Where were you at 9/11/01?

[KerriMarie]

I was in London - I spent the semester abroad, and we had some tense days when we thought we were going home... it was crazy.

I remember walking home from the grocery store, and thinking that it was a beautiful day. And then I got back to my flat right after the first plane had hit - we didn't know if it was an accident or what at that point. And then we saw the second plane hit the second tower, but I still don't think we realized it was a terrorist attack - we all thought it was some bizarre horrible accident.

When we found out about the Pentagon also being attacked is when I think it all hit home. My dad worked in the Pentagon for five years, and I used to go visit him there - so it just made it real. I called my mom, who was in California (it was like 7 am there I think?) and woke her up, and I was crying and she thought I was hurt or something was happening in London - I just kept saying "Turn on the TV, turn on the TV..." I was the last person who was able to call America that day, phone lines were completely blocked.

My roomie and I went to our last class, just to tell the teacher what was going on. We got there and everyone else was there, and our teacher wanted to have class. Lexi and I basically told him that we weren't staying for class, we just wanted to make sure he had heard abou it - he still didn't want to cancel class, but we just left and I guess he ended up cancelling it.

A whole bunch of people ended up congregating in our flat (like 25 people... it was packed) and we just sat and watched the TV with these horrible shocked expressions. A friend that a bunch of us knew had worked in the WTC, 97th floor... So we were all really worried about Garry, and other FSU theatre alums who lived in NYC.

We had a meeting that night, and they told us to try to not look like Americans (no white tennis shoes, no college sweatshirts, etc.) and they took the FSU sign off the front of our buliding. It was pretty scary. The first time I was able to cry was like September 14th - we went to the American Embassy in London and there were all these millions of flowers and candles and balloons and letters - and I just broke down and sobbed forever.

[mu_agd]

i was heading to class, so i had no idea. when i got there the professor mentioned something about the first plane that hit, but thought it was an accident and we went on with class. i went to my next class which is immediately after and people were talking about both towers being hit, but i still really wasn't sure. the professor of that class came in looking all distraught (sp?) and said i really can't be here right now, go home. i remember having messages on my cell phone, my phone at my apt, and im from my dad saying to call as soon as i got home. my sister was in philadelphia at the time and had been evacuated. her and a guy she works with ended up renting a car and driving home to st. louis that week b/c of airports being closed. the majority of my cousins live and work in manhattan and nyc, my dad told me heard from one of them who heard from every other cousin but the one who worked in the second tower, no one could find her. we finally heard from her late that night, she had been on that subway that was running late. i heard so many stories from my cousins about walking from manhattan to brooklyn and stuff. one of my cousins friends ran all the way until 34th street in high heels. she went into macy's to just rest for a moment, and the people working there gave her something to eat and drink and a pair of socks and sneakers because her feet were getting all cut up from her shoes. my roomates and i all sat in our living room for the rest of that day and as much as we could the rest of that week watching cnn and trying to absorb it all. it still amazes me that two years have already passed...

[DZHBrown]

I woke up right before the 2nd plane hit and I was really confused about what was going on. My parents had been watching it and explained what had happened. I pretty much spend the rest of the day (and several days afterwards) glued to the TV, making sure those I knew in NY and DC were okay and was really shocked. I remember it was a really nice, calm day with blue skies and great weather and it didn't feel appropriate.

[Gina1201]

I was in class, Law & Society, when the attacks happened. I remember that I was SO happy when I got out of class because the class had been SO boring. I had to meet a girl from my Shakespeare class after and she asked if I had heard what happened. She then filled me in. I had never been so scared in my life. Since no one was at my house, I decided to stay with my BF in her dorm room. We watched it on TV all morning long. I also called to check on my co-workers since I work in a federal building and we're not that far from NYC. I also remember a LOT of students being scared because there are a lot of people at my school from NYC.

[AlphaSigOU]

I was living in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the time. I'd recently lost my job in a reduction in force at Williams Communications and had a lot of time on my hands in betwen looking for work. So, after a late night of watching TV I fell asleep with the TV on.

