Is it safe to visit Nice, France right now?

This topic has been covered here overwhelmingly through the vantage point of tourism, not studying abroad as a young student. My advice is to engage your college directly because they are your partner in your studying abroad plan. Talk to your on-site school administrators about your apprehension and make sure they answer your questions (that's what they are there for). More importantly, ask about and talk to current students studying in Nice from your school. Surely, there are students on the ground as we speak that can help alleviate your fears and answer all of your questions, including safety of specific neighborhoods, the "current atmosphere", etc. Your school should be very interested in keeping their students safe and can offer support and guidance specific to the area where you'll be studying/living in Nice. That advice would be more pertinent than (I believe) this forum dedicated to temporary travel and tourist attractions in this city.

Another resource you can use is the State Department which issues warning and alerts, as well at tips to travel safely. The better educated you are about actual risks and the more support networks you build before your trip the less anxious you will feel. Good luck to you.

I understand your concern. You owe it to yourself to be better informed. Besides the above excellent suggestions, why don't you research the topic in French newspapers? They will give you much more up to date information than you can get on a traveler's forum. To prepare yourself for your stay, familiarizing yourself with French news will be a big help to you.

A suggestion:
http://www.nicematin.com/

To prepare yourself for your stay, familiarizing yourself with French news will be a big help to you.

I think that's also an excellent idea, in addition to engaging all your school resources (Study Abroad Department/ Administrators and professors and students teaching/studying in Nice right now from your college).

Libby,
The French aren't avoiding any city. Don't forget, France is a first-world country just as ours is. For many French people Nice and Paris are worlds away as in the small cities they feel they're far from the madness. While I'm sure people avoided NYC for a while after 9/11, it wasn't long before Broadway was welcoming tourists. Life has gone on for the French and the Promenade de Anglais is back to business as usual. Nice is a spectacular city and it would be a shame for you to miss it.

The only thing you can do is just exercise caution as you would in any large city. If you see suspicious activity taking place, take it seriously. Always be aware of your surroundings and don't do anything to impair your judgement. Unfortunately we live in a time where terrorism is fresh in our memory. That's just a fact of life. France, to me, represents a freedom that is different from the USA. I feel totally free in France and I love her with all of my heart. She's not perfect, but damn can she cook!

If the sight of 4 to 6 soldiers armed with Kalatchnikovs patrolling the streets of every major city, airport and train station in France doesn't make you feel somewhat at ease, nothing ever will.
The US State Department issues notices that sound much more dire than they need to be. Take them with a grain of salt.
Keep in touch with reliable local news reports - best read in French.
I'd be much more worried about pickpockets and whether I forgot to pack the sunblock cream.

French soldiers patrolling the sights, train stations, and streets don't carry AK-47s.

If the French police are carrying AK's, then RUN, cause they ain't police. Otherwise Agnes and the guy fro Denison make great sense.

I'm no gun expert, that's pretty obvious.
Maybe some of you are.
All I know is that the guns look pretty serious to me, and if I were a college student studying abroad for the first time, I'd feel a lot safer if actual soldiers wearing soldier-type garments were holding the guns - whatever the make or model.

You're going to be spending time studying in Nice. Congratulations. Have a great time.

Once you get there, you will quickly learn where you shouldn't go. The school and your new found friends will share that information with you.

Terrorism, while is always good to keep in the back of your mind, is not your big concern. The odds of terrorists attacking in Nice and you being where they attack is so remote I think anyone really concerned over this is letting it get to them.

Be more worried about petty theft than anything else. That can happen anywhere in the world.

Terrorists flew two planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the city is just as crowded as always. There have been two terrorist attacks in Paris yet the city is packed with tourists.

And lets face it, there have been more mass shootings at college campuses in the U.S. than there have been terrorist attacks in Nice.

Sift through the advice and follow what makes sense to you. Getting oriented and feeling "at home" in Nice won't take long, and you will soon be giving advice to other students.

