Where were you?

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

I inspired myself when I wrote my late night blog post (http://sometimeswrite.blogspot.com/2009/09/where-were-you-when.html). It seems to be a growing tradition with me, as I also blogged about this day last year (http://sometimeswrite.blogspot.com/2008/09/very-worst-day-of-year.html).

Honestly, when I put up the post last night, I didn't expect a detailed reply. But a length comment appeared, and I thought perhaps others would want to share their thoughts about 9/11.

Please, folks. I am absolutely BEGGING you to keep your political and religious views from this thread. This is about you sharing the human experience...your thoughts, what you were doing, and the like. Save whatever angst you may have for someplace other than these forums.

For me...this is a day of mourning. It's a day of trauma. It's a day I've struggled with since watching the World Trade Center collapse. It has affected me to the point where I can feel tears just starting to sting my eyes when I contemplate dialing 911 for potential help here in the States.

So, please...feel free to share. And remember that in my heart of hearts, I am hoping that you are all working to BE WELL.

+Rob

[Cobra_Ikari]

Where was I? I was in 8th grade. I found out during 3rd period Spanish class. My teacher's sister lived near the WTC, and she was hysterical, trying to get in touch with her. We spent that class and 4th period government just watching the news in dark classrooms, silently.

I knew no one there. I don't think I'll ever really understand anything that went on there. Maybe it's a failing of mine, but I can't comprehend that level of death.

[SurlySeraph]

In school. At adhoc (break after 2nd class of the day), they called us into the room where we have morning assembly. Classes kind of drifted apart after that, all of our teachers either let us out early or just asked us to talk about it. It was the second day of school, so I thought it was going to be some kind of "welcome back" speech. And then they tell us planes crashed into the World Trade Center. It was very disorienting.

[Jack Squat]

I was in an English class in 7th grade. We weren't told what happened, just that something bad had. A lot of the kids settled on a terrorist attack, but we didn't know where. Being in Cincinnati, we thought it might have been somewhat close.

Finished out that day at school, went home and stayed glued to the TV. I was a mix of scared and angered. My dad went down to the recruiting station that week, and the only thing stopping him from being over there now is that he was too old to enlist. I knew the world had changed, but I still don't know exactly how.

[Eldan]

It was strange for me. I was in 8th or 9th grade, and had a music class. Our teacher said that he had heard that "A plane crashed in New York, and the Americans are excited about it, I don't know why."
I didn't actually watch news that day, so I only really found out the next day.

[Moonshadow]

-coughs- Don't laugh, but I was at home in australia, and I dashed out to tape Cardcaptor Sakura like I did every morning, and turned on the TV and discovered the news >_>;

[wxdruid]

I was stationed at Camp Humphreys, South Korea and working a long 12 hr mid shift. For some reason I had the tv on a news channel and I turned around and stared in shock at the tv. I really couldn't believe it and called over the Base Operations person. I called up our commander and we secured the building except for one door. In the morning, the base was closed to any non-military personnel and remained that way for a few days. It was a big shock to me and everyone else.

Later, in November, I had to fly home for family reasons. The planes were very empty and nearly everyone had a complete row of seats to themselves. It was a very serious time over in Korea for a few months as we didn't know if anything else might happen. Thankfully nothing happened over there.

[KnightDisciple]

At school. First heard about it in trigonometry class, just "a plane hit the World Trade Center".

As the day went on, I heard more, but there were no TVs in the school, so we couldn't get the full impact.

It took until I was at the gym watching TV for it to fully sink in.

Really, it took a couple days for everything to totally sink in for me.

[CrimsonAngel]

I think I was... 6? My family was having a party for something and the news was on in the other room. Someone heard something about a crash so we went o watch.

[Mando Knight]

I was homeschooled at the time, and in the Central Time Zone, so I was just kinda getting up, if I remember correctly, and saw it on the morning news. And I was mad. How dare anyone ram jets into gloriously high skyscrapers in my homeland?

[Dragonrider]

I was homeschooled at the time, and in the Central Time Zone, so I was just kinda getting up, if I remember correctly, and saw it on the morning news. And I was mad. How dare anyone ram jets into gloriously high skyscrapers in my homeland?

