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

[Niks]

Not American,
but I was working at a restaurant in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as part of an international student exchange program.

I remember tuning in on CNN, and they were talking how the first plane supposedly was an accident. Remember thinking to myself "how the fuck do you accidentally crash into the biggest building in the world? And then watching the second plane crash right there and then, in live TV behind the news people...
It was surreal.

I went to work later, but was told to go home.
I remember my Boss and fellow coworkers saying WW3 was to begin. I also remember there was an anthrax threat??

Crazy times.

 

[genjiZERO]

I was having cable installed at my apartment. The guy who put it in said, "Crazy about those towers". "Towers?" I replied. "Yeah, it's all over the tv. Haven't you seen it?" I was like, "Uhhh".

Please don't take me as trying to be callous though. That's actually what happened.

 

[Lucael]

I was studying at home for to take a university exam. My partner at that time called me on the phone saying that "United States were on they knees". I turned on my TV in the kitchen. I'm not an american and I was already 20 at that time, but still today the images of that day are not easy to watch, it was so eerie and unbelievable.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

I was in elementary school. One of my classmates got called to go home. Then two classmates. Then four classmates. Then my mom and other moms started pouring in. We went to my sister's junior high to pick her up then my brother's high school to pick him up. She was in a rush and there was a brief feeling of dread, took us home and I see on our TV that one of the Twin Towers got hit. Then as I sat there watching in curiosity, the second plane hit causing my mom to gasp and me to just stare.

 

[Illiterate Bookworm]

I hadn't heard about the attacks as I had no classes that day and had asked my boss the week before for the day off.
Didn't find out until I was at the EB at the mall to pick up Tales of Destiny 2 on the ps1 when the manager went on a racist tirade about why I couldn't get my game that day.
I also got a call for a job interview that afternoon. Interviewed that week, first day was a week after and I've been there since.

 

[Saiyaman]

I actually don't remember the day too well.

I know I was up in New Jersey for my grandmother's funeral as she had passed away the week before. I was around eight years old at the time, but all I remember is waking up in my aunt's apartment, and walking to the living room and seeing my aunt, uncle, and mother watching the news. I do remember you could see smoke rising up if you looked out the window. That's all I can recall from the day.

The plane ride back was definitely scary.

 

[LakeEarth]

I basically missed it since it was literally my third or fourth day of University. I knew that something happened at the WTC because I quickly browsed GAF and caught the thread on it soon after it was posted (pre-second plane). When I got to class, the prof made note that there was "significant news happening right now", but said to just go through the lesson and try to forget about it. By the time class was finished, the second plane hit, and both towers were down.

 

[captive]

I was driving to school. I was a sophomore in HS. I remember hearing something about a plane on the radio. My first two periods were PE and Math. We played ultimate Frisbee but I remember by that time there were already less planes in the sky. I also remember our math teacher was the only teacher that taught. Every other class had a TV on with coverage. It was like that the whole week. Every class we just watched the news. We changed classes at each bell but just sat down in the new room and watched.

By third period I think both towers had fallen. I also remember picking up Slayers God Hates Us All weird coincidence that it came out that day.

Literally changed the world in a matter of hours.

 

[The Argus]

I do. Vividly. I was in the 7th grade at a Catholic middle school.

But, 9/12 will always have a lasting impression on me. It still makes me smile, and I swear it will be one of those memories that flashes before my eyes when I take my last breathe.


Anywho, Sister Patty calls the whole school into the gym for prayer and reflection. Finally she ends it, solemnly saying "And now a moment of silence". We all bow out heads.

Suddenly the girl behind me (still friends) stands up and yells: "WHAT, WE DIDN'T HAVE A MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR AALIYAH!" It took every bone in my body to hold back the laughs. I honestly think it this event/memory hot me through this horrible time of uncertainty.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

Freshmen in college. Heard about it during a class. Thought some idiot accidently crashed their plane into the tower......

 

[Kadey]

I clearly remember cutting school and waking up during that school day and seeing the news on every channel.

 

[mclem]

In the UK it was early afternoon, I think; I was chatting with my university friends on IRC, and one of them said - IIRC - just "plane hits building". Then I looked it up. Then I put the TV on and kept it on for most of the rest of the day.

I have family in New York; I was - understandably - very nervous until I'd heard back from them.

 

[Typographenia]

Heard about it during gym class, and thought people were making it up.
When I got to science class, my teacher turned on the tv and said that we were going to watch the news for our class time. I feel like the principal must have made an announcement to continue with school as usual or something, because she turned off the television after a point.

I was the first person home from school, and I rushed in and turned on the tv. You knew everything was going to be different.

