Where were you on 9/11/01?

[smiley]

I am sorry if anyone on the board lost their loved ones on this day. I know we have a number of people who live in the NYC area. ({) (})

I know we all lead different lives and I am just curious where everyone was on that day. (this is sparked by the Alan Jackson song).

[Deleted]

I was in my 8:30 am organic chemistry class. We were all none the wiser until we left class at 9:45. I went to my work study in the IT department, and my boss was watching CNN. It seemed so surreal, I had to have him explain what was going on several times.

[smiley]

I was in 8th grade. We lived on Cape Cod at the time so the school didn't tell us what had happened. We were each given a letter in our last period class, mine was math, to bring home to our parents. The note read was along the time lines of "Parents please discuss today's tragedy with your children etc. Counceling will be available for students ..."

I remember walking up the hill from the bus stop and seeing that my mom and grandpa were home from work which was strange. I also remember walking in that front door and seeing the news on. I just stopped and stood there. The family wasn't in the room watching the news but it was playing in the background. I had no idea what was going on or what to make of everything that I had seen on TV. I just didn't understand.

It took me a long time to comprehend the severity of the attacks, probably because I was so young and just didn't understand why someone would do that.

I remember it being a sad couple of weeks at school because we weren't far from Boston and there were children with family members on the flights etc.

ETA: Where I live now, there is a small airport with a flight school. One of the terrorists trained at this school to fly so now when we go by the airport (which is often bc it's on the way to the beach) I think about that day.

[luvmagoldn]

Getting off the metro at Metro Center and seeing everyone coming towards me which was very unusual for that time of day. That's when I knew something was wrong.

I worked 2 blocks from the White House at the time. The weeks following 9/11 were surreal. Armored vehicles with mounted guns ready to fire patrolling the streets of DC. Everything was suddenly very different.

[Deleted]

It was my second week of law school. I found out between my two morning classes. Seeing the news on TVs that they had wheeled into our lounge, I went home immediately to figure out where my sister who worked on Wall Street and commuted via the WTC PATH every day. I do not know anyone who died.

I will say, it is so weird to see the tower of lights this year with a very tall building below them.

[smiley]

Sept 11, 2012 7:31:23 GMT -5 luvmagoldn said:

I worked 2 blocks from the White House at the time. The weeks following 9/11 were surreal. Armored vehicles with mounted guns ready to fire patrolling the streets of DC. Everything was suddenly very different.

Wow, I had no idea they did that. I mean now that I think about it makes sense but I just couldn't imagine.

[shortstax]

Giving a tour at my university. I was a soph, and I remember toward the end of the tour seeing students running and crying on campus.

I didn't know what was going on, but I remember judging them and being angry that the people on our tour were seeing our students as the unhappiest people ever. It wasn't until we made it back to the admissions office until we understood what was going on.

They put on CNN in our presentation area, and no one left for hours.

[liveintheville]

Driving to work. I had just started the previous day but had been at a training session so this was my first day in the office.

I heard it on NPR while driving. My company was business as usual and did not shut down. Everyone was talking about it and watching it but no one left.

[pugz]

I was a senior in high school, in the hall between 1st and 2nd period someone said a plane had hit the WTC tower. I was imagining a small prop plane. 2nd period I was a teachers aide, I told her what I'd heard and we turned on NPR, then quickly ran down to the library to one of the only tvs in the building and watched the towers fall. Throughout the day some teachers would discuss it, others refused to acknowledge it and just taught as normal, it was very weird.

The other thing I remember about that day was that it was my first day at a new job at Hobby Lobby. The woman that trained me was sure it was a sign of the end times and just kept yammering about that. Cars were lining up down the street to get gas at a nearby gas station. People trickled in to buy red, white, and blue ribbon. The store actually ended up with a shortage of red, white, and blue ribbons, beads, and pretty much anything with an american flag on it for about 2-3 months after.

[Deleted]

I was at the gym on the upper level (with no TVs) and came downstairs to see everyone gathered around the TVs (this was right around 9 oclock I think?) I remember ESPN was still on and I saw Michael jordan and I asked someone if he was coming out of retirement again and the person was like "oh I don't know, a plane just flew into a building in NYC." I went home and my roommate had CNN on and we watched the towers fall and cried. It was bizarre for me in many ways bc my college had a LOT of people from NYC and DC, so there was this sense of being "closer" to the tragedy than we were geographically.

[Here]

Getting ready to go to college classes. I had calculus in the morning. I remember the first tower was hit and they were covering while I was getting ready and then the other tower was hit. While I was in class, the Pentagon was hit. The next class was in a computer lab and we all were looking at the news (which kept timing out). There were TVs set up all over campus. I had a full day of classes. There was a gas station across the street who jacked their prices up. That evening there was a pizza dinner at a local place for scholarship winners. It seemed really odd to be there.

[biscoffcookies]

I had just started my sophomore year at college. I woke up and turned on the TV as usual to listen to the news as I got ready. By that time the planes had already hit both towers.

