story10738.xml
Title
story10738.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2004-08-08
911DA Story: Story
It was a little after 8 am and I had just arrived for my first Chemistry lab of the semester. We were using laptop computers that were connected to the internet via the university network. As I have done on every morning I checked the news of the day on my.yahoo.com the first thing I saw was an article for a plane that flew into the WTC. My first thoughts were that it was a tragic accident and I thought it was a small private airplane. As I scrolled down the page I saw another article for a 2nd airplane that flew into the other tower. I immeadiately thought it was a terrorist attack. I still thought it was small planes though. Due to the intense volumes of traffic attempting to peruse the articles.
My class started and I was concerned but not shocked as I thought they were small private planes that would not cause intense damage. My mother called me about 30 minutes later to tell me that there had been a major attack on NYC and the Pentagon. I promised her I would be home as soon as I finished my lab assignment. My partner was my friend Chris as soon as I hung up the phone I told him about the attacks. We proceeded to work at a faster pace. As the people in my class began using the network printer the news began filtering around the room after I mentioned the attack to a former navy officer that had decided to return to school. Soon my professor disappeared. She returned 10 minutes later telling us the university had been shut down along with every other university and college in the state. We wrapped up our assignments and left the building.
Everyone was talking about what was happening. Rumors were abundant. It took me an hour to make a 10 minute drive. The campus police were directing traffic out of the university. Everyone was trying to leave at once. Thousands of cars were winding around the roads of the university with only two exits to the community.
Once I arrived home my parents did not know where my brother was. He was a member of the Air Force and was supposed to be getting off work around the time of the attacks. My thoughts immeadiately turned to my friends that were attending college in New England. I had friends between NYC and DC. It took two weeks before I learned that my friend Angela was safe. She had been attending NYU.
My class started and I was concerned but not shocked as I thought they were small private planes that would not cause intense damage. My mother called me about 30 minutes later to tell me that there had been a major attack on NYC and the Pentagon. I promised her I would be home as soon as I finished my lab assignment. My partner was my friend Chris as soon as I hung up the phone I told him about the attacks. We proceeded to work at a faster pace. As the people in my class began using the network printer the news began filtering around the room after I mentioned the attack to a former navy officer that had decided to return to school. Soon my professor disappeared. She returned 10 minutes later telling us the university had been shut down along with every other university and college in the state. We wrapped up our assignments and left the building.
Everyone was talking about what was happening. Rumors were abundant. It took me an hour to make a 10 minute drive. The campus police were directing traffic out of the university. Everyone was trying to leave at once. Thousands of cars were winding around the roads of the university with only two exits to the community.
Once I arrived home my parents did not know where my brother was. He was a member of the Air Force and was supposed to be getting off work around the time of the attacks. My thoughts immeadiately turned to my friends that were attending college in New England. I had friends between NYC and DC. It took two weeks before I learned that my friend Angela was safe. She had been attending NYU.
Collection
Citation
“story10738.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 27, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/15209.