Anyone remember where they were or what they were doing on 9/11?

[mddover]

I skipped a community college class that morning and was basically just trying to pass time. So I stopped to eat breakfast at a Denny's. I heard one of the waitresses tell a cook in the back that something big was going on in New York, but they weren't sure what. I didn't think anything of it. Then I drove over to Best Buy to look around for a bit and there was a crowd of people gathered around the TVs for sale watching the news.

 

[Doggg]

Yes, vividly. A friend was giving me a ride to school early in the morning. He was like, "Did you hear about the Twin Towers?" He thought it was pretty funny, actually. It occurred to me that this was our "where were you when JFK was shot?" moment.

 

[Razgriz417]

4th grade english class

 

[BrianAltano]

On the rooftop of my NYC apartment building watching the towers fall down with tears streaming down my face. Today is always really, really tough for me.

 

[RoboitoAM]

I was eating cereal before school

 

[Razgriz-Specter]

Sitting in 5th grade class like normal, principal walked into the room and talked to the teacher who then turned on the tv.

I even remember a girl running into the bathroom crying that we were going to die.

 

[Darknight]

I had just arrived in Tokyo and had just gone up to my hotel room. I turned on the TV and the first plane had just hit so I saw the rest of it happen live. I remember being on IRC and telling people and that's how they found out it was happening. It was completely surreal.

 

[Ashhong]

I believe I was in 8th grade. Saw my dad watching the news in the morning while eating breakfast but I honestly didn't think anything of it. Went to school before first period and saw a bit more on my teachers TV. I don't think I ever really understood the sheer tragedy. Kids talked about it but nobody was too distracted by it on the day of

 

[Clay]

I was in sixth grade. My grandparents were watching me for some reason. I turned the TV on while I was eating breakfast and my grandma turned it off because we were running late. Like a minute later my grandpa came into the room and turned it back on. My grandma said "I just turned that off! We need to go!" and my grandpa said "I just want to see the headlines real quick."

I remember that something was obviously up but I didn't really get it. The news kept showing the image of the smoky remains of the Towers but I didn't understand the significance of it being a terrorist attack. My grandparents debated having me stay home but eventually decided to send me to school.

At school the teacher just brought out a TV and had the news on, which is kind of insane looking back. I can understand them wanting to see what was going on and this was way before smartphones (I could be wrong but I don't think our classroom even had a computer connected to the internet), but she didn't bother talking to us at all about what was happening, so we were just watching footage of ground zero. My friends and I just starting talking about video games or whatever bullshit, still not really grasping what had happened. After about a couple hours the principal poked his head in and said we needed to take turns going to the office to call our parents to have them pick us up. I'm pretty sure we stayed home from school the next day as well.

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

Relaying information to my class while listening to radio reports on my headphones

 

[Kito]

I lived in Westchester County, NY. I was in 9th grade and in gym class by the time the reports were rolling in, and our coaches were skeptically throwing around words of planes crashing into buildings. Then came earth science class, where our teacher sat us down to explain what was going on. One of the students in my class was pulled to be told her father was in one of the towers when it collapsed. We didn't even get an early dismissal, and the halls were filled with a thick air of confusion and uncertainty when no one's cell phones could complete a call and our buses were getting blocked by parents and their cars at the entrance trying to find their kids. My dad was in the city, and he couldn't get home til hours later than usual, and we couldn't get through to his cell until he made it to the local train station.

No one at my school or at home was feeling much in the way of emotion that day. It all didn't start to settle in until the next day.

 

[TaterTots]

Yes. I was in class at high school and another teacher came by and pulled our teacher into the hall to chat. There were a handful of teachers out there and all of us were wondering what was going on. Eventually she came back in and told us and we ended up watching the news the rest of the day.

 

[hjort]

My friends and I were told the news by our bus driver on our way home from school. He was notorious for constantly cracking weird jokes, so nobody took what he said seriously, which frustrated him greatly. In hindsight I should probably have realized he wasn't kidding with the way he acted. I didn't get what had actually happened until I got home and turned the TV on. I think the second plane had just hit the World Trade Center at that point.

 

[Coxy]

Sat at home in my bedroom preparing for retaking some exams - my mum told me to put on the tele

needless to say no work was done that day

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

Mrs. Buckley's 7th grade homeroom class, talking with Anna Seaborne (she was cute), wearing a Spider-Man sweatshirt, eating fruit snacks and a Powerade.

It's like this very clean vivid blip in my head that will never go away.

 

[Swig]

I had graduated high school that year. I took a job as a commercial painter while I was trying to figure out what to do with my life.

