story21.xml

story21.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-01-30

It was a typical Teusday morning, I was sitting in my 2-Dimensional Design class. We had been in class for nearly two weeks and I was still getting accustomed to my new classmates and my new professors, I was just two weeks out from back home (Flushing Queens). Around 10:30am when we were allowed to go on break I was sitting calmly in my chair drinking a soda. My Professor came in and said that the world trade center had been hit by an aircraft. The first thing I thought was 'Oh great another plane crash' then she continued to say that they think it was a terrorist attack, I guess it was my typical New Yorker response. My reaction was of confusion, then I became concerned that maybe one of my family members was there. The professor let us out of class early, I headed home I felt zoned out and alien. As if everything was going on around me but it was like watching a silent movie. As soon as I walked into my apartment my roomate asked me if I had seen what had happend and if I was alright, the only thing I remember saying was that if any of my family is hurt or killed because of this I was going to enlist. They began to show replays of the airplanes hitting the towers, then I thought about my uncle Alex who works at the World Trade Center renovating offices. I began to try to reach my mom and my family but the lines were busy. I decided to go to class because I needed to keep busy. I sat through the rest of my classes thinking about the attacks trying not to stay calm and I kept telling myself my family was ok.

I went and picked up my friends John and Geoff and we went to get something to eat. John was in worse shape then I was, he was actually in shock. I kind of felt bad because it seemed that I couldn't show any emotion and here was my best friend trembling and nervous. Geoff on the other hand was probably the most mature of all of us, he would just sit there and ask if we were ok if he could do anything to help. Later in the day I got ahold of my dad, he told me to try and reach my uncle Alex and told me not to worry about my mom, everyone else was ok.

It took another week to finally get ahold of my mom in the city, she said she was fine and that my uncle Alex was fine too. Luckily he had gotten out of the building after the second plane hit. He had run all the way down to battery park and was still recovering from the shock. After I got ahold of my mom I guess I started feeling anger against the people who did this horrific act of violence. Things started to rebuild in terms of people moving on and getting on with their lives. I just feel sad for the people that lost friends and family in the planes and in those buildings.