Post by MadamePresident on Sept 11, 2012 11:10:56 GMT -5
I was a sophmore in college in Missouri. My mom had the TV on while she was eating breakfast. The first plane had hit, but it was still where they weren't really sure about the details and thought it was maybe a small plane. I had hugged my mom and was at the door when I took a few steps back and watched the TV for a minute before heading to school. I scanned the radio for more news, but I don't remember hearing a lot. My first class of the day was a speech class and it was pretty much business as usual. After that class got out, so much had happend and it was pretty clear that it wasn't an accident. There were two tvs out in the hall with the news.
My 2nd class was a history class and we had a test that day. I remember asking my teacher if class would be cancelled and if we still had to take the test because history was happening now. She still made us take it. I think I finished in about 10 minutes and then left to go home. I was so mad at her, because you would think that she would recognize the importance of what was happening.
I remember watching the news pretty much the rest of the day. It was such a surreal experience. I remember the uncertainty that everyone felt.
For the record, I ended up getting an A on the test, I guess my studying did pay off.
Post by Roc A Bee on Sept 11, 2012 11:27:40 GMT -5
I was a senior in HS on the west coast and was asleep when it happened. I learned about it when I got out of the shower and turned on the TV. I went to school, and some teachers let us watch tv or listen to the radio. Others made us go on like normal. I remember coming home from school and watching tv for hours.
Post by mrs.spunky on Sept 11, 2012 12:48:13 GMT -5
I was a senior in HS. I lived in a NJ suburb of NYC. I had AP History 2nd period and the teacher across the hall came in to tell our teacher what happened. We thought it was a small plane, if not a joke. Of course, there were limited TVs and we couldn't get on the internet. By 4th period, they were telling people who had parents who worked in Manhattan (there were a lot) to come to the principal's office. Seniors could leave after 6th period, a few minutes before 1PM, so I grabbed my bag and books and went home to watch the tv coverage. My hometown is across the bay from Staten Island so we're maybe 20 miles south of Manhattan, if that. Anyway, on a clear day you can see across Staten Island to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge (between Staten Island and Brooklyn) from this bridge by my aunt's house. It was a super clear day and I had my sunroof open. I remember what I was wearing too - the dress is still hanging in my closet at my parents' house. So I went to the bridge and everything north of the Outerbridge (bridge between NJ and Staten Island) was black and smoky. There were at least 20 other cars with me viewing the same thing. I went home to watch the coverage and after awhile realized I left a book I needed at school. I went back, went into the student council office and it turns out none of the other senior executives went home (I was in too much of a rush to get out, I didn't think to go there) and they were hounding me for info. What I hadn't known when I left was that the upperclassmen/officers of a few organizations were staying bc they brought the elementary school kids whose parents worked in NYC to the HS while the parents were being contacted and located. Everyone was picked up by a parent or other emergency contact by 6 so that's when we all went home.
DH had turned down a job in one of the towers just a few weeks prior. He lost a few friends from HS and college between those who worked at the WTC and the Pentagon.
My cousin, who is a police officer, watched it all unfold from the top floor of Hoboken Terminal. She worked 12 hour days, 7 days a week for months and still has nightmares about the attacks and the grim things she saw in the days and weeks following.
Post by 80sjunkie on Sept 11, 2012 13:09:21 GMT -5
In college in the basement of the hospital (I was a reseach assistant). I remember one of the other assistants told us that a plane crashed into one of the twin towers, and I did not believe him. The prof running the lab had a daughter at Columbia.
I was in Ghana, West Africa, in a small village delivering meds to a family friend, making my way back to university where I was spending the year abroad. I got on a tro-tro & seeing I was abviously NOT Ghanaian, the guy driving it said "America has been blown up". I was like "Huh?" & he turned on the radio to the BBC but the reports were sketchy @ best. I got back to the university & headed to the international students' coordinator's office since I knew she had sattelite TV. I got there just as the 2nd tower fell; I think every American student @ the university was there. We all took turns trying to call home but the lines were jammed. I did manage to e-mail my parents later that day. My dad was working in Boston @ the time & had a heck of a time getting home since they shut down the MBTA from what I understand.