I was in a multi-million dollar house that was under construction, indoors on a scaffold that was three levels high working on the ceiling in the living room that spanned all of those stories. One of the other painters had a radio down below by my scaffold, which is where I heard the news. I still remember it very vividly. I remember the report of the first hit and the confusion of whether or not is was an accidental crash, then the second hit and discussion of what was going on and who may have been behind it.

 

[BasilZero]

I was in class

In my keyboard class

The teacher rolled in the tv and turned on the news....

I remember being the only person horrified while everyone else in the class of 20 or so were cheering like they were watching a movie - of course the teacher scolded the whole class

Ironically I was only one left in class by the end of the class duration because everyone else's parents came to pick them up while I had stayed in school the whole day

 

[Starphanluke]

I was only 4 at the time. 9/11 is legitimately the first memory I can place, which is sort of a sad thought.

My sisters were at school and I was at home with my mom, who worked the weekend shift at the hospital. We sat in front of the TV almost all day and I remember her crying a lot. She and my dad were still married at the time, and he was travelling for work (he was almost always travelling). She was desperately trying to get a hold of him, and eventually we found out his plane was grounded in Conneticut or something.

 

[acheron_xl]

I was working the opening shift at the Culver's I was working at at the time.

 

[ForgeForsaken]

On the way to work listening to a college radio station and the DJ had just the earliest news about it. Got to work and soon everyone was complaining the Internet was down and I had to explain that no, it was that the news sites were overloaded and the internet was fine. Rigged a TV antenna to a TV that had been dedicated to training and moved it to the front the lobby with the local news on it where a bunch of people gathered around.

 

[amon37]

Woke up after it happened, then went to work.

 

[Rotobit]

Was 9, weirdly don't remember much, and a lot of it I feel is blurred together with TV shows that depicted the day and other major events, so I can't say anything for certain. I think I was young enough that they kept me in the dark for the most part. Was pretty easy to do when it all must have transpired just before school was out for the day in the UK.

I remember the aftermath of it all pretty vividly though.

 

[Ouroboros]

I was in biology class. All my classes that day consisted of us watching the news

 

[kyle mechlachlan]

Of course. I was in 8th grade English class. Someone came in and told the teacher who turned the TV on to the news and we watched in confusion. Nobody knew shit.

The very next period was a social studies class, and the teacher thought it wasn't important and taught the lesson like nothing happened. We didn't learn what happened next until the following period, a science class where the teacher couldn't give mess of a shit about the course.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

I was going to cross the border into the US that day to see Megadeth in concert in Seattle but after seeing what was on the news in the morning, I knew that was cancelled. I still saw them the next night in Vancouver, and it was surreal talking to the band about it in the alley behind the venue.

 

[Zukuu]

As a european pre-teen at the time, I vividly remember that I was a bit annoyed that ALL stations were covering it - even stations that ran kids/teen oriented stuff so I remember that couldn't watch DBZ.

 

[Mobius 1]

First job out of college. I received a message from a friend about "someone was dumb enough to crash their plane at the WTC", I got an online live feed just in time to see the second aircraft impact. Immediately the sense that the curtain of the world fell down and we were staring down at the abyss was palpable.

We seriously thought there was a chance of WW3 starting right there and then.

 

[meowdi gras]

I was working my first job, grocery store cashier. A customer came to my register and told me that a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center building. I thought he was joking.

A short while later, the store floor manager brought a TV down from the office and plugged it in at the customer service desk in time for us to see the second plane hit. Some of us were then sent home early. I got home in time to watch the towers fall, while following sort of a (largely horrible) running commentary at this one forum I visited. It was all very surreal.

As a postscript, I had a Pakistani coworker who received a lot of awful treatment from customers and in his private life in the weeks/months that followed. It was terrible.

 

[jfkgoblue]

6th grade math class, they announced it over the PA. When I got home my mom refused to turn it on and so I didn't see what actually happened until my dad came home from work

 

[Damaniel]

I had only graduated from college the year before and was living at home. I woke up to get ready for work (roughly 6:15 AM PST) and my dad mentioned to me that planes had hit the WTC towers. They hadn't collapsed yet (and I don't think the other planes had crashed either by then), but by the time I got to work they had. Nobody at work got anything done that day - we were all gathered around a TV in the cafeteria watching the coverage.

 

[Tawpgun]

We lived in Stamford CT, which is like 45 min-hour from Manhattan.

I remember teachers being really worried but we didn't know what was going on. 1st or 2nd grade or something.

