I was on my way from class, having just finished yet another Philosophy test, when I heard some hijacked planes crashed into the WTC.

I thought to myself: "If I was to steal a plane, I would make sure I can fly it!" and did not even realize at that point, that the planes and buildings had people in them.

Everyone, including me, thought it was an accident, no one knew how the world and New York was about to change...

When I got to the cafeteria, to watch the CNN, I saw a close up how the buildings were hit and on fire. Some people on the street were crying and screaming and others just stood there in awe. Than I saw the back and front building collapse.

I have never seen such a thing. It looks horrific on TV, but it is an understatement to say that it must be unbelievable watching the largest buildings in the world collapse in front of your own eyes, as many people did. There was panic.

It was like in a bad Godzilla film, as if a monster is walking through the city. Total chaos, total panic, and total fear. Just than I realized, I had friends in there. I tried to call. All phones lines died, and suddenly the news announced the city closed, and also the airspace. No one could get in or out.

Than the mess reached Cleveland and Tri C. One of the hijacked planes has entered the airspace. The school police were running around and screaming at everyone to evacuate immediately. I wanted to go home, anywhere, like I have never wanted it before.

Suddenly having a driver's license seemed so crucial. Well, I sat for about an hour in front of the school, listening to the sirens, trying to reach someone on the phone, someone to take me home, as the busses did not come, and trying to reach someone I knew in NY. The worst part was being alone and stuck.

I finally got a hold of Markus, and was on my way home, still not comprehending completely what had just happened. The whole day, and part of the night I was watching the news, listening to the radio, calling maybe a hundred times to reach my friends. And I watched the quick conclusions and pointy fingers unbelievably. What do I make out of it all? Yet it was still early into the events...

The next morning while in class, the cops got in again. "A bomb threat, evacuate! " And just a few hours later: "A bomb threat, evacuate!" And an Arab guy being beat up on the campus. And some lady harassed in a grocery store.

And more news, more dead, more threats, more cries, more pain coming from NY and Washington. Journalists broadcasting rescue missions, people donating blood, more images of the attacks, that all surrounded me constantly. And just than the footage shot at one of the firefighter's funeral. Everything has changed.

Thank God that everyone I care for is alive and healthy. But New York is not the same place anymore. Thousands of families have lost their brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, grandchildren, grandparents, mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, cousins... The list doesn't end. Life isn't the same any longer.

The people who did this thought that they are going to destroy the financial center of America, the wealthy and the rich, when in reality they destroyed people such as you and I, normal people, foreigners as well as Americans, children, students, families whose fault was only to be at the wrong time at the wrong place, unknowingly.