Where were you 12 years ago?

[katfco]

I know there's probably a thread/conversation with this topic every year all over the place, but I always find it helpful to remember where we all were and how this day connected and affected us.

[DesertMoon]

8th grade jr high. The teachers kept it hush hush, then told us..I really didn't understand until after. I also remember all my classmates were speculating on what country did it. 

The teacher that showed us the footage was mr koehn, he was super dreamy and I still remember how devastated he looked and all the teachers whispering before they shared the news.

[Deleted]

7th grade Health class. We were just about to watch a movie, and the teacher turned the TV on and the news showed the first plane hit the tower. She was like WTF? And everyone was like, "Whoa!" I just tthought a plane was flying too low.... I was so confused. It NEVER occured to me that it was intentional. Not until the 2nd plane. Then I realized it was serious. I still wasn't sure why we were attacked. It never REALLY made sense until the next year and year after.

[Deleted]

9th grade English. The principal came over the intercom and said he didn't wish to alarm anyone but that there was an incident in NY. The teachers turned on the TVs and we watched in horrified silence.

[Regina Philange]

Senior year of high school, walking to my world and national affairs class. Since it was that particular class we watched the news the whole period. Then i ran to call my boyfriend from the payphone because his mom worked in the twin towers.

[mumegs]

I was a freshman in college in Ohio, went to my first 2 classes unaware. I think I was done around 10:30 so I think mostly everything had already happened at that point. I went back to the dorm after class and my friend greeted me at the door and started telling me all about it, basically saying there are planes hitting buildings everywhere, the country is under attack, etc. etc. I was like what??? I still remember walking through the dorm hallway that day and probably a couple days after and seeing everyone's doors open and all of the TVs turned to the same thing.

My stepdad worked in the Renaissance Center in Detroit and they evacuated it, I remember he called me and told me to stay away from large crowds...all of our classes were cancelled. It was so scary when nobody knew what was going on.

[katfco]

I was a senior in college. That morning, I met up with my friend who told me and at first I thought it was some kind of joke. News started to spread and my roommates and I went back to our dorm in time to see the second tower fall. We just sat there in horror.

I don't remember going to classes that day. I honestly have no idea if they were cancelled or if I went. I know when I was in classes on the days following, every class opened with a prayer for all those affected (it was a Christian college).

Our social club organized a blood drive every semester as part of our service project and it happened to be that week. Usually, we were lucky to get 30 people a day, but the day before, for some reason, we got record numbers. I volunteered at the blood drive that afternoon and there were people lined up out the door and down the stairs. Seeing people waiting, literally, for hours, to donate blood made me tear up.

It was supposed to end at 8 in the evening, but we had so many people who wanted to donate, we stayed open until well after 10, when we finally ran out of most of the supplies.

[Faevantastic]

At uni, getting a coffee in between classes. They had the radio blasting. "THE UNITED STATES ARE UNDER ATTACK. I REPEAT, THE UNITED STARES ARE UNDER ATTACK". I grabbed my coffee and ran to the closest computer lab. Looked at yahoo news and at that point, they just had a little blurb about reports of a plane crashing into the WTC. I went to class. One of my classmates came in late and spreader the news. Everyone just sat there dumbfounded.

[rubber pants]

I was 21 and working as a bank teller. We were getting ready to open and I was in the break room making coffee and watching the news as it happened. It was so horrific.

I remember as the day progressed, the roads were so earily quiet. Nobody was out there. We closed early, as did so many other businesses around town. I remember how beautiful the bright blue sky was. It was all so surreal and so horribly sad.

Watching it unfold on TV, and seeing the poor people jump to their death on live TV was so horrific. I will never forget those images for as long as I live.

God Bless NYC. Although I am not far from the city, I cant imgaine actually being there and witnessing it first hand. You all are in my thoughts today.

[sunshineluv]

I was a senior in college. I was in the car riding to class with my friend and we heard about it on the radio. We were mostly just confused, honestly it took me hours to understand what was going on and how serious it was. It felt so surreal, like out of a movie or something.

I remember sitting in front of the tv that night just bawling and praying.

[smoogle]

Senior in high school...principal came on the loud speaker..said something has happened and no one is to leave the school. Alot of teachers were crying but would not say anything. My mother came to get us from school and thats when we actually found out. Spent the rest of the day watching the news and crying.

