5 Davidson College students in Nice during Bastille Day attack

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Five Davidson College students and a staffer in Nice, France, for a summer program were not injured in the Bastille Day attack.

“Everybody's safe. Everybody's accounted for. They've been in touch with their families, so we're very happy about that,” Davidson spokesman Jay Pfeifer said Friday.

Pfeifer said the students planned to stay in Nice until the program ends next week, but it has given them and the college a new perspective on study abroad programs.

“We're fine tuning and learning how to respond to these situations, unfortunately.  It's something we're having to learn to incorporate into our planning,” Pfeifer said.

The attack also hit too close for a south Charlotte family, whose daughter is in Nice for the summer.

Kennedy Turley is a rising senior at University of North Carolina at Wilmington who has spent the last four weeks in Nice.

“We received a text from Kennedy, who said apparently there's been a terrorist attack right near where we're located. She said I'm fine, and we're headed back to the house,” Shane Turley told channel 9 on Friday.

Kennedy said she and some friends were on their way to the fireworks show Thursday night when their landlord called to warn them.

"We walked for about five minutes before getting a panicked call from our Airbnb host," she told Channel 9. "He said, 'Are you going out?' and we said, 'Yes, we are out.' And he said, 'Go back! Go back! There was just a terrorist attack.' We turned around immediately and hurried back."

"It was shocking and terrifying that this was happening only about a 10-minute drive from us," she said.

Turley said his daughter planned to stay for the rest of her summer program, which is due to end in another week.

French native who lives in Charlotte in France during Bastille Day attack

Romain Betrand spent Bastille Day watching fireworks in the mountains two hours from Nice.

He live-streamed the fireworks on Facebook, and his friends in the Charlotte were watching.

They then saw the news of the attack in Nice, and they messaged him.

"(They were) asking if we were safe, and we actually had no idea at that time what was happening,” Betrand said.

Betrand spoke to reporter Ken Lemon via Skype from a town not far from Nice.

The French native instructs teachers in the Charlotte area. He and his family go to France every summer.

"It was just a terrible shock,” he said.

He is moved by the deadly attack on what he calls the most careless night of the year in France.

"You can tell it is very heavy in the country right now,” he said.

This is the third suspected act of terror in France in the last year and half. It is the first time he was there during an attack, and it happened in a city where he visited as a child every year.

"You getting to a point where it happens so often that you starting to wonder if it becomes the new reality,” Bertrand said.

He tries not to talk about Thursday night.

"You can tell it's really difficult for people to speak about this issue without becoming angry; without also becoming fearful,” he said.

He and his wife decided to talk to their 4- and 7-year-old children.

He said he tried to make them understand that bad people feed on hate.

Then the 4-year-old explained what he would do if he saw someone who hated him.

"Think I'll talk to him and try to him and try to see if I can help him be less frustrated,” Bertrand said.

The family will be in France for three days of mourning and return to Charlotte in a week and half.

Cox Media Group