Someone asked what has happeneing and the teachers didn't want to answer because the reality was a lot of kids could have had parents that worked in the city. very common in that area. So they said a plane hit a building in NY. In my mind I imaged a small prop plane accident. Tragic, but not life altering terrible. SURPRISINGLY we did not get sent home early despite our proximity to NYC. I think they didn't want to worry us and I think they were aware of the fact kids parents might be trapped in the city. But I remember the teachers being really stressed out.

When I get home I ask parents what is going on and I see the replays in the news. The even more striking image is our balcony on the 15th floor overlooks Long Island Sound and you could see a plume of smoke in the distance. On a clear day you can see to NYC.

 

[Jacknapes]

I was walking home from school, quieter than usual walk home. Came back to put on kids TV and watched the events unfold. Didn't see the first plane hit, but saw the 2nd one hit.

Was about 2/3pm UK time, which equals about 9am US time. Carried on watching well into the evening.

 

[DavidDesu]

In Scotland, I was in Sixth year of secondary school (about 17years old).. in Graphics class (graphic design/architectural drawing thing).. it was last period of the day and it was when we were leaving in the corridor I remember teachers coalescing and I heard mention of twin towers... didn't think much of it until I got home and my parents and older brother were watching the news. This was like 3.45pm UK time.

They were showing video from New York, but showing the towers still up, but my parents (in fact I think my mum, my dad must have been working) and my brother were telling me both towers had come down, planes had hit them. It seemed so surreal and unbelievable. Eventually they got round to showing live footage, and then replays of the second plane hitting and then worst of all footage of both towers collapsing. It seemed beyond real. Like a Hollywood movie come to life.

Absolutely crazy experience.

I distinctly remember how that day changed the world. For the worse of course. And yeah the act and the destruction and death caused that day was horrific, but I think even worse was the dawning realisation in the weeks and months to come that the world had changed and that America, emboldened and basically untouchable (you could not criticise American foreign policy after this, they used it as an absolute shield against any and all wrong doing the US was responsible for in the geopolitical arena. We were to sympathise, we were to galvanise around them. That was the worst. You could see the right wing, Bush and Cheney especially using it to further their aims. You could see this was war a mile off. A war of the BILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO ARMS COMPANIES kind. And for what? To displace kill and maim thousands, millions of people who had nothing to do with anything.

What a fucking horrible time, and we are still living in the fallout from it and the new world order as a result. Worst day of our lives whether you were born yet or not.

 

[echoshifting]

I was working at Borders. I got to work shortly before the first tower fell. I remember calling my girlfriend to tell her what was happening. I remember everyone making excuses to sneak into the break room and watch the little TV we had back there throughout the morning (I was watching when the second tower collapsed). I remember the flood of extra editions of various newspapers and news mags and all the people who came in to buy them...I think I bought NYT, Time and the Onion myself (I can't remember if the Onion hit the same day or not). I still have them in a box somewhere. I remember this comforting sense of unity among all the people who came in that feels totally alien in the US of today. And I remember we closed mid-afternoon, and then going home and staring at the news stations for two or three days straight.

 

[pargonta]

yah, watched the news through most of my high school classes

 

[grang]

5th grade. No one told any of us students anything until after lunch. Everyone knew something was going on, teachers rushing in and out and whispering to each other, looking horrified, kids slowly trickled out as their parents came and got them. When they explained I was more focused on the Pentagon because I was unfamiliar with the WTC, I didn't understand how many people and how much damage the collapses did, I just kept repeating that we were gonna go to war and was freaking out my mom's building in Boston was going to be targeted next.

 

[Sieffre]

I was driving in to work that day. Garbage-ass radio station said absolutely nothing during my commute. I got to work, and a coworker was all "did you hear the news", and I had no clue what was going on. I think it was around the time after the second plane hit but before the towers collapsed. We ended up just listening to NPR all day to stay informed. I sat at home watching the news nonstop for like the next week.

I was going to cross the border into the US that day to see Megadeth in concert in Seattle but after seeing what was on the news in the morning, I knew that was cancelled. I still saw them the next night in Vancouver, and it was surreal talking to the band about it in the alley behind the venue.

Click to shrink...

I went and saw Tool like a month after, and it was such a mess. Everyone was all on high security alert. You can imagine the types of people that show up to a Tool concert. They had dozens of garbage cans full of wallet chains and accessories that they forced people to throw away before being allowed to enter.

 

[Xando]

Came home from school at noon (german time) and watched it unfold live while my grandpa was watching me (by having a nap).

I was only 9 but even i understood the gravity

 

[GokouD]

UK here, I was browsing the old IGN Vault forums for Asheron's Call when the news started to filter through. Went upstairs and told my dad to put the news on. We just sat there all day watching.