I was homeschooled, too, living in California at the time. Ten years old. My mum got my brothers and I into her bedroom and first she explained that my grandparents, who were supposed to be flying from Baltimore to LA to visit us the next day, wouldn't be coming. And then she told us that the planes had hit the world trade center.

Of course, at first we didn't understand what was happening at all, or even why it was a big deal. We didn't have a TV, so we all got in the car and drove to my mum's friend's house. We borrowed their old TV, which was about the size of a bread loaf, and took it home. My dad came home from work, too. We were glued to the set all day; it was very surreal and I can still remember my mum crying when she was the footage and being mostly just scared. At ten, you're old enough to understand that it's really happening but not just how far away it is. It felt very close and personal and I guess that it was probably that way for everyone, not just little kids.

[afroakuma]

I was in cooking class; the teacher had asked me to come over and get a few things from a nearby classroom. The TV had been left on, and there was, IIRC, a live feed of the crash. I was the first student in my school, and therefore probably the first student in the whole town (the other schools didn't have TVs everywhere) to find out, and I was sent around running to all classes and to the administrators.

It was quite surreal.

[Quirinus_Obsidian]

I was in technical college, and we were working on testing something... when a dude behind me answers the question right, and then says: "Oh, and by the way, a plane just rammed into the WTC". We collectively said "WTF are you talking about? Are you joking?"

Just then we saw about 95% of the school literally running to the break room where we have live TV news. I got there just in time to see the 2nd plane hit the tower, and I just remember not being able to speak. Some of the people started crying (men and women alike), others getting almost violently angry. I was just numb... :smalleek: I still get like that when I think about it or see a story about it. I have not seen "United 93", and I don't think I can. :smallfrown:

[xanaphia]

Being young at the time, (in Australia) I woke up and found my father looking agitated and distressed. I asked him. "Some bad people crashed a plane into a building in New York and killed thousands of people." I don't think I will ever forget that phrase.

I'm waiting for a playgrounder in NY at the time to speak.

[The Dark Fiddler]

I was home sick from first grade, and I think I was so disoriented that I actually wondered why my mom wouldn't let me watch cartoons.

[SMEE]

I was 21 and at college at that time. I didn't have classes that morning, so I was at home.

I saw the news at a gaming forum and turned on the TV. The first tower just crumbled that moment.
I was... shocked.

[UncleWolf]

Seoul, South Korea. I woke up in our apartment when I was 10 and found my family and a few friends looking shocked at the TV.

[Thatguyoverther]

It was weird for me, I found out about in chunks throughout the day.

I heard that the first plane had impacted the World Trade Center building when I was on my way to school. My mom and I where just dropping off my sister and taking me to the Jr. High. The announcer on the radio said that a plane had impacted the WTC, but I didn't think anything of it. My mom told me that years back before a someone had bombed the basement of the building and it remained standing. I was convinced it was an accident at first. I even thought it was kind of funny, I mean who fails that hard?

I was in a computer class when one of the teachers announced that a second plane had impacted the World Trade Center,and another was crashed into the pentagon. At that point I was deeply confused. How does this sort of thing happen? Terrorist was a word I had hardly ever heard. And even then it was just a label attached to villains in action movies staring Harrison Ford.

The day continued with everything progressing normally. The only difference was that any talk was about what was about what was going on in New York. I thought it was weird but I wasn't concerned, I hadn't even entertained the idea that the buildings would fall. I mean if the impact wasn't enough to take down the building than it was fine right? The thoughts "Stupid terrorists, if they didn't take out the first one they should have doubled up the attacks." In my defense I was twelve.

So, I get to my next class and the English teacher tells us that the two towers had collapsed. The first estimated death toll I heard was upwards of 50,000. The population of the entire town I grew up in was >13,000. I was dumbfounded. Instead of having class the teacher gave us the most moving speech I have ever heard in my life, lots of stirring rhetoric and talking about waking up a sleeping giant. [/memories]






That turned out allot longer than I thought it would be.

[Talwar]

Geez, I feel old now.