I still went to my class that morning. My professor very nicely said anyone who wanted to be excused could leave, but the majority of the people stayed. He didn't actually teach a lesson that day -- it was more to give us somewhere to be/people to be with when things were seeming to go off the rails.

[CallingAllAngels]

I was in graduate school. Right as a class was starting, one of my classmates said, "The WTC has been bombed again." I honestly didn't think much of it. When class ended, we found out in the halls that it was a plane. My 2 grad school BFFs and I went to the Student Center to watch coverage with about 50 other students. We got there just in time to see the first tower collapse. It was the most horrific thing I have ever seen in my life. I remember just kind of wandering around our college town like zombies for the next few days.

[otowngirl]

I had just gotten to my morning work study (8:30 or 9?) when my boss told me that a plane had hit the WTC. We started watching news coverage in the basement of the building shortly thereafter. I think I just had one class scheduled for that afternoon, but our prof dismissed us pretty quickly.

[runblondie26]

Working as an intern at a large company in the Philly 'burbs. We all holed up in the conference room to watch everying unfold on TV. Our boss gave us the rest of the afternoon off and we all just left in a dazed state.

My dad and his colleagues were rushed to Hoboken as part of a doctors' emergency response team. There was no need since there was no one brought over. He did volunteer work giving check-ups to works at gorund zero for a couple weekends after 9/11 and ended up with a hacking cough that lasted almost a year. He's pretty confident he's going to develop lung cancer one day.

[stephm0188]

Working my last day of retail before leaving for college the next day. I was scheduled that morning at 8:30. We had a radio in the breakroom that we listened to every morning, so that's how we ended up hearing. We assumed the first plane was an accident. We knew the second plane was not.

The store opened at 10 am. We took turns going to an electronics store in the mall and watching the coverage.

I waited one just one person that day. The store was otherwise empty. I will always remember that woman. She said "I just don't see what the big deal is. :\

[hilwithonelary]

I was a senior in high school. I went in the band room after early morning marching band practice and saw that the tv was on. I only saw a couple minutes before my band director turned it off. He acted like nothing was going on and held class as usual during first hour.

I had calculus next. My teacher had us go across the hall to a classroom that had a tv. We crammed three classes in there. Students were sitting on the floor. One of them had attended basic training for the Army National Guard the previous summer. He kept saying, "I need to go, Mrs McKinney, I need to go." I'm not sure what he thought he needed to do, but he felt that Army would be asking him to report. We saw the first tower collapse. Then the second. Then the bell rang for third hour.

My Spanish teacher had a couple of remarks, but then insisted we should go on our day as usual.

None of my other teachers addressed it all day. They just acted like everything was normal.

The young man who thought the Army might need him deployed in 2003. He died that July.

[midgetthemighty]

My mom was in NJ right across the bay from the towers. She could see and smell the smoke.

[womet]

I was getting ready to TA a class. I was in grad school. I remember seeing breaking news about the first plane before class started, and then class was cancelled when the second plane hit. I went home and watched tv with my upstairs neighbor, because my tv was about to die. The entire picture was shoved up into the top third of the screen.

My parents were living overseas at the time. Their army base was on lockdown, and they stopped letting any cars on base. The locals turned the entrance into a shrine-- with cards, flowers, and candles. My mom said that she cried everyday on her way into work when she passed it.

[drloretta]

At work, 45 minutes from DC. Someone came in and said a plane had hit the WTC. Everyone thought it was an accident, but then we turned on the radio. I called my parents in CA and told them to just turn on the TV. Rumors were rampant (we heard at one point that someone had bombed the State Dept).

It was so surreal. I went home that day and noticed the fact that the skies were empty. And one of my exit ramps could send you to DC one way, and NYC the other way. There were big e-signs saying there was a "major event" in both cities. Understatement of the century.

My BF at the time was supposed to go to a federal courthouse that morning, which obviously didn't happen. He spent the next 10 hours staring at a TV. I finally dragged him out of his apt and told him he needed a break.

I never watched a single minute of TV that day. All my news was radio.

[carfar]

I showed up to my sociology class that morning and they had it on the huge screen in the leture hall already. A few hours later that they shut down campus and everyone went home. Everyone was worried about a west coast attack.

[ssmjlm]

I was in class, it was my sophomore year. It was my 2nd class that day and a couple students had come in saying there were reports of a plane crash in NYC, but no other info. Then we had a couple guest speakers scheduled that day and they came in saying another plane had hit and something bad was going on.

My boyfriend at the time was down the hall in another class and his mom worked at the pentagon, so we quickly rushed back to his apt to watch the tv and woke his roommate up. His mom was fine, although evacuated and it took forever to talk to his family and find out what was going on.

My mom made it home really quick since she worked near the white house. My dad had to stay downtown and check things for his office, so he didn't make it home until late that night.

[GailGoldie]

Working on the top floor of a building about 15 miles west of NYC - I watched it all happen from my window at work (we had an amazing view of manhattan).