Woke up in the morning around the time UA 175 hit WTC2, when I receive a call from my mom in Dallas telling me about the crash... I was practically glued to the TV set and trying to calm down a couple of friends of mine over the phone who were freaking out at the unfolding events on TV. Went online to a couple of other boards (this was well before I joined the eDodo RM) and those on the board were totally confused about what was going on.

Saw both towers collapse on live TV; when the second one fell, I actually wound up saying a Hail Mary, something I rarely do since I'm not a practicing Catholic.

My apartment was practically on the approach path to Runway 36R at TUL, and it was second nature to see and hear planes coming in to land (or taking off from 18L if the winds were the other way.) When the FAA imposed SCATANA (Security Control of Air Traffic And Navigation Aids) and grounded all aircraft - SCATANA was only supposed to be used if the Rooshians were on their way with bombers. It was a strange feeling to not hear aircraft on approach or seeing them line up for landing at TUL.

That evening, I went to my Masonic lodge meeting; all of us stood for a moment of silence in memory of those killed that day.

[DWAlphaGam]

I hadn't begun working yet (actually started a week after 9/11), but I had a doctor's appointment that morning so I was awake when it happened. I headed downstairs to turn on the TV and see what the weather was supposed to be like, and they were showing the first tower smoking, but no one really knew what happened yet. Within about 2 minutes after I turned on the TV, the second plane hit, and everyone realized that this was not an accident. I immediately started calling my boyfriend, who was working as a salesperson for Enron (ha!) in Manhattan at the time, but I couldn't get through to him. I had no idea where his territory was, but his office was in the Chrysler building, which isn't near the WTC, so I figured he was ok if he hadn't left his morning meeting yet. I headed to my doctor's appointment, since there was nothing I could do at home, and it was there that I found out about the Pentagon, which really freaked me out because my best friend goes to grad school in DC. So there I was at the doctor's office, freaking out because my boyfriend is wandering around Manhattan and my best friend is in DC. I bolted home right after I saw the doctor, and thankfully there was a message from my boyfriend on the answering machine, saying he was ok and that he was going to try to find a way home (he lives in NJ). I kept alternating between trying to call him in NY and my friend in DC and signing online to see if any of my other friends in NY were ok and to see if they heard from everyone yet. I got through to DC, and my friend said her classes were cancelled, but they didn't know what was going on. I finally got through to my boyfriend after that. It turned out that he was on the bus in the tunnel when the first plane hit, and people who were listening to the radio told the bus driver to turn around and go back to NJ, but the bus driver couldn't do that. So he got off at Port Authority in the mass chaos and walked to the Chrysler building to see if he could find anyone else he knew so he wouldn't be by himself. When he got to the building, he saw a huge crowd of people running towards him, and he had to run with them to keep from getting trampled. He ran probably 10-20 blocks before he was able to get away. He then started asking people if they knew if any of the busses were running to NJ, and that's when he found out that they closed down all of the bridges and tunnels. Luckily someone told him that there was a ferry to NJ, so he was making his way over to that when I finally got through to him. We stayed on the phone for quite awhile because he didn't want to be all by himself. I gave him the addresses of a few friends in Manhattan in case he was stuck there and needed a place to stay, but he ended up waiting for the ferry and finally made it home by 11 pm. I was extra afraid for him walking around NY like that after they started speculating that it was terrorists from the Middle East, because he is Indian and I was afraid that someone might attack him thinking he was Middle Eastern.

So that's my story...it seems like yesterday, and I'm sure it will still feel that way for a long, long time.

ETA: I almost forgot another part of my story...I live outside of Philly and about a mile away from an Air Force base, both of which were feared targets. Not a good situation, all around.

[VSUPhiMu]

I was in bed, and my mom called to wake me up at 9:32am that morning and tell me about it. Like most people, I was glued to the TV all day and night waching. I still tear up when I watch the replays because it's so sad to watch all of those innocent people lose their lives right in front of your eyes.