I was out of town, at a meeting. Guys were fiddling with their cell phones (more than usual, that is) and finally somebody suggested we all take a break to adjust flight iteneraries in light of the "bombing".

I thought, "Huh?", and wandered out to the lobby, where CNN was on. I was enlightened.

The meeting ended early, and after the towers had come down, I figured a walk would do me some good.

[xPANCAKEx]

was at college, one friend mentioned "america has been attacked"

thought nothing of it - seemed too bizarre a statement, 30 minutes later a friend rang my mobile to let me and another friend know

we ran literally about 2 and half miles to his house to sit down and watch the news unfold... no on really knew what to make of it

[Rutskarn]

I was getting up late that day, came downstairs, and saw it on the news. Like most people, I expect.

(Huh. I was half-expecting someone to have come in and said "Wait, planes? Buildings? When was this?!")

[Eon]

I think I was... 6? My family was having a party for something and the news was on in the other room. Someone heard something about a crash so we went o watch.

Heh... I was 6 too. I came home from preschool as usual and i saw my dad at home and i was wondering why he wasn't at work. My dad turned off the tv and they explained people crashed planes into buildings. So my mom had him come home because he worked in a tall building at the time. Then they sent me off to my room or something and they started watching it again. I went to my parents room and watched there tv to see what was happening and all i could figure out was there was a big fire and alot of people talking. Then i got caught :smallredface:. and stopped watching.


@v :smalleek: i meant kindergarten. it's between preschool and first grade. i know it must have been because my brother wasn't home yet. he was in elementary too and kindergarteners had half days. they changed that.

[Dragonrider]

Heh... I was 6 too. I came home from preschool as usual and i saw my dad at home and i was wondering why he wasn't at work. My dad turned off the tv and they explained people crashed planes into buildings. So my mom had him come home because he worked in a tall building at the time. Then they sent me off to my room or something and they started watching it again. I went to my parents room and watched there tv to see what was happening and all i could figure out was there was a big fire and alot of people talking. Then i got caught :smallredface:. and stopped watching.

You were 6 in preschool??

Most six-year-olds are in first grade....

Umm, that's not meant to sound the way it does. :smallredface:

[Eon]

You were 6 in preschool??

Most six-year-olds are in first grade....

Umm, that's not meant to sound the way it does. :smallredface:

:smalleek: i meant kindergarten. it's between preschool and first grade. i know it must have been because my brother wasn't home yet. he was in elementary too and kindergarteners had half days. they changed that.

[V'icternus]

...It was my birthday when I found out... (Kinda like it is now)

I had woken up, and saw it on the TV... My Grandparents (Who are here visiting, actually) were in the City at the time. They were fine, of course, but it was definately not my best birthday... though, it was my most memorable.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

It was a couple days into my first day of grade 1, in a new city. I had just moved to Toronto over the summer, and, when I came home for lunch, my mum kept me home the rest of the day, and sat me in front of the tv. I can't remember my emotions, but I know I was confused, and didn't really understand the full consequences until years later.

[Eon]

...It was my birthday when I found out... (Kinda like it is now)

I had woken up, and saw it on the TV... My Grandparents (Who are here visiting, actually) were in the City at the time. They were fine, of course, but it was definately not my best birthday... though, it was my most memorable.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

[Perenelle]

I was in 1st grade homeroom. We used to say the date out loud every morning and I remember saying "today is September 11th, 2001" and the office called into our room and said they 5 kids were dismissed. people started leaving throughout the rest of the day, and none of my friends new why and the teacher said she didn't know either.
We walked to lunch and passed the teachers lounge, and I glanced at the TV screen and saw a building and a "broken one" (as I thought in 1st grade) and a lot of smoke. But I was in first grade and didn't know exactly what was happening.
I got home and my grandma (I live with my grandparents) told me what happened. I didn't fully understand what was happening other than a building fell down because of a plane that a "mean man", as my grandma described, flew.
I started seeing it on the news and it started to sink in more, but if I were older I would have had a bigger reaction to it.