I remember the following day, my brother and I got a ride home with a kid in my brother's class that lived down the street. His mom wanted to get a full tank before we went home, and everyone else had the same thought. Remember waiting, parked in the street for well over an hour in our small, 20,000 population town for her to fill up her car. It felt surreal, at the time.

 

[Shyotl]

Sixth grade or so. Classes were starting for the day, and there were rumors from other students about some sort of attack. First class was geometry and crusty old teacher wouldn't let us turn the tv on because one day of elementary geometry was more important apparently. The next class was art class and the teacher explicitly stated that this was likeley going to be a historic event that will define our generation... and thus let us watch. Saw the towers fall right in that classroom. Grateful that teacher knew what was up. Art teachers always were the best teachers.

 

[VariantX]

I was a senior in high school, felt sick AF and went to the nurses office, fell asleep waiting on the school nurse to take a look at me and I wake up to a room full of people freaking out in response to the reports of the first plane hiting

 

[Starwing]

It was a normal day of elemetary school for me until suddenly I see my mother along with a bunch of other parents rush to pick me and my brother up. While on our way home, I see people rushing every which way and I had no idea what was going on or what was happening. We finally got home and saw on the news about WTC and we lived close enough and high enough to see the towers falling down in real time from our window. As a kid, I didn't know any better so I assumed it was an accident of some kind, so I spent the rest of the day watching the news on it while playing on our Genesis with my younger brother. I didn't really fully understood what happened untill I was 12 or so.

 

[Professor Beef]

I was a Junior in HS, if memory serves. My mom actually woke me up in the morning to let me know what was going on. It was all the kids at school could talk about, of course. I also remember looking at some of the Muslim kids at school and thinking "they're probably gonna get a ton of shit for no reason." Felt real bad.

 

[squeakywheel]

It was surreal being woken up (I live on the Best Coast) with my roommates screaming New York was attacked and the twin towers have been attacked and other planes were hijacked too.
I never thought anybody would have the balls to attack the US mainland.

 

[timshundo]

My mom woke me up and was like "come here come look at this" which was weird and eerie and I went to her bedroom and watched the TV and was just like "whats a terrorist?"
Then I went to school and the teacher tried to pretend like nothing was happening and wouldn't let us watch TV.
And then there was a wildfire nearby and we all went out for recess and saw it and got scared.
Finally the school chose to address it barely by calling a school-wide meeting and telling all of us to not believe a Nostradamus email going around about it being the end of the world. The end.

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Was on a hiking field trip. All they said was a plane had crashed and we had to immediately go home. I just remember being really nervous on the ferry, since no adult would tell us what happened, and everyone looked super grim or scared.

My friend's dad was in the towers when it fell. I just think of how scared I was, and I can't even fathom what he went through that day =/

 

[CDX]

I was a senior in high school. September 10th Advance Wars for GBA was just released, while at the mall I also picked up Golden Sun for GBA, they were having some sort of Buy 2 sale. I got so into Advance Wars andGolden Sun I decided I wasn't even going to to school the next morning. I didn't care about the classes I had that day so I didn't go.

I stayed up late playing video games, and I was mad I still woke up at like 8:35AM instead of sleeping in even later. I was up too late to go to school on time, but awake way earlier than I wanted to be. I then remembered Micheal Jackson had Day 2 of his concert in NYC the previous night. I wasn't really a fan of MJ at the time but Day 1 of his concert had a surprise appearance by Britney Spears that was featured on the morning news shows. So I thought since I was already awake maybe at least I'd find out what happened or who showed up at his Day 2 of his concert if I turned on the news.

I didn't live in NYC but for some reason had WABC, the local New York station, instead of my cities locals from Dish Network. Shortly after I turned on the TV they cut away to the first smoking hole in the World Trade Center, saying a plane crashed into it. I shouted to my family "Are you watching the news? Some idiot just flew a plane into the WTC". It was very hard to tell the perspective, at least for me it was, so I assumed it was just a small plane at first. A few weeks prior someone flew a small device and landed on the torch of the Statue of Liberty, where the public was and is no longer allowed to go. So I assumed this was just some stupid little stunt gone terribly wrong. And they probably got themselves killed or worse other people killed.

They were then starting to take calls of eye witness accounts. Some lady called in and said it was a huge plane. I distinctly remember thinking "You idiot, big planes don't accidentally just fly into buildings, if it was a commercial airplane it would have had to be done on purpose. It HAD to be a small plane and an accidental crash." It was at that point I got mad, at the entire situation and went into the bathroom to pee and wash my face.

While I was washing my face someone in my house shouted another plane just crashed into the WTC. I couldn't believe it, I went to my DishNetwork Dishplayer 7100 DVR and rewound. Seeing the plane hit My JAW DROPPED. Everything instantly changed, it wasn't just some idiot, it was multiple planes and I knew it was purposeful.