Personally I would go and have a great time. But you don't know anything about me, so that advice is pretty worthless. As for guns, having to arm police on the street does nothing to make me feel safer. Sort of makes me ask, if they are so afraid as to think they need to carry guns, shouldn't I also be afraid? I feel extremely safe in my neighborhood in the US and I have never seen a cop with a machine gun. Would I be safer if I did? By the way, I love guns so that's not the issue.

If any of us knew, we would be terrorists wouldn't we? No one is going to be 'safe' in any major city in the world any time in our lifetime just as none of us is safe from auto accidents. It is simply a fact of life. So you can travel or you can cower. Your choice.

As for safety in Antartica, you apparently aren't familiar with the 2004 classic, Alien vs Preditor.

People who have never experienced a place go by what others or the media tells them. If the media tells them XXX isn't safe, then they believe XXX isn't safe.

I hear it from Europeans all the time who say they want to visit the USA but are afraid because it seems everyone is being shot at.

I don't hold that against them. I do my best to tell them the truth and assure them their trip will be fine. In no way am I insulted.

I thought Agnes's post with concrete proposed actions was superb and helpful, and Alex with his experience with students as well. Lots of people thereafter provided good solid advice even though they themselves may not have a fear of traveling. Thanks to empathy, they're able to understand that someone else reasonably might. That's all it takes -- a little empathy, putting yourself in someone else's shoes.

woinparis,

Just to clarify.....

"French soldiers carry Famas. French police carry pistols and usually when in pairs, one carry a rifle for more power and precision."

The French military do indeed use the FAMAS assualt rifle, and it's easy to spot as it's a very distinctive "bullpup" design, similar to the British version. The standard French police sidearm is a Sig-Sauer and the rifle they carry is a modified version of the Ruger Mini-14.

Libby,

I don't know if there's any way to predict which locations are absolutely "safe" in any country or city in Europe. I haven't been in Nice since the truck attack, but I suspect it's as safe as any other city in France. Life has probably returned to some semblance of "normal". The authorities have been very diligent in identifying potential threats, and the recent arrests in Marseille and Strasbourg, which disrupted a planned attack, are a good example of that.

If I were in the same situation, I'd probably contact the school and get their thoughts on the safety issue. I suspect everything will be fine and you'll have a wonderful time there.

Adrian Leeds (of HouseHunters Int'l fame) lives in Nice and in Paris. She writes a newsletter twice a week about both places. According to her, Nice is very much back to normal. You can Google her name, sign up for her newsletters (always fun and interesting), and read back issues.

Adrian Leeds (of House Hunters Int'l fame)

Well, if she has a financial stake in the town is she objective? I imagine she is pretty much honest.

When I purchased my first European apartment the realtor called me and said the show was interested. I said, we had already purchased and that show was about the process of looking. I was told it would be staged and the show paperwork was sent to me. The pay was about $1000 if I recall correctly. Geee, $1,000 for an innocent little lie. Nope, didn't do it.

Still an interesting show. Watching it now as a matter of fact (Prague).

She has a financial stake yes, like anyone that lives and works there, but she can live anywhere she wants and she chooses to live in Nice and Paris. She's a character, but having read her newsletters for years, she comes across as honest to me.
Adrian Leeds is not the creator of HouseHunters... but yes, the show is rigged (aren't all tv shows?) in that the place that ends up being bought / rented has already been chosen. I don't think the show is a "lie", I think the process they walk you through on the show, although condensed, is authentic. I like the show, it's fun and interesting. Of course they're gonna pay you for your time and participation. I think 1000 is low... you should have asked for more.

In my case I got the impression that not much would have been authentic to the process. The $1000 was non negotiable. But don't get me wrong. I sort of like the show. At the very least it helps open the window a crack to how the rest of the world lives. And just because she has a financial interest that could be devastated by tourist staying away doesn't mean she is fabricating anything. There was another thread here recently about disclosure and some pretty profound points were made about transparency.