[blackfox]

I was... ten? I keep thinking eleven, but it was in 2001 and I'm 18 now, so I must have been ten. My rather clueless history teacher, who was ABD and didn't really know how to teach middle school, had been teaching us the difference between 'hard news' and 'sensationalism,' and we'd been doing several 'current events' assignments where we had to bring in examples of 'hard news'... So he says, (paraphrased) 'Guess what, guys? You wanted examples of hard news? Here's an example of hard news!' And he turned on the TV. :smallannoyed:

Didn't really understand it at the time, since I couldn't really hear half of what was going on on CNN because 1) it was middle school, and everyone was busy talking about the bits and pieces they heard, and 2) everyone was FLIPPING OUT. I don't think anyone I knew lost anyone they loved in 9/11, but it was damn scary.

Got home from school, Dad had cancelled his classes and come home and he was on the phone all night, can't remember what kinda state Mom was in--she'd been at work, doing organizational stuff for a local musician, and his wife called her in to watch the news. Sister didn't really understand what was going on, she was like 6, the teachers didn't let the elementary school kids watch the news. I can't remember what they told them.

I don't think I ever saw video footage of the towers falling, but I did see Ground Zero on a trip to NYC in 9th grade. It's haunting. I have seen videos of people standing around the site waiting for their loved ones... A woman who had lost her husband, and her child with its arms around her neck, trying to comfort her. :smallfrown: It's so sad.

[Mauve Shirt]

I was in 7th grade, in the restroom actually, I came back to Social Studies to find the television on and the first tower smoking. I thought it was a movie at first.
Panic where my parents work, my mother brought both me and my sister out of school. We'd just moved back and hadn't moved into our house yet. We went straight to our temporary apartment and stared at the television. My mother was in tears when she saw pics of the Pentagon. My father didn't get home til the next morning.

[adanedhel9]

Senior year of high school, my religion teacher was the school pastor and pro tem principal. Arriving at religion class, I found my calculus teacher managing the class as the pastor was off on unexpected school business. A couple of my classmates had heard something on the radio about a plane hitting a building in New York. I blew it off as a garbled version of an incident only a few days old: an amateur pilot in a Cesna had gotten lost in some fog and hit a building in Manhattan.

A few minutes after class was to have officially started, the pastor came on the PA and announced the attacks. I didn't see a TV until Civics class several periods later; I don't recall anything specific about the intervening time, whether classes went on or not. I saw the second tower crumble during Civics. For the remainder of the day all the classes pretty much had us sitting around TVs.

One of my most distinct memories of that time came from work several days after the attacks. Although there wasn't a TV in the area I mainly worked, my job took me past a TV every half-hour or so. Every time I passed the TV, the news man was in the process of saying that he had no new information to impart to his viewers. I remember thinking how frivolous that was - every station continuing to report 24 hours a day for well over a week even when there was nothing left to report on. Thinking back on it now, I can imagine that the news media was just as stunned as everyone else; they had to keep reporting much the same way that many people had to keep watching.

[ArlEammon]

Home... I remember thinking.... "Oh, what a stupid movie this is... This is about the last thing we need to be thinking about, it's just too horrible.. " Then, I learned it happened in real life.

[Raewyn]

I was at school, in 8th grade. The school's handling of the situation was a little FUBAR. The high schoolers had full disclosure... and so did the elementary/intermediate schoolers, but I had no clue other than an announcement by the principal to the effect of "buildings in NYC/Washington had been targeted." I had no clue how to decipher this statement at the time, as it was pretty vague.

I didn't figure out what happened until I got home. I was annoyed, since my 5th grade sister already knew what had happened. :smallmad:

Also, Happy Birthday V! :smallbiggrin:

[Froogleyboy]

I was homeschooled, too, living in California at the time. Ten years old. My mum got my brothers and I into her bedroom and first she explained that my grandparents, who were supposed to be flying from Baltimore to LA to visit us the next day, wouldn't be coming. And then she told us that the planes had hit the world trade center.

Of course, at first we didn't understand what was happening at all, or even why it was a big deal. We didn't have a TV, so we all got in the car and drove to my mum's friend's house. We borrowed their old TV, which was about the size of a bread loaf, and took it home. My dad came home from work, too. We were glued to the set all day; it was very surreal and I can still remember my mum crying when she was the footage and being mostly just scared. At ten, you're old enough to understand that it's really happening but not just how far away it is. It felt very close and personal and I guess that it was probably that way for everyone, not just little kids.