I was glued to the TV watching WABC's live footage all morning. When the Pentagon in Washington DC was hit my Grandma was just leaving to go to her morning art class. I told her about another plane crash in DC, and she started to cry "we're being attacked" she said and then she quickly drove off to her art class.

When news of the Pennsylvania crash came, it felt scary, like it could happen anywhere.

Then a bit later the buildings came down. The news that morning constantly talked about the tens of thousands of people employed in those buildings, one reporter openly speculated maybe 40,000 or more worked at those buildings. People forget it wasn't until many weeks or months later that we got the final death toll. The day it was happening it was assumed it could've been a much much worse tragedy.

That entire morning is seared into my memory.

 

[QuigleyMcShine]

9th grade history class. We watched the news all day in school, except for 3rd period science, where we had a normal lesson while one girl sobbed because a parent worked in the Pentagon.

 

[Strings]

Was watching Rove Live. An interview with Sophie Monk abruptly cut to footage of the towers being hit.

 

[pikachief]

Getting ready for school probably when the first tower got hit. I just remember my whole family all got called to the downstairs part of our house where my grandparents lived and we all had to be quiet. We silently watched the tv and saw the second tower get hit. After the second tower got hit, my grandfather broke the silence saying, "nobody is going to work or school today."

Thats all I remember.

 

[thevid]

I was in high school and my teacher told us that a plane had hit one of the towers and we should watch the news. It was a programming class so we were all sitting at our computers at the back and he had us come back to the desks at the front of the class. As he was rolling out the TV, in my head I was thinking of a small prop plane, something touristy. I was confused why it was a big deal. I mean, a B-25 had hit the Empire State building back in the day. Then he turned on the TV and the magnitude of what had happened struck me.

 

[GamerJM]

I think I was in the second grade, learning about the concept of fractions or something.

 

[Dmitriivanalexeipavel]

was a kid
got woken up after the first plane hit
confusion

 

[yongeandcollege]

Going to work which at the time was right beside Pearson airport. The first strike happened as I walked from my car to my desk.

 

[BringBackSonics]

It's one of those very few significant days where most Americans distinctly remember about what they were doing.

I remember i was at a friend's house (in grade school) and seeing the shock on his parent's faces.

Click to shrink...

got a phone message from my brother before work. He was working in New Mexico, and asked me to let his dogs out for the Next week because he wouldn't be able to come home most likely.

Got into my car and started my commute to Seattle, saw one of those traffic reader boards saying that sea-tac airport was closed. At this point I turned on the AM sports radio to change it to the news station, but before I did, they were carrying a live press conference but airplanes being taken hostage. I still didn't know really what happened till I got to work around 8:30 PST, by that time everything was done and I was in shock.

 

[EVA UNIT 01]

I was watching Sailor Moon

 

[sugar bear]

I was 29 years old on the West Coast. I slept until 9AM, turned on the TV and saw smoking craters. Went to work at the state college and we were sent home at 11AM. I cannot imagine how horrifying it would have been to see it unfold live on TV or (jesus) in person.

 

[dejay]

In Australia.

I was in a share house with two other people watching some show on TV at night. I remember where everyone was sitting. A news ticker at the bottom of the show indicated that an aircraft had flown into the World Trade Center. I wanted to turn over and look for coverage, but my housemates did not. I think in the next ad break we flicked around until we found coverage and stayed on it. I can't remember if I saw the second plane hit live or not, but the footage was like a punch to the gut - this definitely wasn't an accident but a massive and brutal attack. After settling down a little, the towers collapsed and we got news of the Pentagon and it was very confusing and a little traumatizing.

Just a couple of days earlier, Lleyton Hewitt had won the US Open, so I had been following that along a fair amount and as such had a fair amount of recent exposure to NYC at that point, which made it feel more real to me.

 

[GraphicViolets]

I was in elementary school. it was computer class when they turned on the news. pretty sure the second plane hitting was shown as it was happening

 

[Ellyshia]

I was in school five blocks away. I remember tons of little details. The sound of the first plane. The confusion. A classmate coming in late telling us he saw it. A staff member running around telling the teachers what was going on. The rumbling and dimming of lights as the first, or maybe it was the second tower fell. The very rushed evacuation as faculty just told us to walk northward. Some people screaming, others just trying to hold on. The layers of dust on me when I got outside and had to walk.

 

[Septimus Prime]

I was a senior in high school. I got in the car to drive to school shortly before 8 AM (west coast), turned on KIIS FM, and heard Rick Dees say, "if you tuned in for a show where we tell jokes and have a lot of fun today, this ain't it." And then he said what happened, and the day got super surreal from there.

At school, every class had the TV on, and that's all we did. Even my AP Stats teacher, who said he never watches TV, had it on and was glued to the screen.

