story9621.xml

story9621.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-11

I woke up at 7:30 in the morning to attend a math class at college. Since I lived in the dormitory, I just walked over to the classroom. By the time the first attack hit, I was still in class. After class, I went to bed for a nap, setting the alarm for 10:15. When I woke up after the nap, I got my rollerblades and books together to go to an off-campus class. To this point, I did not turn on the tv or radio. I got to the bottom floor of the building, and went into the college bookstore. The BookStore radio had Howard Stern on and they were going to a live report that the Trade Center was hit. I said aloud and thought that it was a cleverly disguised hoax, since I just studied "The War Of The Worlds" hoax in one of my classes. I purchased a sports drink and started to skate toward the off-campus class. There was no panic in the streets that I noticed, and I had to dodge the usual cars. I arrived at 10:55, took off my skates and went inside. I waited in the lobby, and the secretary said "Did you hear what happened?" I said "You're listening to Howard Stern, aren't you?" "No..I'm listening to KQV" First thought was, "Oh my God..it isn't a hoax!" A sign was then posted saying "Class Cancelled. Return to Campus for Further Instructions." I stayed there about half an hour to make sure the other classmates heard about it. Tim, my classmate, rolled up on a scooter, and I said "Class has been canned. Have you heard what happened?" "Yeah. They say there's a plane in Pittsburgh too." I thought again, "Oh my God" and took off quickly for the campus. This time there was more of a sense of panic and confusion in the street. And at every stop, I asked someone, "Hey, can you turn up your radio? What is the latest news?" and other phrases. I don't remember even taking my skates off when I got back. I went to the dorm room and immediately tried to call my mom and dad. It took me a while to get through. When I did, they said they were just closing the store and I went online to try and contact other family members and other friends. I was very frightened, crying, and I wanted to go home. I was then told that if we wanted to get out of the city, I could go home with one of the professors. I decided to stay in the city, and I just remember being glued to the computer, updating news sites, watching news channels, I just stayed up all night long watching the news. The next time I slept was about 3:00 in the morning.

That is my Sept. 11 story, from a student of Journalism at Point Park College