I thought you said you didn't have a TV growing up:smallamused:

[valadil]

I was a freshman in college. My roommates had gone to class but I got to sleep in. I was coming back to my room from the shower. There was a dude sleeping on the floor. When I stepped over him he awoke and said "dude, they blew up the pentagon." Then he went back to sleep. I went back to my room and turned on the TV. His drug addled dream wasn't so far off. The sad thing is that since my roommates were busy with class and the phones were dead I spent the morning panicking on IRC.

My uncle got trampled by a fleeing crowd when he got out of the subway that morning.

I later met a guy who was supposed to be on one of the planes. He missed his flight and saw the towers go down from the plane he ended up catching instead.

[Coplantor]

I think it was after P.E or lunch, I was going back to the classroom anmd a friend told me "Hey, the tein towers went down". I was 12 and I used to play like I had an alter ego wich wanted to conquer the world, so I thought it was a joke untill I got back home and saw it on the news.

[Dragonrider]

I thought you said you didn't have a TV growing up:smallamused:

I - we didn't. :smallconfused: BORROWED. For one day?

[Jacklu]

I was homeschooled at the time and had slept in that day. I got up to the phone ringing off the hook. I picked it up and it was my mom telling me to turn on the tv and turn to the news. Turned it on just in time to catch the second tower being hit. It was... well, frankly, I didn't know what to do with it at the time. I had a hard tome contextualizing what I was watching happen. I ended up walking to my grandma's house down the street where the rest of my family had gathered together. (nine aunt and uncles on that side, plus more cousins then I can count) The one thing that sticks out in my mind the most about that day was one of my uncles looking me in the eyes and telling me "Pay attention to this. The world is going to change after today. It's never going to be the same." It still sends shivers up my spine thinking about it.

[The Orange Zergling]

I was homeschooled (and still am) at the time so I woke up and came downstairs to watch cartoons (I must have been, like, 5 years old) and saw my mom watching the news with her hand over her heart.

My dad was on a business trip in Boston at the time. He was totally fine and everything but it was not a fun couple of days waiting for him to come back...

[Neko Toast]

I was only in sixth grade at the time... We found out about the attack right before lunch time. At the time, I didn't quite understand what had happened, and I recall making some naive comment about plane malfunctions or something... Don't think I truly understood what happened until I got home.

Anyway, one of the orgs at our college put up little flags for all the people who died that day. I thought it was a nice gesture.

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

I want to thank folks for sharing. As it happens, there is a startling documentary available on YouTube that aired on CBS (a television station here in the States, for those who don't know it). I won't link it here, as people have a tendency to click a link without thinking about what it might lead to. If you want to watch it, search for the user "logprof" and you'll find the whole thing...as filmed from INSIDE Tower 1. (WARNING! The videos contain profanity and traumatic...dialogue. (Descritpions of what was happening can sometimes have a greater effect than pictures.))

For those who didn't look at my blog, I was on the eastern end of Long Island when the attacks occurred. Having grown up in NY, visiting Manhattan was something I would do every now and again because I could. After watching the towers fall, I simply wandered from where I was living, lost in the horrific thoughts and images lodged inside my head. I walked and cried without knowing where I was truly going.

As it happens, I ended up at the library, which was my only way of accessing the Internet at the time. I wrote an e-mail to a friend, and all I could think to say was, "Today they blew up my home."

It's hard to explain, but even though I was many miles away, it was as though I was there, in my city, sharing in the pain and horror of the moment. A part of me wanted to board the nearest train and help...someone! Do something! But word was that all travel in and out of the city was shut down, and so there was little else I could do but sit and think.

*sigh* I could go on...but 9/11 is almost over, and 9/12 has things for me to do.

But...Our lives are so fragile. For all the thoughts that mankind can conquer anything and everything, we still have only one option at the end of our lives. No one knows when that time will come, and so it's important for us to remember that we should be LIVING our lives before the end. There is more than enough horror on the planet to go around tenfold. Hence, the words I say daily. "Be well." In body, mind, and spirit...be well. No matter how hard it may be to accomplish...be well.