[MeLikey]

One of my sisters was driving me and another sister to class. We had the radio on and the music was interrupted with the announcement that a plane had crashed into the WTC. It made me wonder, but then I jumped out of the car. Before I went inside, I tried calling my parents since they both work in NYC and I wasn't exactly sure where their offices are located, if they're near the WTC or not. I couldn't get through to them, so I went inside. My teacher made no mention of it so I thought it wasn't a major crash. I went to the book store to get tape for recruitment fliers (I was Director of COB at the time), and I was waiting in line and I heard people talking about the crash behind me. Then I heard one guy say that one tower had fallen. I immediately turned around to talk to them and see what other details they knew. I started to panic and after leaving I ran into my friend and ex-boyfriend. They tried to comfort me saying that my parents would be fine... I went to my next class passing people crying, everyone was on their cell phones. He talked to us about what was happening, and opened the floor up for speculation on who was responsible. Some people were leaving, so I just got up and left. There were trucks all over campus blasting the radio news reports. I stopped at one and talked to strangers about who we know and love in NYC. I went back to the house, where I lived and found out my parents were okay, but were obviously stranded in NYC. I was really upset, but I went to a recruitment chair meeting with our VP Recruitment that night to figure out the recruitment parties schedule in light of 9/11. I couldn't even make it the whole way because I felt so sick to my stomach thinking about everything and my parents so I left. Last year I participated in my school's rememberance ceremony by laying a wreath during it.

[KellyO97]

I remember that Tuesday morning was absolutely gorgeous, a perfect fall day. My boyfriend had just dropped me off at my house. I walked through the chapter room at my house and one of my sisters was watching the news. They had the cameras on the Towers, but the first plane had just hit and no one really knew what happened (I think some people even thought it was a little pasenger plane at that point). I went upstairs and turned on my television, and called my mom. She already knew what was really going on and told me to go back and watch the news. I turned just in time to see the second plane hit. The rest of the day as a blur--my sisters were piled in my room watching the news, and many were trying to find their family members (my school has a huge student population from NY and NJ, and one of my sisters had several family members working at the Pentagon and in the DC area). Miraculously (for us), none of my sisters lost any family members that day.

I think about that now--as each site was hit, and each building fell. We had no idea how many planes were in the air, who was doing this, or what was next. It was a horrible, helpless feeling. An alum told me later about being stuck in Boston that day. I can't even begin to imagine how scary it must have been to be stuck in those large cities.

I had to go to my clinical at a midwife's office that night. The highways were pretty empty for a weeknight, and most people didn't show for their appontments. We mostly sat in the office in shock, listening to NPR.

[MereMere21]

I had slept through my first class - when I got to my second, this girl was down on the prof's computer. I was still asleep practically when my prof came in and told us all to go because there had been an attack.

For the rest of the day me and the rest of my chapter were hold up in the chapter room glued to the TV crying. My dad was a government employee at the time and he was locked down in the National Archives in DC and didn't get home until the next morning.

[BSUPhiSig'92]

I was in the shower that morning when my mother yelled that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I remember thinking that it must have been a Cessna or Piper and that the pilot must have had a heart attack, because how could you miss something like that? I turned on the Today Show, and watched the replay and saw that it was a big airliner. Then the second plane hit, and I knew this was not an accident. The first thing I did was call my best friend in Chicago. His wife is a flight attendant for American, and she periodically flies out of Boston. Since by this time they had said where the flights had originated from, I was afraid it could be one of her flights. Fortunately, she was stranded in LA for the next four days.
I hurried to work, listening to NPR on my commute when flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. By the time I got to my office in the University Center, they had rolled every available tv in the building into the big central lounge, and there were hundreds of people watching. I was horrified when they showed people jumping out of the north tower.
Then the towers collapsed. I just kept thinking that 20,000 people worked in those buildings and that there was no way they could have gotten out.
One of my students had a brother who worked in the World Trade Center. It took nearly 20 hours before they got word that he was ok.
The feeling I had that day was of feeling absolutely helpless and sick. I don't think I'll ever forget that feeling.

