I was at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio, in my dorm room, asleep, on the morning of Sept 11, 2001. I was a freshman in college and Tuesday was the only day I didn’t have early class. I woke up to a frantic phone call from my mom telling me to “WAKE UP AND TURN ON THE TV”. This is ridiculous looking back, but it was my nieces 1st birthday on that day and I thought that she was on TV or something. Ha. Anyways, I turned on the TV and watched the footage of the first plane crash into the tower. Then the girls who lived on my floor began opening their doors and everyone was in everyone elses room, freaking out. We sat and watched as the second plane crashed into the tower. My roommate came back from class shortly after and was really confused. She knew something was going on but didn’t know details. We continued to watch the footage throughout the day as rumors began to circulate about other big cities being targeted. I was very concerned about my family in Columbus. There was some confusion about a plane en route to Cleveland and there were reports that it may have been hijacked. That turned out to be false, to the relief of myself and many of my dormmates. Class was cancelled for the rest of the day and I believe the next day.

Even as an 18 year old college student, I am not sure that I understood the severity of the attacks. I remember joking with friends about going to war and becoming hippies. We then began to hear about all the people who died and the rescue workers who risked their lives and it became incredibly serious.