Post by kangaroo11 on Sept 11, 2012 13:36:21 GMT -5
It was my last day of work before moving back to college. My mom woke me up early to watch TV for a bit before I left, but I don't think the second tower had been hit yet. I went to work and was asked if I would stay the entire day because it was a supermarket and people were going insane buying food and water in case something happened in LA too.
Post by ondaflipside on Sept 11, 2012 13:55:42 GMT -5
I think it was before 7am our time. Exbf and I were in bed still sleeping. He got a call from his friend about the first tower being struck. We turned on the tv, watched in horror and disbelief, and then watch the second plane head towards the second tower and the big ball of fire that followed. It was surreal.
Post by sapphireblue on Sept 11, 2012 13:57:00 GMT -5
I was living in Yonkers, NY with a boyfriend. It was the most beautiful day. We saw on the Internet that one tower had been hit. We assumed it was an accident or a small plane, turned the TV on. Saw the second plane hit.
It was very surreal. We watched the towers burn from the roof of our building. I had my mother calling me from Boston and telling me she wanted me to get out of the NYC area in case there was chemical warfare. I told her we had already been hit, how did she know she was safe up there?
Lots of my neighbors lost people that day. I had two friends that worked in the WTC but they both weren't there for one reason or another--one was walking to work and saw the commotion and just turned and went the other way.
Post by hopeful2012 on Sept 11, 2012 14:15:55 GMT -5
High school, Chicago suburbs. They made an announcement and then pretty much the rest of the day we sat around watching the news in the cafeteria. Some people got picked up by their parents. I just remember everything being in shock and there being some panic that they might try to also hit Chicago (especially when they couldn't locate or get in touch with certain planes). It was so odd having no planes overhead for that week (or two or whatever length of period it was).
I was at work for a contractor on a large Air Force base. I'll never forget huddling around a coworker's tiny tv in her cube, tuning in just as the second plane hit. We were put in lock-down and at one time were ushered to the hallway as if in a tornado drill from the threat of an unidentified plane in the area. I remember we operated under modified FPCON Delta, that didn't require all non-military personnel to leave. By the end of the day, we were assigned staggered start times and it took hours in traffic due to tight security to get to work the next day.
I remember this too - it was strikingly beautiful and sunny that day.
I think that is one detail that almost everyone will remember (I was in the NY Metro area specifically, but it seems that it was nice along the eastern seaboard)--it really was one of the most beautiful days, weather wise--no humidity, bright blue skies, perfect breeze, terrific temperature.
I was at work when my "ditzy" co-worker came in and said that a plane had flown into one of the towers. I told her that she either had it wrong, or if it was true, how could the pilot and air traffic controller have gotten someone so off-track. One of my co-workers a few cubes down had a radio at his desk and confirmed that. I remembered I had a portable radio in my car (left over from the beach), so I brought it in and everyone who came in in my section of the office was huddled around my radio. I was in sales at the time, and our phones were silent--thankfully our VP at the time had enough sense to let us off the hook--"don't worry about your numbers or making calls (we were selling entertainment/sports)." One of the media people in my office started to get people to sign up for a Red Cross blood drive...but by the time we left, we were already told that blood donors weren't really needed--that was a very sobering moment--that food, water, and blankets were more necessary for those who were displaced and/or receiving treatment in the overcrowded facilities.
On my drive home, one of the fighter jets flew overhead (I was on Long Island, in a community with a power plant) and I was both relieved and so sad at the same time--that fighter jet was when I broke down crying hysterically. I arrived home just as the first tower was collapsing. The rest of the week is a bit of a blur.
Thankfully, I only know survivors from that day. I'm so sorry for those of you who lost loved ones.
Post by caramia17 on Sept 11, 2012 16:54:42 GMT -5
In graduate school in Manhattan. Someone ran into my seminar saying planes had flown into the World Trade Center. I was pretty sure that he was going to pull a gun next thing because that sounded like something only crazy people would say.
