story5200.xml
Title
story5200.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
(I am an International student from Great Britain and I am studying English and Psychology at a small college in Toledo, Ohio. I have been here 4 years and think of the States as my second home. My parents and my sister live here, and now I am married to an American(May 4th 2002) so I have all the people I love dearly in this country).
After my frist class of the day,I got into my car to drive to the other side of campus for my second class. I had left the radio on and the first thing I heard was, "The tower is in a ball of flames and there are bodies falling through the sky." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I thought someone was playing a sick joke over the radio station, so I clicked to a different station but I listened to the same hell all again; bodies flying out of the tower and flames everywhere. I felt sick and I thought at the time that a bomb had gone off. I didn't know about the plane crashing into the tower and the second one hadn't hit yet. I parked and didn't know whether I should keep listening to the news and be late for class, or not disappoint the professor by showing up late. I decided to go to class to see if any of the students were any wiser on the situation than I was.
College was abnormally quiet. What I didn't know was that most of the students and teachers were huddled around television sets in offices and the cafeteria. I went into class and everyone just looked stunned. I asked a few of the people I sat near what was going on and they told me an aeroplane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York. I thought I was going to vomit, my stomach just turned circles. The reason being was that my Dad often flew to various cities around the U.S for business. I got up from my seat, grabbed my car keys and ran to my cellphone in my car, thinking over and over in my head, "Please God let him be in the office, let him be in the office." I frantically dialed his number and spoke to his secretary, who informed me he was safe in the building in Toledo and that my sister had also called. I called home, but my Mum was still out with the horses and I don't think she even knew that world was turning upside down.
I went back to my classroom and the teacher was already there telling everyone ehat she knew. It was then that one of the other late students came running in yelling, "There's a second plane, it went right through the other tower!!' The teacher told us that we could all leave and go home to watch the television. I don't remember driving home and when I watched television it was like watching a horribly realistic movie. I will never forget where I was when I heard the news. It will be another infamous day that everyone will be able to recall exactly what they doing when they heard, just like when JFK was assasinated.
After my frist class of the day,I got into my car to drive to the other side of campus for my second class. I had left the radio on and the first thing I heard was, "The tower is in a ball of flames and there are bodies falling through the sky." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I thought someone was playing a sick joke over the radio station, so I clicked to a different station but I listened to the same hell all again; bodies flying out of the tower and flames everywhere. I felt sick and I thought at the time that a bomb had gone off. I didn't know about the plane crashing into the tower and the second one hadn't hit yet. I parked and didn't know whether I should keep listening to the news and be late for class, or not disappoint the professor by showing up late. I decided to go to class to see if any of the students were any wiser on the situation than I was.
College was abnormally quiet. What I didn't know was that most of the students and teachers were huddled around television sets in offices and the cafeteria. I went into class and everyone just looked stunned. I asked a few of the people I sat near what was going on and they told me an aeroplane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers in New York. I thought I was going to vomit, my stomach just turned circles. The reason being was that my Dad often flew to various cities around the U.S for business. I got up from my seat, grabbed my car keys and ran to my cellphone in my car, thinking over and over in my head, "Please God let him be in the office, let him be in the office." I frantically dialed his number and spoke to his secretary, who informed me he was safe in the building in Toledo and that my sister had also called. I called home, but my Mum was still out with the horses and I don't think she even knew that world was turning upside down.
I went back to my classroom and the teacher was already there telling everyone ehat she knew. It was then that one of the other late students came running in yelling, "There's a second plane, it went right through the other tower!!' The teacher told us that we could all leave and go home to watch the television. I don't remember driving home and when I watched television it was like watching a horribly realistic movie. I will never forget where I was when I heard the news. It will be another infamous day that everyone will be able to recall exactly what they doing when they heard, just like when JFK was assasinated.
Collection
Citation
“story5200.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 18, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/14907.