 

[thesoapster]

8th grade, we were having our morning prep or whatever (small school, not many teachers so you'd typically stay in the same room for most activities). Our front office secretary busted through the door telling the teacher to put the news on.

 

[Cilidra]

Was working at a veterinarian hospital next to Reagan airport.
Heard on the news that a plane hit the World trade before going to work. Went to work and we talked about it with other co-workers.

Then we hear explosion outside ((we were walking distance from the Pentagon) and heard on the radio that the Pentagon was hit. There were saying another plane was heading toward DC, We evacuated and each brought pet that were there so pets were left behind.
There was tons of people walking away on the street (there was several office buildings near by).

We learned later that some of our clients were among the victims (at the Pentagon).

Still remember the name of the little Visla that I was supposed to spay that day that I brought home that day... Phoebe

 

[Einchy]

Mom was talking to our neighbor about how his roommate stole some of his stuff while I sat in the car. At school we had a math test and when it was over the teacher told us what happened, after that the news were on for the entire day as everyone watched.

I remember going to recess and looking up at the sky thinking I'd see the smoke even though I was in Georgia. Adults were talking about gas prices going up and war.

One of those days that you really can't forget.

 

[Jeffolation]

3rd day of University. We skipped out to watch coverage at an electronics department.

 

[aliengmr]

Heading into work. I remember someone on the radio saying some jackass flew their plane into the WTC. Didn't really pay much attention to it as something similar happened like a week or so prior. I remember getting out of my car, thinking what the hell is going on with these pilots flying into buildings.

Then I get into work and see the damage on TV and was like, "okay, not a Cessna then". Before I had really processed what was happening, the second plane hit.

I immediately went to call my mom. See, my dad was an airline pilot and at the time he flew a 767 to and from Britain and Europe. He was on his way home that morning. Fortunately he had been diverted to Newfoundland.

After that it was just a mess. Never felt the same after.

 

[MrCibb]

I was in school at the time, I'm pretty sure it was just after lunch time. I remember someone came to the door and mentioned something's happening in America so my teacher turned on the TV to watch the news, and we all saw the second plane crash into the second tower a little while after. It was really surreal to see that happening. Bit of a mental day.

 

[Deleted member 3812]

I was 15 years old, in high school, a sophomore at the time in English class.

All the classrooms at the time had TVs in the classrooms and a teacher came running over to our classroom interrupting the lesson yelling "Turn on the TV, turn on the TV!!!!"

My English teacher stepped out of the classroom to speak to this teacher then came back in and turned on the TV and tuned it to one of the local stations that had the news on, the first tower of the World Trade Center was hit by the first plane by the time the TV was turned on and then we all saw, live, the second plane crashing into the second tower and at around 11 AM, the principal came on the PA system to announce that due to the ongoing event, all schools were being ordered to close early.

My mom worked at the same high school I went to so I went to her office and we went home together, gridlocked traffic, cell phone calls couldn't be completed due to the network being overloaded.

When I got home, I turned on the TV and kept watching the news.

 

[Thatonedice1]

I was in middle school. The whole school day just stopped and each class was just watching the news all day.

 

[Mahonay]

It was the first couple of weeks of high school. I remember it was a really gorgeous day.

Suddenly in math class our teacher is just transfixed on his computer screen. He just randomly says a plane hit the World Trade Center. All of us assumed it was just like a small two passenger plane and was no big deal. Then he got up and left. We could see all of the teachers gathering outside. Classes were suspended. We all gathered in the main lobby area upstairs, they pulled out the TV cart (I was in a small annex due to construction on the high school, there weren't more than 60-70 kids) and we watched it all unfold. I think by the time we sat down the second plane had just hit. None of us could believe what we were seeing. It didn't seem real. At least one teacher was crying. Then the buildings collapsed...

I also remember most of us believing we were at war with some country now. The magnitude of it seemed too big for a terrorist group.

I went home that night. Just hung out downstairs by myself in the finished basement where my bedroom was. Every TV channel was 9/11 coverage. My family dog had just died the week before. I didn't cry when she died as my family was sobbing and I wanted to be strong in that moment. I just remember laying there and every bit of emotion just came out all at once. I sobbed for like an hour.

What a shitty day.

 

[RoadDogg]

I was a senior in high school and in gym when the first plane hit. I remember the gym teacher saying someone flew a plane into a building in NYC and we all had a laugh at some idiot flying a Cessna or something where they shouldn't and clipping a building. Then we went back to class (history) and heard the full story and basically stayed there the rest of the day.

 

[kubev]

I was in the computer lab at college.