It was dental school and we did some work with dental records and remains as volunteers in the aftermath. I moved to Texas for a residency and people talked about it like it was a rallying cry. I can't think of it like that because it was too, too real.
Post by definitelyO on Sept 11, 2012 17:57:55 GMT -5
I was on a business trip outside of LA. DH (boyfriend at the time) called me and told me to turn on the news - I saw the 2nd plane hit. I was scheduled to fly out of LAX to Philly that morning. I stayed in LA for another 3 days until flights started all the while dealing with my asshole boss calling me to ask why I wasn't on a plane on my way and I better call United. stupidasshole - who did he think I was - watch the freaking news!
I was on one of the first flights out of LAX and it was eerie. A 747 with maybe 20 passengers. over 1/2 going to Philly b/c they had friends/family on the planes.
Post by UMaineTeach on Sept 11, 2012 18:42:17 GMT -5
In high school in what was called Adviser-Advisee group, a mandatory social/life skills group after homeroom. There was required TV watching of Channel 1 news to pay for the TVs in each classroom during this time. One group had the TV on regular news and informed all the other classes to switch over via word of mouth. Everyone's TV was on the coverage for the 2nd plane hit. We spent the whole day at school changing classes and doing the schedule, but just to watch the news in a different room.
I was taking my cats to the vet and heard it on Howard stern. I worked in news. I got home in time to see my former mentor, who is a reporter in NYC, running from the tower collapse. I recently saw her entire outfit from that day in a local museum. Then they reported a plane crashed in Pittsburgh, which is where I live.
By the end of that week, dh and I finally set our wedding date, and we married in December--planned the whole Thing in three months. We were in a news article about unexpected ways the event changed lives (reporter found me on the knot, i think) and then the Oprah show called because they were doing a show on the same topic. But ultimately, they found people with better stories than mine. I saved the producers number in my phone as "Oprah." I lost that phone about a year later, and the person who found it tracked me down, but admitted it was only because she thought I knew Oprah, and she was hoping I would hook her up.
I ultimately was involved in covering the flight 93 crash site, and I was there about a month after the crash. There was nothing left of that plane, it hit with such force from a vertical angle that it ended up compacted and essentially underground, i think most of it is still there today. and it flew directly over the local elementary school just seconds prior. There was, I guess, a fire ball that incinerated all the pine needles off nearby trees which was about the only thing that indicated it had happened at all. And one of the people on site said they found a perfect outline of a small snake coiled on a rock nearby, completely made of char and ash.
I was home getting ready for class. It was my sophmore year of college.
My dad worked on the 92nd floor of tower two. I had turned on the TV and was eating a bowl of cheerios and the news was covering the plane that crashed into the first tower. I couldn't remember which tower my dad worked in and when I called his office and cell, nothing was going through. So I was freaking out.
A few minutes later, the second plane hit and I lost it. I was home alone and couldn't get in touch with anyone. Luckily it was only like 10 minutes later that my dad called me from a payphone on the street. He had seen the commotion going on at the first tower from his office window and decided to get the hell out of there. So he basically just took the elevator down and got out before the second plane hit. He was there in 1993 when the basement was bombed and it took him hours to walk down the stairs when the electricity went out so a bunch of people from his office just left when they saw something was going on. Scariest day of my life. So weird how it felt like that feeling would never go away.
that is so great he was able to get in touch with you so fast! And great he knew to get out right away - sadly so many people thought "no big deal... lets keep working".
The guy i was dating on the 81st floor was in a meeting - he got up and said he was leaving when he heard the other tower was hit... others thought he was silly... many of them did not make it out- that haunted him.
Oddly enough he and I had a conversation 2 weeks prior to the day, about what would happen if there was a fire in the building... i asked if they ever had fire drills (b/c my 11 floor building had one that day and it took forever to get out)... he said "don't worry, i'd get out" - and he did, thank God. Right before the building fell... there is a photo of him coming down the stairwell... which (the stairwell) actually survived it all and is being put into the museum. A lot of people got out thanks to that particular stairwell - since so many other exits were blocked, it saved a LOT of people.