[THAC0]

My Uncle worked in Manhattan at the time. He got over to NJ, but instead of going home, starting helping with the evacuees and triage coming over on the ferries. Of course, to be of much use he had to set his briefcase down - he tied it to the steps of a building and went about helping.

Of course, then there was a bomb scare.

Yeah, it was his briefcase.

[Ichneumon]

I was at home. When my mother turned on the television, I thought she was watching "As the world turns" or something (which she usually did around that time), mainly because the vootage of the airplanes flying into the building looked fake to me.

[shadowxknight]

Hmm I remember I was in 5th grade at the time. Living on the west coast some of my classmates had heard about it on the radio on their way to school.

[RabbitHoleLost]

I was at school, in 8th grade. The school's handling of the situation was a little FUBAR. The high schoolers had full disclosure... and so did the elementary/intermediate schoolers, but I had no clue other than an announcement by the principal to the effect of "buildings in NYC/Washington had been targeted." I had no clue how to decipher this statement at the time, as it was pretty vague.

I didn't figure out what happened until I got home. I was annoyed, since my 5th grade sister already knew what had happened. :smallmad:

Also, Happy Birthday V! :smallbiggrin:

I was in seventh grade, and they didn't tell us anything.
I had no idea anything had happened til I got home.

It was when my parents were seperated, so I came home, alone, and watched TV and then the news came on, and I called my dad and cried because I was very, very scared someone would crash into my house, or the building in Boston my father worked at.
Very illogical, but I was young, and terrified.

[Mr. Moon]

I'm out on the West coast, so when I heard I was litterally in the middle of breakfast.

Mom was working nightshift at the time, and all of a sudden she comes home, and I remember getting scared because instead of saying "Good morning, how are you?" She shouted "Someone turn on the TV and get me the remote!" or something like that. My brother and I obliged, and she turned it to the news. I don't remember what I saw - a smoking building, I think? But whatever it was, I had no idea what was going on. I was just a little kid, I hadn't even known what the WTC buildings were back then. I hadn't felt anything then. What was there too feel? I had no clue what I'd just seen.
Mom sent me to school, which progressed pretty normally, if somewhat grimly. It was explained to us - sort of. I learned more a few weeks after, when my class did a Current Events assignment. I'm sorry, but I actually thought that the date translated to 911 was kind of interesting, in a grim and thought-provoking fashion.
I remember, though, my best friend at the time, an American girl, she wasn't at school on the Day. I didn't wonder at that then, but looking back...
Poor girl...

[Destro_Yersul]

I was at school. Grade... 8, I think. French class, first block. The teacher explained it, but I don't remember fully understanding the scale of what had happened until later, when I got home. Then it was on TV, it was in the papers, it was everywhere.

And all I can remember thinking is how terrible it must have been for all the kids who lost parents that day.

[LCR]

I was at home, after school, mindlessly zapping through channels on the telly, waiting for basketball practice to start when I stumbled upon footage of the first tower collapsing. At first I thought it to be a trailer to a new movie until I realized, that I had seen the whole thing on a news channel. It was a bit surreal.
Anyway, since in Europe, wars have been started for lesser things than that, most of us actually expected some sort of immediate retaliation by the US (some people even expecting nuclear war) and we were all glad, when that didn't happen (at least not right away). But that was probably the biggest fear, not of being the next in line, but of war, possibly on a global scale.
Things got even weirder, when days and weeks after the incidents itself, investigations showed that some of the terrorists (including Atta) actually went to university in my hometown.

[Arutema]

I was in college, near D.C. at the time. (Laurel, MD if you feel like googling it).

The way my roommate started to describe it I thought he had it confused with the 1993 WTC truck bombing. But I soon tuned in CNN and got the full story.

Road closures made it practically impossible to get anywhere in the area, because the school had a lot of commuter students, all classes were canceled.

I spent most of the day in a state of dumbfounded shock.

[SDF]

I had recently moved, and I just started high school. I watched the towers fall in second period English with my only friend at the time. He died in '07 from an IED, so it brings back some painful, personal memories.