The statement

but she can live anywhere she wants and she chooses to live in Nice
and Paris

is a pretty powerful recommendation for Nice. Its the good half of businesses with personal vestments.

Our family participated in a House Hunters Int'l episode (France). Lots of fun. They refer to it as a "scripted reality" show.

And we've yet to hear a reply from Libby. Hmmmmm.

We, and I'm sure others on this forum, were just in Paris this summer. I didn't feel more at risk than I would in any big city in the U.S. But that does not mean my feeling was right. Statistically though I'm pretty sure any risk was negligible. That said we saw a lot of armed police in camouflage. They were in front of many famous sites and in the Latin Quarter and the Cite in groups of three. Personally they reminded me of the Paris attacks which gave me a twinge. But given the nature of recent attacks I can't think of a better method of deterring or stopping them than prominent armed police. I would personally go. I'd be in Nice tommorow if some kind philanthropist would donate the tickets. But if you will be uneasy all the time, don't go. You will be stressed and unhappy. And no one should make fun of you for that.

There are a whole lot of people who actually believe the fantasy that HouseHuntersInternational is pushing and don't realize that it's not real.

There are a lot of them who have invested all their retirement savings in properties in Paris and/or Nice, and have been told that they can rent out their apartments short-term all year long until they decide to retire.

However, since this is against the law in Paris, is prohibited by many co-proprietes (condo associations) and is being considered in Nice, this makes Adrian Leeds a liar.
She has lots of other tips, too - several of them designed to cheat the French government out of paying taxes on short-term rentals, how to "find work" without a work permit, and so on.
This comes verbatim from a personal, one-hour consultation I had with Adrian Leeds, two years ago.

Caveat emptor - really.

House Hunters International. My experience had nothing to do with France, but when a process is based on deception; I'm not sure why that attitude wouldn't run throughout the process. So I stayed away.

The whole Paris vacation rental issue disturbs me. The concern that has spurred the laws I believe to be well meaning but poorly considered; but its their law and their country and as a guest I take that seriously. We get to Paris about every three years but until the city or the listing companies or maybe a trade organization comes up with a way for someone like me to know I am in compliance with the law; there is no way I would rent a vacation apartment in Paris.

woinparis - it is legal for a documented student to rent an apartment in Paris - and I presume, in any college town in France - for 9 months, and this can be renewed if the student is still studying.

And we've yet to hear a reply from Libby. Hmmmmm.

Good observation 75020...

The OP hasn't replied to her previous posts either.

Thanks for the good advice everyone! I am new to this travel forum so I didn't realize a response was necessary. I am not one to let fear hold me back from anything I want to accomplish. I am still planning on going, just wanted to make sure I was informed before i got there. Obviously I have been keeping up with French news through the internet, I wanted to hear advice first hand. My thoughts have been put to ease, although I still will exercise caution. I'll still be in a foreign country, whether it's safe or not, one should always keep their wits about them.
Thanks for the help

Of course a response from you is not necessary . . . .but a nice touch for those who have written replies to your original post. In France especially, although you may not be used to this behavior in the US, pleases and thank yous and hellos and goodbyes and excuse mes are very important, as I'm sure your course adviser/instructor has told you.

Libby,

Glad to hear that you have decided to go. My niece did a year abroad in Spain. It was probably one of the best experiences in her life. I was fortunate enough to go visit her while she was there. Oh my what an eye opener it was for me. She had grown up. She was a mature young lady. Helping me find restaurants, navigating the subway, finding hotels, etc. She had become a much more independent, self confident, enlightened person. If you ask her she would say it was an invaluable experience and highly recommends it.

If it were me I would go. 1 because I would like to think that I'm not going to let terrorism deter me and 2 I don't want to look back at it years from now with regret. It's the type of experience you can't recreate later on.

Enjoy your time in Nice, it's a wonderful city.

Be sure to try the socca and visit the Rothschild estate.