‘I am at my office at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel’, e-mails Radboud professor Mireille Hildebrandt from Brussels. ‘People are dismayed, a lot is unclear, public transport has shut down.’ 

Radboud University professor Digital Security Mireille Hildebrandt is also professor in Brussels. Today, she happened to be in the Belgian capital. To the Twitter remark ‘Shocking news are becoming routine, dear Mireille’ she reacted, just after the attack: ‘you are so right, how can a shock be routine, but it can. Much of the world has lived with such existential fears – but new for us.’

Around eight o’clock this morning, there were two explosions at the Zaventem airport in Brussels. Later today, an attack at the metro station Maalbeek followed. The latest news reports say that 34 people have died in the incidents.

All classes at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel are canceled. Students and teachers are asked to stay home. Whoever is already on campus, is advised to stay there and let family know they are ok. Hildebrandt mails the Vox editorial office: ‘I am at my office at the university. People are dismayed, a lot is unclear, public transport has shut down. Of course people worry about friends and family, there is no real panic though.’

Application letters
The police has asked all citizens of Brussels to stay inside. Radboud alumnus Reint-Jan Groot Nuelend was at a cafe in the city center at the moment of the attacks. The former Political Sciences student graduated this summer, and went to Brussels for a traineeship at the European Commission. The traineeship ended recently and now Groot Nuelend is looking for a job in the Belgian capital.

This morning, just after eight, he arrived at the cafe to write some application letters. There, he heard about the attacks on Zaventem airport. The cafe is one kilometer away from Maalbeek metro station, where explosions occurred not much later. ‘I did not hear anything. But sirens went off right away and helicopters flew over, so it was clear that there had been another attack. Maalbeek is right in the middle of all important European institutions. I heard from my former coworkers at the European Commission that they were not allowed to leave their office.’

The public transport has shut down now, but Groot Nuelend does not notice that too much. ‘I cycle like a true Dutchman.’ Now, he is at another cafe, not far from the also closed Central Station. Still writing application letters. ‘I am not going to seek out the turmoil. The situation is out of the ordinary, of course. I see policemen in forage caps, military personnel walks by. Everybody is bewildered, me too. Over twenty people have died around the corner and that is awful. The city is calm though. I think the most important thing in this situation is: stay calm.’ / Martine Zuidweg