “Home here is a place where you feel safe. There are things going on here. Is it completely safe? No. But the thing is that we know where to get resources, we speak the language, and we know where to go if we are in trouble. And when my son was out there, I felt like I couldn’t protect him. He had nobody.”