story3686.xml
Title
story3686.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
My story isn't sad, exciting or even effective. It is what happened to me and the way I felt exactly a year ago today...
I was a junior at the University of Pittsburgh. It was about 10:30am and I was entering Hillman Library after my first class of the day ended. As I was walking in, hoards of other students were leaving. Library employees were telling us that the library was closing and that we all needed to go back home. The university was closed. On my walk back to my apartment my anxiety grew. What had happened? No one that I talked to seemed to know. I walked past many cars and trucks with their radio volumes high. It seemed there was an airplane crash somewhere, but where?
When I finally reached my apartment all of my roommates were watching CNN. I was quizical, but they filled me in. I sat down to absorb what they were telling me. How could someone bomb the trade towers with an airplane? As my brain was trying to comprehend, the second tower went down. It was ugly. I didn't like watching, nor could I come to reality. Everything I saw on TV looked like a slick Hollywood movie with great effects, except these effects looked much more believable.
One of the hijacked planes went down in Somerset County, about 80 miles east of my location. Parents and friends tried calling my apartment to check up on us. It was almost impossible to get through. Much of the city of Pittsburgh was closed. If you were in you were staying in. And those who were out we didn't want to come in. Rumors were flying, people were checking parked cars for bombs, the streets were quiet. No one felt comfortable.
My roommates are from the D.C. area. My friend who has a sister who worked in the 7th building of the Trade Center. She has a different job now. Other than paranoia, these were the people that I knew that were physically close to the action. It's too bad that a whole nation had to be emotionally close to such an atrocity.
A year later I still get tears in my eyes when I hear the interviews on TV. It's heartwrenching to see how many children have matured, all because they lost a parent. I hate it, I change the channel because I get so sick of it. I'm ready to move on, but I know I won't forget.
I was a junior at the University of Pittsburgh. It was about 10:30am and I was entering Hillman Library after my first class of the day ended. As I was walking in, hoards of other students were leaving. Library employees were telling us that the library was closing and that we all needed to go back home. The university was closed. On my walk back to my apartment my anxiety grew. What had happened? No one that I talked to seemed to know. I walked past many cars and trucks with their radio volumes high. It seemed there was an airplane crash somewhere, but where?
When I finally reached my apartment all of my roommates were watching CNN. I was quizical, but they filled me in. I sat down to absorb what they were telling me. How could someone bomb the trade towers with an airplane? As my brain was trying to comprehend, the second tower went down. It was ugly. I didn't like watching, nor could I come to reality. Everything I saw on TV looked like a slick Hollywood movie with great effects, except these effects looked much more believable.
One of the hijacked planes went down in Somerset County, about 80 miles east of my location. Parents and friends tried calling my apartment to check up on us. It was almost impossible to get through. Much of the city of Pittsburgh was closed. If you were in you were staying in. And those who were out we didn't want to come in. Rumors were flying, people were checking parked cars for bombs, the streets were quiet. No one felt comfortable.
My roommates are from the D.C. area. My friend who has a sister who worked in the 7th building of the Trade Center. She has a different job now. Other than paranoia, these were the people that I knew that were physically close to the action. It's too bad that a whole nation had to be emotionally close to such an atrocity.
A year later I still get tears in my eyes when I hear the interviews on TV. It's heartwrenching to see how many children have matured, all because they lost a parent. I hate it, I change the channel because I get so sick of it. I'm ready to move on, but I know I won't forget.
Collection
Citation
“story3686.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed April 13, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/13480.