Where were you on 9/11?

[Anonymous]

Remembering those who died and sacrificed today. I'm always interested to hear people's stories about where they were when 9/11 happened. Feel free to share.

I'll start. It was my first week as a freshman in college in Hartford CT. I had just walked into my morning Psych 101 class and was mindlessly chatting up a friend about a party the night before. The room was eerily quiet, the professor came to the podium and asked us to return to our dorms. We got home, and turned the TV on just in time to see the second plane hit the World Trade Center in real time. It was the most surreal experience of my life. A floor up, someone started blasting "Bombs Over Baghdad" over their stereo.

We then spent the rest of the day lying on the quad (the weather was perfect) wondering if the smoke from Manhattan would drift east over our heads.

[Anonymous]

Jersey City NJ. Worked at Jersey City Medical Center. We watched the towers burn and fall. When the first plane hit we thought it was some small plane pilot who screwed up. We had no idea what was to come. It was surreal.

[Anonymous]

I was driving to work. I was halfway there (I only lived a few miles from work) and turned on the radio. WTOP had just reported that the plane flew into the Pentagon. I pulled over to the side of the road and heard the updates about the two planes flying into the World Trade Towers. I turned around and went home and watched the footage in horror including watching the towers fall.

[Anonymous]

I was an associate at a small law firm in Indiana. Our file clerk came in and said that there had been news of a plane flying into one of the buildings in New York. Shortly after that, the second plane hit and everyone knew something bigger and deliberate was afoot.

I think the weather was beautiful everywhere. It was a cool, soon to be warm fall morning in September. Very blue skies. That's how it was in Indiana. That's how it was in New York.

The rest of the day there was no work getting done. I remember roaming the Internet trying to find news updates from sites that weren't crashing under the traffic. I was a member of a bulletin board system with people from around the country and that ended up being my best source of information.

[Anonymous]

In Jersey City, in a state of horrified disbelief, watching the buildings burn and fall.

[Anonymous]

Doing some housework. DH called me and said to turn on the news, a plane had hit the first tower. Watched in disbelief as the second plane hit the other tower. Utterly panicked at that point (I am a former New Yorker), as my dad worked nearby and brother's college was also nearby.

It wasn't until late that day that we found out that everyone was safe. My brother walked across the bridge into Brooklyn, where a friend picked him up and took him to his home. Since subways were impacted, dad ended up taking Metro North, and then had someone drive him home from further up. Mom was on the upper east side, and had the least amount of trouble getting home.

[Anonymous]

English class

[Anonymous]

In lower Manhattan, walking to my college class. I watched the first plane fly over my head and crash before my eyes. I had a clear view because I was just north of Washington Square Park and the WTC towered over everything.

It was surreal, the plane was probably less than 1000 feet over my head. So loud.

[Anonymous]

Downtown at work about 2 or 3 blocks from the WH.
Metro'd home.
I remember watching that news reel of the plane and towers just on loop over and over.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in the NYC suburbs, but I was living in San Francisco at the time. I woke up to my clock radio, wondering why I was hearing Peter Jennings voice. The talk station was just broadcasting the ABC newsfeed. I put on the tv and saw the two towers burning. I tried to call my dad in NY, but my sister who lived in Europe at the time had called first and asked him to put the phone to the tv so she could hear what was going on.

I saw the first tower fall and knew in an instant thousands of people had just died. In a daze I got showered and dressed and headed to my job downtown. It was the same clear blue sky that the pp mentioned above. There were more people leaving on the underground trains than heading in. When I got to my office my boss said we were closed and to just go back home.

Spent the day watching the news, and only later in the day remembered that my cousin worked as a chef at Windows on the World. The phone lines were jammed and no one could calls through in the NY area. Took another day to find out he was safe.

[Anonymous]

Alexandria within earshot of the Pentagon, so close enough.

[Anonymous]

Driving in to work out west. Heard about the first plane on the radio. Thought it was an accident. Got to work, turned on the news and saw the second plane. At that point, everyone realized it was no accident.

[Anonymous]

In a museum on the mall.

[Anonymous]

Walking on lower.5th avenue to vote...it was a primary election day. Watched that shocking carnage. Everyone on the street was just still and all staring in the same direction and screaming and crying. Hell on earth.

[Anonymous]

In Chicago, having left DC the afternoon before after doing document review for the law firm I was work for, after a week. But it was weird. We were scheduled to leave Sept. 11, for a 9 am flight. But when we finished early, one of the attorney went online and said, "tons of seats on the 5:30 flights, let's get out of here." We scrambled, got to the airport, and changed our flight from the 11th to the 10th. But here's the weird part. No one asked for my I.D. So I said to the ticket agent, "wow, you can change tickets and you don't even ask to see my I.D.?" He just sort of laughed, still didn't ask for my I.D., I got on the plane and went home to Chicago. I met my sister for dinner that night and went on a weird rant about lax airport security is anymore....