Where were you on 9-11?

[darkswordsman17]

I was in American History class, doing research for a presentation. Our teacher came in and said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I kinda shook my head thinking some idiot had flown a little prop-driven plane into it.

 

[Jeeebus]

in class, law school, in DC. it was fairly surreal.

 

[hanoverphist]

i was putting my pants on getting ready for work when the first one hit. i didnt hear about the second until i got to work that morning.

 

[buck]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Sleeping.

 

[mundane]

Walking on my way to my CS IV class. Some TVs on campus were tuned to the news, I slipped into a lab and tried to access the main 'net news sites, but those that I could hit were skimpy on the details.

 

[Tiamat]

I was watching MTV in the middle of packing stuff to start my freshman year at Northeastern University and the announcement cut it. I thought it was a joke, but their faces were too serious for too long so I went out to get my older bro who was outside mowing the lawn. My mom was still sleeping and we just all watched the TV completely flabbergasted.

 

[xSauronx]

i was at work, doing actual work. my mom called at lunchtime (my parents were on vacation) and went on about the news and i....well i hadnt seen the news, and i had the radio off that morning.

i dont recall thinking or feeling much about it, i watched the news for 2 or 3 minutes and went back to work and didnt pay it any mind until the evening news

 

[jonks]

Times Square. Just got out of the subway to work, heard people chattering. Went up in my building and heard the first plane had hit, ppl just thought it was an accident. Then the second plane hit. We could see the towers from my building, it's one of the tallest in Times Sq. The 'accident' theory went out the window. Still standing there watching when the first tower collapsed. Disbelief.

Tried to field calls and emails from friends & family but the cell towers got overloaded and shut down. Walked to my father's office. People in the streets were milling around in front of stores thath had tvs in the windows. I met my father and my sister at his office. Stayed for a few hours and then walked a couple miles back uptown to my apt. The streets were crowded with people walking. Everyone was still pretty calm.

Didn't cry till a month later watching the families of the victim's speak.

 

[skyking]

I was driving to a job in downtown Seattle when the news came in about the initial events.
At work one of the guys was from New Jersey and brought a radio down in the hole. We were working 34 feet below street level on the building facing 5th ave, between Battery and Bell, below the monorail.
google maps link.
The building facing 4th is the main Fire Station and the disaster planning center.
After about 11, the alley behind the job and Bell street were practically lined with those news vans with the microwave masts, it was wierd looking up at that from way below as was the silent sky.

 

[Gooberlx2]

(1st) Senior year in college. Woke up, did some online browsing before class, saw something about a plane hit one of the towers (I think it was actually from ATOT I first found out). Walked by a construction site on the way to class, who had their radio going. Announcer said it was actually passenger jet, and then another jet had just hit the other tower (not one worker was doing anything, just standing and listening). Got to class, professor kicked us all out and suggested making sure everyone we knew was okay. Went to the student union, watched in a crowd as the first tower fell on TV. Walked home and watched the other tower fall with my roommates.

Was completely distracted in the one class that the professor refused to cancel that day (lecture attendance counted for some dumb reason). So was everyone else. More or less, everyone just stared blankly forward. I didn't see one person taking notes.

I remember several people freaked-the-fuck-out as they couldn't get ahold of loved ones in New York when that first tower fell.

 

[BW86]

I was in school - forget which class. School was canceled so I went on my boat when I got home to see the skyline. (I live on Long Island) Smoke as far as the eye could see.

 

[NuclearNed]

I was at work doing a little programming and browsing on ATOT. I heard the news of the first hit on ATOT and like a lot of people figured it was just an accident. Then the 2nd plane hit. Again, I think I read the news on ATOT. I remember walking down a couple of cubicles to where a couple of friends worked to see if they knew anything. They hadn't heard about any of it, so we all started frantically searching the news sites. Pretty soon the entire floor was buzzing. In a short amount of time, management made the decision for all of us to go home since we work in a secure facility that potentially might be a terrorist target. I spent the rest of the day in front of the tv watching news reports.

 

[cultgag]

I was a Junior in college, just got home and turned the tv on. I remember watching the video of a plane hitting a building and thinking nothing of it as I thought it was some other country(very sad that this kind of thing doesn't really hit you unless it's close to home). Tuned into espn who was showing the same video and thought I better watch this b/c something is really wrong.

 

[shortylickens]

Interestingly enough, my answer hasnt changed since the last time we were asked this question. And I wont change or dramatize my original answer so we can all feel sorry for ourselves & partiotic and start bombing ragheads out of anger.

I was in the Navy. Great Lakes Advanced Electronics school.
I had finally graduated after a year, we had gathered up our seabags and were in the schoolhouse waiting for our certificates. We heard the news on the radio while waiting.
By the time we got over to the personnel office they had cancelled ALL movements and locked the base.
Stayed on board for a few days, since I was driving home before reporting to my ultimate duty station, they let me go. All flyers had to wait about 3 weeks on base.
Went home and saw dad for a bit. When the airways were open again I got my clearance to head to Iceland.

 

[SpunkyJones]

I was in San Jose CA to attend a Cisco training, having flown in from Boston that Sunday. Flying home later that week was odd to say the least.

 

[Q]

Middle school keyboarding class. When principal told my teacher to turn on TV, nobody (except her) really knew what the WTC was, then over the next few hours we all understood what was going on.

(I'm 19 now)

 

[oddyager]

Statistics course, college. One of our student teachers walked into the class and whispered into the professor's ear (he was from NY). He then told us about it.

 

[MyThirdEye]

Sick day in 5th grade. I was pissed because that's the only thing they were showing on TV.

 

[Lummex]

I was in 7th grade. My friend told me before class, but I did not understand at all, I was so confused and thought it was a joke. Then when school started, i realized how serious it was. All the teachers had the radio on all day and we all listened intently.

 

[Lamont Burns]

Just waking up for class at 9:30. I ended up skipping all my classes that day except one(all were cancelled in fact), where the teacher from England refused to cancel class, and wanted to conduct it as usual. The bitch.

 

[irishScott]

7th grade, just getting out of gym. This was at about 11am, we weren't told when it happened. That said, word had leaked out and rumors were flying about something happening at the WTC. I was changing back into school clothes in the locker room, went up to coach Helstrom and asked "What's going on with the world trade center?" His response: "There is no more world trade center."

 

[SparkyJJO]

I was in school. That came to an end that day rather abruptly. I kept thinking how much it looked like a movie..but it was no movie. Freaky. I was watching the TV right as out of nowhere the second plane hit and I was like :shocked:

 

[DaveJ]

I was at work, getting ready to start the morning meeting with my boss and two other techs. Someone popped their head in the door and mentioned something about a plane crash so after the brief meeting we all wandered into the machine room just in time to catch a replay of the second plane crash on TV.

All the major news sites were slammed so I spent the rest of the day following Anandtech and a few other boards for news and relaying the info to my parents who didn't have access to a TV at their jobs.

 

[ghost recon88]

Home, I was listening to ESPN Radio and I remember them saying on the air "they're coming in and telling us we have to leave right away, we're not sure when we'll be back"

 

[TuxDave]

In my dorm getting ready to go to my morning lecture and decided to turn on the tv and saw the news about one tower getting hit. News of the 2nd tower and then both collapsing occurred while in the lecture hall from a student listening to the radio over headphones.