[DesertMoon]

I follow baby sideburns on FB and she listed every name that died that day...after a straight min of scrolling and no end in sight, I just couldn't help but moan and tear up over all those names and families. It took me a while to scroll down the whole way.

[lauranicole91]

I was 10 and living in CA at the time. So it was 6am. I woke up to the sound of my parents talking pretty loudly. Not laughing, not yelling, just talking loud. A lot of "what in the world? What?! What the hell is going on?!" kinda stuff. So I popped out of bed and asked what was going on. My parents have always been super upfront with me so they did their best explaining. Something like "2 planes just crashed into some really important buildings in New York City. They are suspecting terrorists, which are basically really bad people who do bad things on purpose to hurt others."

Then I remember being in class and a few students were freaking out. 1 had family in NY and hasn't heard from them yet, she left class early. A few other students were just scared. I remember my teacher(5th grade) reassuring the class that the terrorists are probably not going to pin point our school, of all places, next so we needed to calm down and get to work.

I don't have any other memories of the day.

[Dorothy Zbornak]

At work at an English school in Frankfurt. One of our students came in and said in her crappiest English that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I thought she meant like a prop plane or something. Then we turned on the TV just as the second plane hit.

Oh man, I could cry just thinking about it. It was the worst goddamn day/month/year.

[Deleted]

I was waiting for my carpool when the news came on about the first plane. I was in 8th grade and everyone was starting to talk about it but didn't really understand it. We watched the news all day at school and had a mass and prayer service for our country. The local news came to our services to show how people were reacting to it

[katfco]

Sept 11, 2013 8:34:14 GMT -5 DesertMoon said:

I follow baby sideburns on FB and she listed every name that died that day...after a straight min of scrolling and no end in sight, I just couldn't help but moan and tear up over all those names and families. It took me a while to scroll down the whole way.

Oh, my goodness. I just finished scrolling through. So many names. The saddest part for me is seeing "Name X" and then "Name X, Jr." or "Name X, III" right after. I think of how many people lost multiple family members that day.

[ashleydl83]

I had just moved in with my grandparents to near my BF (now XH). I came out of my room and the first plane had just hit. We were watching GMA and my grandma and I just sat there in shock as we watched. I remember calling XH and my parents after they said it was a terrorist.

[breezy8407]

I was a sophomore in college living in the dorms. I had class at 10:30 and slept until the last second like usual. I showered and walked to class like usual. When we got there, my prof came in and said something like "class is cancelled today. you need to be watching a tv. go home and be with your families and friends"

I had no clue what he was talking about and practically ran back to my room and stayed glued to the tv the rest of the next couple days. I am thankful that I didn't know anyone personally that was a victim or had family that was a victim.


(ps some of you are making me feel old!)

[jaime183]

I was at Penn State and went to class in a huge modern lecture hall. Before class everyday, the tv was on until the professor turned it off.
So there were a few hundred of us, half asleep, staring at the tvs and then we saw the footage. We watched as the 2nd plane hit.
Then everyone just sat there for awhile, scared to leave. We finally left and I didn't know where to go so I went to the student union building and continued watching news. Then I think I sat in my apartment for days glued to the tv.
So many people had friends and family living and working in NYC
We have some friends who were there. Including my sister's good friend- whose dad was the pilot of one of the planes

[creamsiclechica]

In my college dorm. My roommate woke me up telling me we were being bombed. I thought she meant the school. We turned on the tv in one to see the second plane hit. We were devastated. I went to class and I sat next to a marine. Another marine came to the door in his uniform and pulled him right out of class, and I'll never forget that moment. I spent the rest of the day in bed watching coverage worried my brother (who had just joined the Army in March) would be sent to war.

I was right. He completed Ranger training the following February and was sent within 24 hours to Afghanistan.

[raynes]

I was in 11th grade physics class. Our room was right across from the computer lab and out teacher walked in a said that someone had flown a plane into the Pentagon. He kept us posted the rest of class. I had him again for programming in the afternoon and we must have just watched news the whole time, I don't remember much past the morning.

