Where were you on 9/11?

[trickey]

In my typical everyday grade 8 class. The kids who went home during the luch all came back with stories of how the wtc were bombed, and planes crashed into them, and a bunch of stuf you would expect to hear from some grade 8 girls trying to get some attention. The storie kept getting changed over and over. Everyone thought that it was military planes actually dropping bombs on America "oh man thier dead" everyone was saying.

No one had a clue how bad it was. But we started to get a feeling of it. That day, two world class tennis players were supposed to fly in from New Brunswick to speek to us kids at the school. We were told that every flight in North America was closed, then we started to wonder how bad it was.

The only other stuff i can remember is me going to soccer practise, still not knowing exactly what had happened, the whole time we were just joking about the whole thing, we never thought anything bad could ever happen to the "world superpower".



That night i remember watching that same footage of the towers falling over and over. Scary.

[Case]

As the WTC attack started a few minutes before midnight Australian time I was asleep when it was all happening. On the morning of Sept 12 my dad shook me awake [for the first time ever] and showed me that mornings Sydney Morning Herald which had a photo of the second plane hitting the WTC on the front cover. 10 seconds later I was in front of the TV watching replays of the attacks.

[Carver]

I was on the trading floor at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, FL. We have the televisions on CNBC all day long so we saw it unfold from the begining. Hearing Mark Haines announce that one of the towers had fallen was just unfathomable. Buildings like the WTC just have a certain permanentness about them. Alot of people were really shaken up; being a brokerage firm we spoke to many people in NYC everyday. We knew people from Cantor (in the WTC) and from Morgan Stanley (although most of the people we knew at Morgan worked in another building). We also knew people who had relatives that were emergency workers so it was hard.

[connorkimbro]

I lived in california at the time, so I was just waking up and getting ready for the day. I went out to have a cigarette before formation in the morning, and, contrary to the usual atmosphere in the smoke area, everyone was pretty hushed and quiet. I could over hear bits and pieces of conversations. Crash, plane, etc. I didn't know what had happened yet. I went to formation, and the people waiting around were much the same. I found a friend and asked if something had happened. "You didn't hear yet? 2 planes crashed into the world trade center buildings." I stood there for a moment, trying to comprehend. not one plane, but two. Not an accident. "You gotta be ****ing kidding me." During formation, our first sergant briefed us on the situation, and let us know that the pentagon had been hit as well. During that brief, someone ran out of the building with news that a 4th plane had crashed in pennsylvania. The mood was. . . well, hard to describe, but unbelief, fear, sadness, rage, it was really intense. . . as people tried to comprehend, tried to cope. We got to class that day, and immediately switched on the news. Just in time to see the towers fall, crumble into nothingness. Silence. Shock. Tears. It was overwhelming. Needless to say, class didn't happen that day, we sat there and watched the news all day long. As military service members, this IMMEDIATELY had a profound effect on our daily way of life. Suddenly, the reasons we had joined the army, the air force, the navy, the marines, became meaningless. We had a new reason now. Our military careers which up to that point had been a great opportunity, to learn a language, to earn college money, etc, became something much much more. An opportunity to serve in a much greater way, an opportunity to serve our country and defend the freedoms that came under attack that day. I'm proud as hell to be a military service member, and I'm proud to be one of the many defending our country from things like 9-11. It is, I believe, the single greatest opportunity of my life.

[Murgatroyd]

I got up that morning and went to take a shower as usual. When I got back, my roommate told me about the incident. (I don't remember exactly what point in the disaster it was; I think it was probably after the second plane, but before the collapse.)

I immediately went online to get more information, but couldn't get to any of the major news sites. A few minutes later, I had a thought: Apolyton.

I spent the rest of the day (except for a few hours of class, which were rather subdued) sitting in front of my computer, reading everyone's reports from around the world of what they knew about the situation as it happened.

(I confess that I was also somewhat relieved that it hadn't happened a day later. September 12 is my birthday.)

