I was driving to work with a student from my neighborhood when I heard on the radio that there had been a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. My initial reaction was: What, again? (I was remembering the terrorist attack in 1993.) When I got to work, everyone wanted to watch the news on TV, but the school didn't have cable and there's no TV reception here without it. The Internet was overwhelmed by people looking for information, so it was pretty much frozen. All the teachers wanted to check radios out from the library, but we were out. We wound up getting updates from the principal, who had a radio in his office.

One of my uncles was working for the Pentagon at the time, so we were worried that he was in the part hit by the plane until my aunt called and told us he was on vacation in Europe and was fine.

I was asleep. My husband came in and woke me up and told me I 'have to see this'. I went out to the living room just as the second tower went down. I asked him what movie it was. He said it wasn't a movie, it was on EVERY channel.

I was able to reach my sister in NY and find out she was no where near that area of town. Later, I learned a cousin of mine was on a flight that day, heading home from a business trip. His plane was diverted to another airport and he hired a rental car with several other passengers, so he could get home to his pregnant wife. She was so stressed out that went into early labor and their son was born that day. (He's healthy and still going strong.)

The surreal thing was seeing this unfold but knowing that we were so far away from it (I was living in San Diego at the time) that our workday still had to go on as normal. It didn't feel right.

How has it effect my day to day life, even now?

Well, my husband became addicted to news that day. He couldn't get enough of it. He's a little better now, but he still gets antsy if he can't check what's going on in the world. I was like that for the first year or two, but in the last few years, I've discovered when it comes to knowing what's going on in the world, sometimes "ignorance is bliss". If something important happens, I know my husband will tell me.

To this day, my stepmom refuses to ever fly again. That's okay, we don't want her to visit either.

I was just starting my junior year of college at a school in the Midwest...I was on campus that morning, but somehow missed hearing anything about it. I walked home to our off-campus house (my roommate was in class at the time), and turned on the tv absentmindedly...We didn't have cable, and the volume was muted--I saw President Bush on the tv (all four of our channels), and decided to turn the tv off....went and made a sandwich, turned the tv on--this time with volume--just as footage of the plane going into the second tower was shown. I remember saying out loud, "Oh no!" and sinking onto the sofa, trembling. I sat there for an hour by myself....

My roommate walked in the door a little later--she had heard what had happened but hadn't seen the news yet--and she sank down on the sofa with me. A few more people filtered over that afternoon and night...we watched for hours.

I didn't know, or know anyone that knew, any people personally effected by the tragedy....but I do know it was the first time I really ever felt vulnerable here in the US.

Flying has always scared me, and 9/11 definitely strengthened the fear....

At work (a school in London) - we didn't have radio or a TV switched on there, so I heard about it slowly as other people received phone calls etc. At first we thought it was an accident, it was several hours before we heard about the 2nd plane and realised it wasn't. I think it lacked a lot of the immediacy that people in the USA experienced.