#620 | Wednesday, January 9th, 2002
My friend Joe and I had travelled on Sept 7th from Newark Airport to San Diego, California for a vacation, to get away from our respective "grinds". On the 10th, we drove north from San Diego to check out Los Angeles. I remember us hitting some tourist spots and clubs on the night of the 10th. We couldn't stay up all night, so we figured "we'd do the rest tomorrow", including seeing an Anaheim Angels game we'd gotten tickets for.

Having awakened at 9am PST in our room at Travelodge, we turned on the TV with the mute on. The first scrollbar item I noticed was "ALL Major League Baseball Games Cancelled". My first selfish thought was "dammit - we're screwed with these tickets". Then I figured either Cal Ripken or something else was terribly wrong.

After we turned up the volume, it was thrown all at us at once. We sat there for hours watching. I tried to contact my father in the Bronx, and finally did after two hours. He was fine. Joe works two blocks from the WTC at JPMorganChase and was worried about his workmates. After much trying to get through on the phones, they were OK. The Cantor Fitzgerald people he dealt with every day were not. It was very upsetting.

The trip, of course, was not the same after that. We cancelled a proposed drive to San Francisco. What would be the point? If all of LA was closed, so would be SF. The unprecedented show of patriotism by the beach bums and surfer dudes was unique but appreciable. And whereas California girls once expressed excitement at the prospect of meeting some New York guys, they now expressed sympathy. That's not all bad.


For the first time in a while I felt guilty about NOT being in New York when I figured I might be needed by somebody. I was never prouder to be one when I got home.

It was a vacation I'll never forget.
Anthony | 33 | New York

#621 | Wednesday, January 9th, 2002
Hi.Im Lena from israel, and when i first heared the very bad news I was in the library. I tought the end of the world would come. im owfully sorry.
Lena | 15 | Israel

#622 | Wednesday, January 9th, 2002
Living in Australia, it was already about 10pm when the planes hit. I had gone to bed early and so knew nothing until I woke up on September 12...my 18th birthday. I stayed home from classes and watched the tv all day. The actual immensity of the event only sunk in as the day went past. Needless to say it was not a great day to be celebrating a birthday.

The thing that most affected me was that this was and is not just an American tragedy. I have heard so many stories about Australians who had friends and family working in the towers. My sister teaches eleven year old children and told me about how much they cried when they heard the news. Flowers and memorials were set up outside important buildings in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, and outside the American embassy in Canberra.

To all Americans...Australia does share your pain. Australians did cry with you, just as people of different nationalities all over the world did. September 11 was targeted at one city, but it undoubtedly affected the entire world.
Rachel | 18 | Australia

#623 | Thursday, January 10th, 2002
I was in Spain, working in a bar. My girlfriend and I woke up that morning. We went for breakfast in the same Spanish cafe we had done for months.
Let's not have routine. Let's not fit into this market, wear a tie, carry a briefcase. Let's not depict what is right and what is wrong, and live our lives the way we think we are supposed to.
Does this not put it into perspective?
Let's thank the heroes.
The | 22 | United Kingdom

#624 | Thursday, January 10th, 2002
When the planes hit, I was in the library of my high school (in a suburb of Manhattan). I heard one of my teachers talking to someone about how a plane had hit one of the trade centers. At the time it was thought to be an accident, so while I was shocked I assumed no real damage had been done to the trade centers.
Later on in the day rumors started going around. We finally heard that both of the twin towers had been hit and that they were coming down. Because we were in school, information was scarse. People began to panic when the pay phones stopped working and no one could get ahold of their parents. People were saying that the White House had been blown up as well as the pentagon. We all paniced and eventually a friend of mine and I went home where we found out what had really happened-it was as bad as we had imagined.
Serendipity | 18 | New York

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