9/11.... where were you?

[11B4V]

Just got back from PT and was bullshiting with the CSM when it came on TV.

[grumbler]

I was teaching a class when the first plane struck so didn't find out about it until class ended, and I went to the teacher's lounge to get some coffee.  On the way, i encountered another teacher who told me that a plane had hit the WTC.  I assumed it was a light aircraft, because I knew that something like that had happened to the Empire State Building in the 1940s, struck by a B-25.  Then another teacher came out of the lounge (where there was a TV set) and said "you have to see this," so I went in and was watching TV when the second plane struck and we realized with horror that this was no accident.

We had some kids whose parents worked in the Five-Sided Playpen, so we cancelled school and sent home kids whose parents could pick them up.  We had a bunch of kids whose parents couldn't, so we essentially baby-sat them until regular dismissal time.  That was hard, because we were afraid to let them watch TV, but had no other way to keep them entertained and their minds away from panicky thinking. 

It was only much later that I learned that the nose of the plane that hit the Pentagon had come to rest in the office I had worked in as a reservist until I retired the year before.

[Caliga]

Home during spare. Heard it on the radio. In my memory I was listening to Howard stern but I dont remember if he was on the air at that hour.

He was, and they started talking about the events as they unfolded.  I don't think I've ever heard that episode of his show but I've heard it is very hard to listen to.

[Admiral Yi]

At work at the IMF, which is like 4 blocks west of the White House.  I can't remember how exactly i heard, but I can distinctly remember looking out a south facing window and seeing a lot of smoke coming from the Pentagon.  We were told to go home but the subway had shut down so I had to walk.  Also distinctly remember a very pleasant, calm White House guard directing pedestrians.  Went home and watched CNN the rest of the day.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

studying for an exam on african art

[Razgovory]

At home sleeping.  My shouted down that a plane hit a building but I figured that it was just a small private plane.  When I got off dead ass I knew it wasn't a small plane.  Then another plane came in.  I figured it was Bin Laden, not because I am particularly knowledgeable but his name seemed to get connected to every terrorist attack back in the late 1990's.

[DontSayBanana]

US history class, sophomore year of high school. We only had one TV in the library that could pick up the news, and I was the one tasked to go watch it and report back to the class. I was watching the live feed as the second tower was hit.

And now I'm actually in the area tonight- volunteered for the week to help coordinate a disaster response team my job sent to deal with Hurricane Ida flood damage, and this is my last night right across in Edison. Considering going out and seeing if we're close enough/high enough that I can see the lights from my hotel.

Feeling particularly lousy because it wasn't until the out-of-town directors were asking about which direction to look that now, 20 years later, I finally had a real reaction when I looked around and realized that the last time I'd had time to really look at the NYC skyline, the towers were still standing. At the time it happened, I thought I was just keeping my cool, but the other kids and the teacher were freaked by how cool I was about it. And now, I'm feeling like a total sociopath for managing to avoid responding to what happened for 2 whole decades.

[jimmy olsen]

Got up to get breakfast at the college cafeteria. When I was picking up food I could hear the news over the radio, IIRC the 2nd plane hit while I was getting food. Was confused about what was going on. When I sat down to eat though, there were TVs on in the room with the tables, and was able to see the buildings on fire. And the replay of the 2nd plane hitting.

[Admiral Yi]

Remind me what college means in the UK.  Is it like an A-level cram school?

[Syt]

Remind me what college means in the UK.  Is it like an A-level cram school?

Tim didn't go to school in the UK, I don't think.

[Admiral Yi]

   Fucke me.  My bad.

[The Larch]

I was in university for the september exams, I had one that same morning and planned to study for the next one in the afternoon. At that moment there was no TV on my appartment, as one of my flatmates had taken it home for the summer, and I had no internet at home, so I didn't watch any news, and I was on my own so I didn't talk to anyone. I only knew about it when my mom phoned me and told me about it. I then went to a bar to watch the news and stayed there for most of the afternoon watching the developments, and afterwards I went to an internet cafe to read all the papers and what was being talked about at the EU forums.

[KRonn]

I was working in a Boston Hospital. I watched on a TV, probably in an office or the ER, the aftermath of the plane strikes. It was such a shock of course and being in the city, I worried that a plane could be headed our way or into a nearby building.