#2149 | Wednesday, September 11th 2002
That morning I had just got home from work, the night shift, it was my normal routine to watch the news before going to bed. I went into the room, turned on the television, and started getting ready for bed. They were talking about the weather, then came on with breaking news about the first plane in the towers. They were on a call with a lady that had seen what happened, them and me thinking it was an accident, as they were talking to the lady, and had a live shot of the towers...there went the second plane. I was glued to the television..confused, not knowing what to think..then the pentagon. Now I was getting scared..what was happening...I called my mom, we agreed to spend the day together...whatever was happening, we were going to be together. Between the t.v. and radio, we were glued all day sometimes crying for fear, crying for the people lost, then we were angry. And to this day we are still angry, but are so proud of how this country has pulled together to be united, and so patriotic. God Bless America and all who call this Home!!
Lisa | 29 | Nevada

#2075 | Wednesday, September 11th 2002
We were on holidays in a small fishing village in Spain, where we did not have television in our apartment. We had spent the afternoon of 11 September (it happened 2:46 Spanish time) on the beach unaware of what was going on in New York. I still remember (and feel ashamed), that I was sulking large parts of the afternoon, because my boyfriend had been teasing me over my lack of tan after nearly three weeks in the sun. Since we had to get up very early the next morning to go on a day trip, we grabbed a take-away from a beach restaurant, went back to our apartment and to bed very early, without hearing about the attacks.

On our daytrip, at the first toilet stop on the way, I saw on a muted television, that there was kind of an explosion in a large house, and they had interviews with George W.Bush, and Saddam Hussein. I told my boyfriend that it felt as if “something was going on”, but actually I thought that someone had started war with Iraq or similar. Only when we arrived at our destination and stopped at a pub where the television was on, did we see that it was actually a plane flying in a house. Since it said “reporting live from Madrid”, and our Spanish was not good enough to follow the excited reporter's commentary, we thought that a small plane had hit a skyscraper in Madrid. Out of context it looked like a tragic but relatively small incident, and our imagination was not good enough to imagine anything of the scale of September 11.

It was only in the afternoon, when we went past a shop selling international newspapers, that we discovered what really happended, and it has taken much longer to understand the full extent of the attacks.

Ulrike | 29 | United Kingdom

#2054 | Wednesday, September 11th 2002
I am a police officer, and on the morning of September 11th I had gotten off shift at 0700. I had some paperwork and administrative duties to attend to, so by around 0830 I was ready to leave. As I was leaving I decided to stop by and see another friend of mine who was working a road detail. We chatted and after about an hour, one of the bicycle patrol officers rode up to us and told us to turn on the radio. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, both towers of the World Trade Center had been hit. I immediately left and headed home. While on the way home I called my wife and found out that she and our daughter were at her grandmothers house. I told her to stay put and continued on my way home. I listened as the Pentagon got hit, the reports of a plane crash in Pennsylvania, and then the towers crashing. I remember driving on the highway and looking over at another motorist, I remember seeing her crying as she was probably listining to the news reports also. When I got home, all I could do was watch in horror as the scenes were replayed, over and over. I will never forget this day and the surreal feeling. What started out as a heavenly day turned into hell. Never in my wildest dreams would have I imagined that I would have seen fighter planes patrolling the skies of this great nation. God bless all my brothers and sisters in uniform, all the Medics and EMT's, all the firefighters, and the soldiers on the front lines. And god bless all of the Americans on this day of reflection. Someday we may be able to say that this day was the beggining of the end of terror.

My name is not important, what is important is that I am a proud American.


AMERICAN | 29 | Massachusetts

#2026 | Wednesday, September 11th 2002
I were at my work in Oslo, Norway when I recieved an SMS from a friend telling med there had been an "accident" (when the first plane crashed).
That was when the world changed...

Hopefully something good will come of this!

Øyvind | 29 | Norway

#2022 | Tuesday, September 10th 2002
Five time zones away from ground zero, I was asleep during the attack. I do not typically turn on the television or radio while getting ready for work. But after dropping my daughter off at school, I turned on the news in the car. I was thoroughly confused. The anchor woman kept saying we did not know exactly where the president was... as if he was literally missing. Then it seemed as though he had been kidnapped -- that hijackers were on Air Force One. I was worried and surprised.

But the reality, the truth that I then watched over and over on the television during the next few days, was a million times worse. I can still remember that it was a sunny day and I can even remember the section of road that I was driving down when I first heard something was terribly wrong in our country. And I can remember, and continue to feel, the pain of losing thousands of Americans. I did not personally know a single person lost on September 11th. Yet, somehow, I feel like a piece of me is missing. Maybe it is my innocence and naiveté. They crumbled, like the towers, exactly one year ago.

Jessica | 29 | Alaska

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