Literally days earlier, I'd just gotten back from attending a summer program in New York, and we stayed pretty much right between the two towers. It was crazy lucky that I wasn't still there.

 

[III-V]

Yes I have vivid memories of this. It was very frightening and confusing, particularly in the beginning. Everything changed in an afternoon.

 

[ExhaustedWalrus]

I was in first grade. I don't remember much tbh, I do remember seeing the towers on tv right after it happened and obvious none of us kids had any idea what was going on. We then went home and I don't think I grasped the severity or impact

 

[Strider_Blaze]

Was only 10 and in 5th grade at the time this happened and was asleep then (living in California). Parents were the first to hear from what I remember, given they would usually leave early for work and likely heard about this through the radio.

Didn't even know what had happened until my parents took me and my older sister to the nearest fire department, where loads of people in town gathered to pay our respects to the victims. And perhaps my school to show us footage what went, I honestly don't remember, sadly.

And to think, it will be almost 20 since this happened.

 

[D23]

In florida,
I was in my 7th grade art class
I remember seeing my teacher in panic and she turned on the TV in the classroom and we saw the twin tower in smoke

ill never forget it

 

[SilverX]

I was in the 5th grade, we could see the smoke across the river from my classroom. My teacher got a radio and listened to the thing with a few other teachers while the students talked and we were generally clueless what happened (we thought it was a big fire). Shortly after we were picked up by our parents for an early dismissal.

When I saw my mom pick me up in the car, I opened the door and she said "Planes are falling from the sky, its the end of the world" because she was always dramatic and just emotionally couldn't cope with the attack. I cried because I believed her, and I still think that is probably one of her worst parenting moments despite being an otherwise good mom.

 

[Devilgunman]

I was 2nd yr in college eating dinner when it happened. I actually watched it unfolded live. When I saw the first building with smoke, I never imagine the whole thing would collapse at all. Then the 2nd plane hit and hell broke lose.

 

[Pixels]

Turned on the Today Show when second plane hit.

 

[Bigwombat]

First day at UMass in the dorm. My roommate and I are closing the door to our room and walking to our first class ever and the neighbor stops us in the hall just after the first plane hit.

Confusion. It didn't look like a plane had hit the building actually. I didn't have a frame of reference for that. But 19 years of violence since has conditioned me

 

[Petruccis Biceps]

I was in 10th grade Spanish class when somebody came in and said the twin towers were bombed. There were tons of my fellow students that were freaking out and crying since their dads/brothers/relatives were firefighters that went to answer the call(I live on Long Island, NY). Every class I went to one after another there was no teaching, just the TV on the rolling cart watching the news.

My brother had started a new job that month in the city and I had no frame of reference to where he was and how close the WTC was. Luckily, I had learned he was in training in CT at the time.

I remember other guys were getting worried that they were gonna reintroduce the draft if we went to war. It was just such a surreal time. The world seemed so different after that, and it has never been the same.

On a side note, I remember on the IGNCube forums, a guy posted a thread that was asking if the Gamecube was gonna be delayed and he was worried. He was promptly lit up hard in that thread.

 

[Kaguya]

In my bedroom playing Zone of Ender, that's not something one can forget.

 

[thecouncil]

senior year high school, sleeping in chemistry class.

 

[Smoothcb]

At my dad's house getting ready to head out to basic training!

 

[MinerArcaniner]

8th grade, in Earth Science. The teachers randomly started racing through the hallways; our teacher left, then came back and told us that there was an explosion in the Trade Center. Rumors spread that it was a terrorist attack, and parents started taking their kids out of school. Some kids joked that the terrorists would bomb us next.

It didn't feel real until I got home and saw the news coverage. Without smartphones or even Wi-Fi being a common thing back then, I went through the whole day in the dark.

It feels like a lifetime ago.

Looking back, it was the incredibly dubious efforts by Bush to try and link Saddam to the attacks to justify the Iraq War that got me to start paying attention to politics in high school.

 

[BrooklynMood]

I was in middle school and had woken up late that day. Went to the bathroom to take my morning poop, and because the walls were paper thin, I was able to hear the radio broadcast from the next door neighbors. Once I finished up and got out of the bathroom, I turned on the TV and it was everywhere. I made an executive decision to not go to school that day and ny dad understood and he was glad I stayed home.

He was working near the financial district that day but immediately came home when he heard the news about the second plane hitting. We both were glued to the TV that whole day and being grateful that he came home when he did.

 

[Magnet_Man]

Back in High School it happened during first period. We walked into the class and our teacher was listening to the radio while getting the tv ready. And we just watched it unfold there. It didn't feel real, like we were watching some movie production as those dust clouds swallowed the surrounding buildings.