[Castaras]

<.< *had actually forgotten that it was the wtc bombing memorial yesterday... nothing happened at school to her to commemorate it, heh*

And I have to say, I honestly can't remember where I was. It was too far away, too distant, and I didn't even know where the WTC was, or that it even existed. *shrugs* It was just another day for me, very little happened out of the ordinary except a 2 minute silence to think about the people in the towers. Which for me was pretty much the same as when we did the remembrance day silence - didn't know anyone there, didn't know about it, so didn't really think much of it. I guess it was just too much death and such for me to feel it was real enough to care.

[Froogleyboy]

I - we didn't. :smallconfused: BORROWED. For one day?

Oh, never mind then

[Zaggab]

I was in sixth grade (11-12 years old). I was on a one-week school trip to an island a bit off the coast near the town I live. In the middle of the week, before we were going away on an activity of some sort (can't remember what), the teachers told us something like:
"Something horrible has happened in USA. Two airplanes flew into some tall buildings there so that they collapsed. Thousands of people have probably died."

Of course, 1) we were kids 2) we were already impatient of waiting 3) we didn't live in the USA, so it felt really distant and 4) the teachers said it in a very mild way, so no one really understood what had really happened.

No one thought anything about it for the rest of the trip. Then, when we got home, we were shocked about how important it had been.

[J.Gellert]

On the bus, on my way back from school. I remember going forward to reach the door, and the bus driver was listening to the news on the radio.

Spent the next few hours at home watching things happen live on tv...

There is a strange feeling that I haven't had more than 4-5 times in my entire life. The feeling that something has been messed up permanently, and at the same time a compulsion to quit and load my quick-save. Then, immediately, the weird realization that this isn't Baldur's Gate and this just happened. For real. And it may change history. It's a very strange feeling... something like powerlessness.

I recall my uncle came over and some things he said... I think that at the time, only he fully realized the implications of what we were watching.

[Faulty]

I was in 6th grade. The faculty at the school was acting very weird and wouldn't tell us what was going on. I found out when I got home. I was really young and couldn't comprehend it, so I didn't cry or have a real emotional reaction. It still doesn't ellicit much of a reaction from me, and it might be because of the detachment I had with it as a kid.

[DraPrime]

I was 9 years old and in 4th grade. No one told us at school. The teachers all knew, but they were ordered to not tell us, since it would distract us from learning. I don't remember if my teacher acted differently that day, but I have no doubt that quite a few teachers were acting unusually that day. It would be hard not to, knowing what they knew. I got home, and saw that on the TV there were images of burning wreckage. No big shock for me though. The news shows that kind of stuff all the time. Then, my mom told me and explained to me what happened. I understood what happened, but I didn't really get the shock, or the significance of it. I guess I was too young.

[Dvil]

I was actually at a friend's house. I saw it crash on the news, but being young and English it meant very little to me. It's only now, a few years on, that I think back and actually realise how massive it really was. I never thought this before, but now my thoughts go out to a lot of America for that day, and all of you who were affected by it have a large portion of my sympathy.

[Ichneumon]

For me it meant almost nothing, being european and being very young. It was only later that I could understand the complete scale of it and what it ment for international social relations and what the motives of each side were and could see it in a little more complex and nuanced manner than "oh, that's a terrible disaster and how horrible are these terrorists".

[Lord Herman]

I must have been 15 at the time. I came home from school when my mother told me "something's going on in New York". I don't remember if the TV was on already or if I turned it on, but the first thing I saw was the first tower with smoke rising out of it.

It turned out the whole thing had happened about four hours earlier, when I was at school. But the images I was seeing were a recap of what had happened so far, so they showed the events in order. I don't remember what exactly I thought or felt at the time, but I do remember watching the reports coming in all through the afternoon and into the evening. I did feel I was watching something important, although I didn't realise just how much of an impact the attacks would have on the years to come.

My sympathy to all of you who were affected by the attacks.

[Castaras]

I was in 6th grade. The faculty at the school was acting very weird and wouldn't tell us what was going on. I found out when I got home. I was really young and couldn't comprehend it, so I didn't cry or have a real emotional reaction. It still doesn't ellicit much of a reaction from me, and it might be because of the detachment I had with it as a kid.