[Kirnwaffen]

I had just gotten out of the shower, and headed up to the kitchen. It wasn't unusual that my dad had our miniature TV on, but I found it odd that he was just sitting there leaning over it. He looked at me, told me about the first plane, and I joined him. My first thought was "What idiot flys his plane into a skyscraper." I went out to feed the dogs, and when I came back, I watched the second plane hit the building, and my heart sank. I had to leave for school at that point, and I just kind of sat numbly through the day, and watched the replays on TV. After German, I heard about the Pentagon, and immediately tried to get a hold of my mother, who was in DC for a conference. I watched the towers collapse during English, and talked to my mom afterwards.

[Darkness' Edge]

Originally posted by Case
As the WTC attack started a few minutes before midnight Australian time I was asleep when it was all happening. On the morning of Sept 12 my dad shook me awake [for the first time ever] and showed me that mornings Sydney Morning Herald which had a photo of the second plane hitting the WTC on the front cover. 10 seconds later I was in front of the TV watching replays of the attacks.

it was basically the same here...except it was the today show instead of the sydney morning herald.

[Alexander's Horse]

I thought started around 10pm Australian EST. But I could be wrong.

[Frankychan]

I was typing an 8 page psychology report around 4:50 a.m. (PST). The sun didn't come up yet, so it was pitch black. For some reason, I turned on the t.v. to CNN Headline news and continued with my typing. After a while, I looked back on t.v. and saw one of the planes hit The Towers. I stopped typing my report (which was due that day) and just watched.

Next thing I knew, I started tearing up and felt sick in the stomach. Needless to say, I finished my report and went to class. After class I went to Campus Center and watched the news on a big screen t.v.

There were students everywhere.

[Odin]

I was in my 10th grade biology class, all of a sudden the principal ran in and told us to turn on the TV, just in time to see the the 1st tower collapse. I remarked, "I think World War III just started..."

[Dan Severn]

I was in English class before school started. One of the other teachers ran in on us and said, "You'd better see this! Turn on CNN!"

At the time, I was more interested than angry. It took the rest of the day for it to sink in that what was happening was real.

[DarkCloud]

Does anyone have the old thread of "where were you on 9/11" saved? for archival purposes- I'll search my archives- but wouldn't it be a fitting HISTORIC memorial to place all these memories in a thread and post it as a news item? How about that Mark and Dan?

Where were you on 9/11

and perhaps a follow-up

How your world changed on 9/11?

---
As for me...
I found out while sitting in the hall (I had been sitting there when the 1st plane crashed... but didn't find out until 10:25 NY time) What happened... Around the time the plane actually hit the building, I had been talking with some of my friends about how Jesus was a jerk for rabble rousing and that we could see how the pharisees would have seen fit to do away with him as he was a threat to the romans and their way of life, etc. Then someone... Ben ____ (Name whitheld to protect the innocent ) came by and mentioned something about a plane hitting the WTC.

At first I thought he was just being an idiot and wouldn't believe him- but he was adamant. Thus, I wandered the hall and asked a few others who had jsut arrived, and they confirmed the thing.

Then 30 minutes later I, from a radio, heard about the towers collapsing. I just sat openmouthed wondering as to what the ramifications of this could possibly be! I was shocked. I also wondered if the USA was going to be an idiot and nuke someone just for the sake of it... I played several war scenarios in my head the rest of the day...

As for the last people I know who heard out about 9/11-

I know some people who did not find out until 4PM NY Time that 9/11 had happened... they were returning from a "leadership building" course and arrived at school all jovial and joking... then saw all the people wandering around sober or talking in hushed, frantic voices, etc. I think they were some of the last people in America to hear about 9/11.

[Inverse Icarus]

i was in physics class at highschool. there was an announcement about half an hour after the first plane hit, then shortly after, a second announcement confirming the second plane.

the size (and type) of the planes were not mentioned, and for some reason we assumed they were talking about cessnas (sp?), and my physics teacher was going over how the towers were built to take a plane crashing into them.

[Ramo]

I was in my vector calc class when I first heard about the attacks and I was riding on a bus when it started.

[monolith94]

I was in AP US history. Dr. Joyce said something like, "there's apparently been some sort of plane crash into the world trade tower," after mr. hill came in and talked to him.
I'll never forget enrichment most of all. All I did was scurry around finding out news wherever I could from the school.