A guy I was dating was on the 81st floor of one of the towers - so much of the day was spent wondering if he was dead... thankfully he got out - just before his tower fell.

My brother had just started a new job in WTC but wasn't there that day b/c it was the first day of school for his daughter... he was thankful not to be there- and that he had not been there long enough to truly know all of those who didn't make it out... making it a little easier on him.

Lots from this area were lost... but so many more saved- so we try to focus on that... how many thousands could have easily died -but didn't.

[catsarecute]

Just waking up for a long day of classes in college. As I was stepping out of the shower and back into my room, my land line and cell phone were ringing off the hook. My mom said to turn on the tv. I was confused and horrified.
As I drove to campus, I listened to the radio and no one knew what was going on. I was on the shuttle across campus when the 4th plane hit. I remember everyone just looking at each other, we all looked scared. Once we got into class, we sat silently trying to do our biology lab when word spread that campus was closing and everyone should go home. A clusterfuck ensued.
I spent the next week glued to my tv. I cried every night, went to church services until my mom told me I had to stop watching coverage because I was so sad.

[vegas]

It was my second week of law school. I was going to school very early (like 6am) when I heard the news on the radio. I thought it was a joke. When I walked into the student lounge it was on tv and I watched the coverage along with two other students. Our classes were eventually canceled that day.

[Deleted]

I was at Rutgers. I went to class until 9:30 and then went to breakfast. I left my cell at home and came back to my mom frantically calling to see if I was alright because on my days off school I worked downtown. Both of my parents were in NYC and had to walk uptown to my uncles to wait it out. I will never forget how my mom sounded on the phone when I finally called her back. For some reason too my parents couldnt call each other from in the city but I could call in from NJ to them so I spent the day getting calls on their progress and then calling the rest of my family to update them.

[patches31709]

I was a freshman in college in upstate NY, a state university filled with students from the NYC area (myself included). I came back from my first period computer lab, stopped for breakfast, and walked into my dorm room to find the entire floor in our room watching tv. I walked in a few minutes before the second tower collapsed. No one moved for hours. Classes were cancelled, RAs were going crazy trying to make sure everyone could account for their parents, but no one's phones were working.

[ejpint]

I was in London, working at a PR agency. It was shortly after lunch there, and we got the first reports via the internet. The earliest report was that perhaps the first plane was an accident, a drunk pilot or something. Then the realization that it was a planned attack. All the reports were so confusing, I had no idea if this was an isolated incident or if the whole country was in danger. I couldn't get through to my family, all of the phone lines were engaged.

I flew home about two months later. It was incredible how much the world changed from the time I moved to London to the time I moved back home.

[raangoli]

I was at work, but we have a pretty decent view of NYC on a clear day, which it was. Once we heard what happened, we went to the top of a parking garage and I remember seeing the smoke billowing. It was surreal. Thankfully, my brother who commuted to NYC via the PATH at WTC was away that week. It was around the time he'd be getting to work.

I am thankful that I didn't lose any loved ones, but I grieve for those who have.

[mbcdefg]

Freshman in college. I commuted to school ... my hometown and college town were 5-10 miles away from the WTC. I could see the antenna/light of Tower 1 from my bedroom window. If I couldn't see it I knew it was a foggy day.

I got off the bus to get to my 9 a.m. philosophy class and was listening to a walkman radio. Right before I went into the building I heard the DJ say that a "small plane" had crashed into the WTC, and they were joking around about how someone could possibly miss such a big target. I shut it off and went to class.

The professor lectured for an hour then we took our usual small break before the next hour of lecture, and he went to his office. He came back within a few minutes and said, "I don't know if you've heard, but we're under attack" and I didn't quite know what was going on even as he explained it. Within a few minutes, someone came to the door and said that they were evacuating the campus. Nearly everyone had to commute home, and the buses were going to be suspended soon ... I got on one of the last ones. The driver was hurrying us along and telling us to just pack inside. I put the walkman back on and Dan Rather was on at this point, and I heard the annoucement that both towers had collapsed, and I told some friends on the bus.

I got off near my house and had to walk about 10 minutes home, looking up in the sky the whole way because they didn't know if more hijacked planes were still loose. Got home and turned on the TV to see all that awfulness. They kept saying that they weren't sure that all planes were accounted for yet, then I heard a giant WOOSH over my house like a low-flying aircraft and started crying. It was the fighter jets sent to patrol Manhattan ... they did that for maybe a week afterward so I'd see them above my house every few minutes.

My brother was about 11 at the time and they kept him in school all day, but the kids had to wait in the auditorium to be picked up. My mom asked me to go get him ... I was waiting in the room and heard a little boy ask his mom why the pickup was suddenly so different, and she sighed and said, "Well, sweetie, a lot of things have happened today."

We lost several people from my hometown. My brother had a friend whose grandmother was on Flight 93, so that's about as "personal" as it got for me.