The local gas stations had raised their prices to $5 a gallon by mid-afternoon. When I went home that evening, there were gas lines.

Our campus is directly on the flight line for Lambert (STL) and Scott Air Force Base. For weeks afterwards, if you were outside you looked up at the sound of a plane, any plane. The skies were virtually empty except for the occasional F16 from the Air National Guard. The silence could be just eerie and very unsettling.

[Roseblum15]

I was still in bed and my roomate had gotten up a little while earlier. All of a sudden she turned the TV on, this was really strange cause she was always considerate if I was still sleeping. She was like, wake up planes just hit the WTC. I can't remember if both had been hit at that time, or just the first one. I remember seeing both towers fall though. I was scared, we had a girl just down the hall that was from New York, and my mom worked at the airlines at the time. So I called home about noon and talked to my mom about what was going on. It was kinda comforting though because she said that the info that they recieved at the airport led them to believe that all of the planes had been accounted for by that time. So I felt I didn't have to worry about any more strikes.

Granted I am in po-dunk town Wisconsin. There was still fear of something happening here, we arn't that far from Chicago, Milwaukee, or even Madison.

I cannot believe it has been two years already. Its been a rough time for us all.

[KSigkid]

I was in a journalism class when I heard - I had class at 8 am that morning, so I didn't hear about the events until I got to my second class. We were let out to watch TV with about a thousand other students in the College of Communication student lounge.

I remember having about a million calls from my mom, worried because I was in Boston (where the planes flew out of).

I also remember being really worried because one of my best friends had just moved to NY city and worked close to the area. Finding out he was ok was one of the best feelings I've ever had.

Just an unreal day I will never forget.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by AGDPrincess70
That night my roommates and I kept hearing fighter jets overhead. Anytime we heard a plane we freaked out. We were so scared we couldn't sleep.

I felt the same exact way. I definately was scared that nite.

September 10 I went to bed and couldn't sleep at all. For some reason, I shit you not, everytime I closed my eyes it looked like someone was taking a flash picture of me and I had an eerie feeling that something bad was gona happen the next day. I've had these weird feelings before but nothing happens.

The next day, I'm watchin TV before I leave for school and I see WTC on fire. I yelled down to my mom who was like "yeah ok thats great" and I just kept yelling at her to turn the tv on. My dad walked in and was like holy shit and told her to come upstairs. I think a few minutes later the 2nd plane hit.

I drove school in Dearborn, very scared and listening to the radio through tears. When I got in it was really weird and you could tell a definate separation between the Arab students (the majority) and other students. I don't think it was on purpose, I think people just didn't know what to do. My friend Rich, who is Arab, just sat with his head down and didn't talk much to anyone. Me and a sister went to find a tv on campus and I kept tryin to call my family in Brooklyn.

Finally my mom told me to come home because UMD is across the street from Ford World Headquarters, and there were reports of people celebrating in the streets of East Dearborn (which to this day I don't know if it is true or not).

I've never cried so much in my life and I still cry whenever I think of 9-11 or see something. And where will I be spending and remembering 9-11-01 tomorrow?

In our first round of panhellenic recruitment. And I am NOT happy with this at all. I wana be able to remember and mourn, not have to worry about meeting new girls and making a good first impression.

[MTSUGURL]

I was asleep in the topbunk of the triple bunkbed in the one room apartment that I shared with 4 other girls, no lie, when our campus minister walked in and got our TV and told us all to get dressed and come see the news because the World Trade Center had been hit. (I lived in the BSU.) I just remember sitting on the couch watching the news and crying, and then we saw the second plane hit. I was terrified of what would happen next, and every time something new would come out I would cry more. I was shocked and felt violated. When I saw the kids on TV dancing andsigning in the streets, it broke my heart and made me wonder what they must have been told.