An Australian woman who has been traveling through Europe for the past three months cheated death three times after being caught up in terrorist attacks in Barcelona, London, and France.
When a van rammed into people in Barcelona on Thursday, Aug. 17, in an attack claimed by the ISIS terrorist group, Julia Monaco, 26, was with her friend in a nearby shopping mall, the Daily Mail reported.
In June, she was stuck on the London Underground (subway) after authorities locked it down following the car attack and knife rampage carried by Islamic terrorists in London.
And just days after that, Monaco was inside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris when a jihadist terrorist stabbed a police officer outside.
“I think it’s following me but you kind of come over here (to Europe) and you expect it to happen but you don’t let it stop you from doing what you want to do,” Monaco said.
Europe is experiencing an unprecedented surge in terror acts committed by Islamic terrorist. The violent upswell coincides with million of refugees from Islamic countries resettling in Europe.
But Monaco said the incessant terrorism isn’t going to stop her from exploring the world.
“I don’t feel like I want to go home,” she said. “I feel like I want to stay here and not let them—whoever they may be—win.”
In Barcelona, Monaco and her friends were locked inside the mall when they saw crowds fleeing on foot. Some of those fleeing were banging on the windows of the mall terrified.
“In a split second it all kind of changed and everyone just started running and panicking and running for their lives and crying and screaming and we were forced back into the store, told to get away from the windows and to get low on the ground,” she said.
Monaco and her friends were corralled into an Urban Outfitters store and told to lie face down on the floor away from the windows. When the mall was finally unlocked, Monaco and her friends walked on their way back to the hotel circling the blocks that had been taped off by police.
“You just have to keep going. I’m sure though tomorrow morning my mum will say ‘Come home,’ but I don’t think I’ve been scared out of traveling,” Monaco said.
Friends Read Free