[mala]

I was a senior in HS. I was in Choir and the principle came on the loudspeaker and said there was an incident with a plain hitting the WTC but we didn't have any details. I went to my next class, AP Chem. I can't remember if we watched the second plane hit or if we just saw a replay. But we watched both towers fall (it was a double period). I was bawling the entire time. They sent us home early.

[eav2c]

8th grade English. My teacher got a call during class and looked like a ghost but didn't say anything. We had a school meeting in the auditorium telling us about the first plane. News started to trickle in but I didn't realize the gravity. I also didn't know terror like this existed so it was shocking. A few students lost parents/family members who commuted into the city and one was on flight 93. Very shocking and I still don't get it.

[monkeybabe]

I was 12, and heard about it on the radio on the way to school. I went to a k-8 school and I remember the 2nd grade teacher telling us to stop talking about it. My 7th grade teacher had the tv on all day.

[chasbride07]

I was a Senior at Penn State. My 8am class ended early so I headed over to the student union to grab coffee before my 9:45 class where everyone was watching the news on a huge tv and saw the 2nd plane hit. I remember staring at the tv then calling my family and went to my next class. I told the professor that planes hit the World Trade Center and it looked like a terrorist attack and he hadn't seen anything yet. We went on with class like normal. Once I got out of that class at 10:45, I called my brother and he told me about the pentagon, the towers being gone, and the other plane. I think I went to my next class at 11:15 but we were let out early and around that point classes were cancelled for the day.

Such an awful, scary, and confusing day.

[AndyCohen]

I was at college in Brooklyn. I went to the cafeteria to get breakfast before class and saw on the TV one of the towers on fire and footage of a plane crashing into it. There was no sound on the TVs so I didn't know what was actually going on. I went to class and about 5 min after I got there a student came in and said the US was being attacked and I understood. The teacher didn't believe him and said class would be running as normal. I told him I saw a plane crash into the WTC and left. I ran back to my dorm and called my grandparents. Thankfully I was able to get through because after that we couldn't get a call out for at least a week. I think the dorm phones were out as long as the internet (a month and a half) and I had to call my mom on payphones during that time.

[katfco]

Sept 11, 2013 9:01:41 GMT -5 creamsiclechica said:

In my college dorm. My roommate woke me up telling me we were being bombed. I thought she meant the school. We turned on the tv in one to see the second plane hit. We were devastated. I went to class and I sat next to a marine. Another marine came to the door in his uniform and pulled him right out of class, and I'll never forget that moment. I spent the rest of the day in bed watching coverage worried my brother (who had just joined the Army in March) would be sent to war.

I was right. He completed Ranger training the following February and was sent within 24 hours to Afghanistan.

Please thank your family members for their service.

[devonpow]

At work in boston. DH and I had just moved in together a few weeks before (we weren't engaged yet). He sent me an email saying a plane had crashed into WTC and I assumed it was a small plane. Then more and more news started coming in. DH worked in the financial district in Boston and was evacuated home...we didn't have a land line and cell service was very spotty, so the entire day I didn't really know where he was and there was SO much misinformation and chaos. Being in Boston, as I'm sure in any major city, was scary.

i couldn't leave my job - I worked for an education company and we had to cancel everything for the next few days so it was a crazy day of taking care of everything, and listening to the radio. People kept calling because the Boston to LA flight was one that my friends and I took frequently ( I am from Southern California) and no one really knew if anyone we knew was flying that day. 

I finally left around 4 - my boss wouldn't let any of us take the subway, so I caught a ride with someone. Walking the last few blocks home was devastating - streets totally empty, businesses all closed with handwritten signs saying to pray, etc. I finally made it home and saw DH - also the first time I saw the footage of what was actually going on. 

[jsillyfun]

It was my first day of acting classes at NYU. We were in a yoga class and a student ran in crying and told us what happened. We had to run back to the dorms and could see the smoke where the tower had been. I can't write much because I still start sobbing when I go back to that day mentally. It affected me deeply. 

[Deleted]

I was in college. It was a tuesday and I had a late class. For some reason I woke up early and so I turned on the radio (it sometimes lulls me back to sleep). Well I heard a llane had hit the wtc in nyc so I got up and turned on the news just in time to watch the second plane hit the towers.

Once I got to school we were all just stuck to the tv all day.

I remember where I was for many major events. Oklaholma bombings, columbine, trade centre.... I can literally relive the day in my head.