I was going to school in Newark, NJ. I was awaken by my roommate who said “a plane flew into the twin towers.” As I sat up, still groggy, I got a phone call. It was my dad saying “we’re under attack.” I couldn’t even speak. I was just filled with disbelief. We ran down to the end of the hall, where we could see out the large windows in the stairwell. Smoke was rising from lower Manhattan. I ran back to my room and put some clothes on, threw my contact lenses in, and we went off to another building on campus to get a better view. It was just completely surreal. When you live in an area where stuff is always happening, to see everything stop for a moment… to see everyone staring at the same thing… it was like being in a movie. I spent most of that day trying to get through the jammed cell phone networks to reach anybody I could, just to know they were safe.