College Students! discussion

I can't believe it has been 9 years since 9/11. It still boggles my mind and brings up a myriad of emotions. The images I saw that day will never leave my mind.

I send my thoughts and prayers with those who have been directly affected by this tragedy.

I also was inspired by our conversation about books written about our time and my reflections of 9/11 and I wrote a post about 9/11 in literature if you want to check it out. http://perpetualpageturner.blogspot.c...

Also, we have so many international members. What was it like for you seeing this unfold?

I remember it quite distinctly. My mom woke me up that morning and told me immediately that a plane had crashed into the twin towers. I was rather confused but she sounded so urgent about it that I got out of bed at once (which was rare for me...I'm not a morning person).

When I got downstairs we had the TV on and they were replaying the first crash. I remember watching the news announcer recapping what had happened, and then seeing on the screen a tiny dot in the sky as he said, "Oh my God," and the second plane hit. I can remember that moment the clearest, although of course all the footage shown afterwards of the towers coming down was also unforgettable.

I'm Canadian, so I'm one of your international members :)

I was 14 years old.
It was 11 o'clock or so when the news kept repeating what had happened and both towers collapse; I can't imagine anyone watching it live without their jaw dropping.

Like many, I did not understand what was happening. I thought it was a plane that crashed because my dad told us about JFK's air traffic and for me it made much more sense that the word "terrorism."

In fact I think only now I realized that was a terrorist attack, at that time heard the news but did not understand what they meant or why it had happened.

Until 2001, September 11 in Chile meant another year of the coup that suffered Salvador Allende in 1973. Like Anna, I was not alive, but always remember the video where planes bombed the presidential palace.

Both events are so irrational that are impossible to understand. In the madness of a few many innocents suffer. I hope we do not have to see something like these anymore.

PS: loved your post Jamie

I was nearly 15 when it happened, and I remember it so vividly! I'm in England so it was toward the end of school when it happened, and I remember having the radio on becuase it was art class, only there was no music, just news bulletins. I didn't really take in what had happened other than that there was a plane crash, until I got home and it was everywhere. That video someone took down the street of the tower collapsing and the dust cloud approaching, I'll never forget.

What sticks with me more is the 7/7 attacks, as I was just about to move to London at the time. That people can do things like that to their fellow man is such a difficult thought to comprehend, may everyone who lost their lives in these tragedies rest in peace.

I was 12. My parents alarm clock went off and the radio hosts were talking about it. We turned the tv on. I don't remember what I saw actually, that part of my memory is kinda fuzzy. I remember how frightened my parents were. My dad was getting something out of our hall closet and when he shut it he pushed so hard he put a dent in the door. I'd never seen him like that. I got to school and the teachers were trying so hard to be calm, but it was obvious they were just as scared and shocked. We turned the tv on in one of my classes just in time to see the second plane go in.

My aunt was supposed to be in the Pentagon that day, in the section that was hit. There was a last minute change of plans though, her flight got canceled. I am so grateful she wasn't there.

I was eleven and living on an air force base in California. School had just started and I remember my teacher going in and out of the classroom, and I could see her talking to other teachers in the hall who were all obviously distressed, but I had no idea what was going on. We were all let out of school early, and when I got home I was the only one there. I turned on the TV, and the image of the second plane hitting the tower was on every channel. I'll never forget that image as long as I live.

I had just turned 20 when the 9-11 attacks occurred and was on campus that day. Probably was the last person to learn what had happened, not hearing the complete news until later that afternoon after a sobbing professor dismissed us from our last class. Thinking back, I can only describe the impact of the news as incredulity, horror, shock, anger, intense heartbreak. That day really did a number on Americans...

What really broke my heart was learning years later how much of the truth surrounding those attacks has been concealed from the people, and also how much politicians and popular media played on our raw emotions in order to further their own agendas. There's just so much to the story of 9/11 that deserves to be discussed and considered.

I was a freshman in high school. I remember not hearing about it until I got the school. We always had the news on in the morning but no one was really watching it. I just remember being mad at school because they wouldn't let us watch any of it and kept going on like it was a normal day.

I was like Paula though. I really didn't understand what had happened until my family had talked about it. It was just a weird feeling.

I was 10 and going to a small school in Brooklyn, New York with my cousins at the time, but I lived in New Jersey. I remember the day started off normal, but all of a sudden parents started coming in to pick their kids up and take them home. Our teachers never told us anything, because they didn't want to scare us apparently, but we could tell something was wrong.

After all the kids were picked up and the school was basically empty, my cousins and I were told that we couldn't get home because the Twin Towers were hit and that all the bridges and tunnels going back to Jersey were blocked. We cried like crazy when we found out what was happening, but we were able to call our parents and let them know we were ok. We eventually had to spend the night at my teacher's house until they were able to pick us up the next morning.

And my dad works in New York City. Turns out that VERY morning he missed his train and decided to call out for the day, before everything started. I cried even more when he told me that.

I was 10 when it happened. I was in the car with my mom and she told me that a plane crashed into the twin towers. She said he co-workers told her but she couldn't believe it. I think of course asked: "Is the Statue of Liberty okay?" Because it was my favorite structure in New York. I went to the World Trade Center once and don't even remember it :(. I of course went home and saw the news and was shocked at the damage.

My family went to DC to see the Pentagon and then to NYC and saw the damage (This was a month or two afterwards I think). The air was so thick with debris and we saw all the damage, including the building in which there was a fire for a long time. It was heartbreaking. Then when we got home our house caught on fire.

I am in Utah, so we are 2 hours behind the East Coast. I had the early shift at work, so I was up and at work by the time the first plane hit. The radio news reports here were saying it was an accident. There was no mention of terrorism or anything like that until well after the second plane hit. It just seemed so surreal. Until I got home and saw the news I wasn't sure what to think. Such a sad day.

I wasn't in school when it happened and I hadn't watched the news. So I had no idea what was going on until well after the planes hit. Have y'all seen Remember Me? It is such an amazing movie that is likely to make you cry. I still tear up when I think of that movie :(.

That's a major spoiler Richard... But I agree, emotional movie.