This. Nothing special happened at school, got home, heard about it on tv, and thought nothing of it.

*had actually forgotten it was yesterday <.<*

[Xsesiv]

I was...what, eight?

I was walking home from school, popped into the shop for some sweets, and I saw the pictures on all the newspapers.

I wasn't that bothered, though.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I was in 6th grade at the time, and as soon as the teachers found out what happened, the turned off the TVs and had parents come pick up their kids. I was really really really freaking out, because before they turned off the TV, I heard that planes had hit the WTC and the Pentagon. Well, I have an aunt who worked in the WTC; my dad works with the government (we live just outside of DC), and though he hadn't worked in the Pentagon for years, the night before he had mentioned that he had a meeting that morning in the Pentagon. My sister and I were picked up soon and were sitting by the phones the rest of the afternoon.

We eventually heard from my aunt in New Jersey that she'd checked up on my first aunt and that she'd gotten out safely, and we found out later that night when my dad got home that his meeting had been canceled at the last minute. I never found out whether the meeting was supposed to be in the part of the Pentagon that was hit or not, but when on the next Take Your Kids to Work Day I met my dad's boss and found out this was the guy who canceled that meeting, I basically gave him a flying-tackle hug.

[HellfireLover]

I was 21 and had a day off from college and work. I wandered blithely through to the living room and saw the TV footage, and asked my mum what film she was watching. I couldn't believe her when she said it was the BBC news with a special broadcast. I spent the next hour or so glued to the TV. I basically saw everything after the first plane crashed, and I'm ashamed that my emotions were a mix of 'Oh, this is just horrendous' and slightly envious 'What a great story, I'd love to be covering it.' Being a journalist made me a terrible human being, obviously.

[Sir Dar]

I remember where i was on this day. At home eating my birthday cake.then opening my birthday gifts.then playing with my gifts. Then when to sleep . Woke up the next day watch some tv[more like i was playing video games then some one turn on the tv and watch the news]. Then i found out.How did it make me feel?Not sure been a while.Looking back it was a sad day. remember live your life now while you can,for you never know when it may come to a end.

[Alarra]

I was a junior in college and I was sleeping. My boyfriend called and woke me up to tell me. I mumbled some sort of response then promptly fell back asleep and forgot about it completely. I then went to my first class not all that long after, where she told us again what had happened and then canceled class, my other classes that day were as well.

I then drove into Minneapolis to spend my day off with my boyfriend frantically trying to figure out where my parents were and make sure they were alright, since they had left on a plane earlier that morning. It was probably 9pm by the time I finally got ahold of them to learn they had been safely grounded in Nashville, but were probably not going to make it to Fl in time to leave on their cruise.

[Elm11]

I was 5 years old at the time, and like any other kindergarten morning, got up to watch tv with my brother. normally, when we turned on the tv we'd hear the voice of a cartoon, then the image would form. So when we turned it on that day and heard other voices, we thought they had cancelled it for golf again, because they always cancelled the morning cartoons for golf. For some reason, we let the image form (waited about 15 sec, bad tv)
and saw the smoking tower. Right then, the second tower was hit, so my brother and i ran up to our parents room and i remember him saying "mummy! Daddy! two planes have hit two towers, come quick!"

I don't think we ended up going to school that day.

[Weimann]

I was in ninth grade, 15 years old, on a class trip to Scarborough, England. I believe it was the third day on a five-day trip, and me and my friend was just waking up in our bedroom (we were staying with a family who took students) and he turned on the little TV while I used the bathroom. When I came out, I started chatting, but he hushed me and told me to come look.

It took a while before I understood what it actually was. I think both planes had already hit when we saw it, and of course, it was the big talker among the class for the rest of the day. I don't remember any panic or such, but there was a sense of "uh, what the heck is going on?" and general uncertainty.

Coming from Sweden, it didn't affect me personally, but I know that my dad had just cancelled a flight to America to see me properly off (first time going abroad alone and all) and I thought about what might have happened if he had gone.