Tuesday, September 11, 2012

September 11, 2001 - What were you doing?

PIC


I decided to talk about this before the day ends. I first want to say Rest In Peace to all of those souls lost. 

What was I doing when the towers went down? First of all, I didn't even know that they even existed. I was buying lunch in Georgetown, Guyana. I saw the two towers ablaze on TV as I stepped into the restaurant. It was 3 months before I came to America. At first I thought it was a new movie. Then when I got back to my Aunt's office at UNICEF nobody was in their office and they were all glued to the TV in the conference room watching the same thing. I was thinking 'what is the big deal about this new movie trailer?'. That was when I realised what was really going on. New York was under terrorist attack. 

I had friends and family living here but I still didn't really realize the impact. Another aunt of mine worked as an accountant in the World Trade Center and I think it was either her day off or she had called out but either way she dodged a giant bullet. She has set foot back in New York very few times since then, started a nursing program in New Jersey where she lived and totally switched careers so she wouldn't have to come to New York too often.  

When I arrived in New York on December 17th 2002 I had no idea how much the 9/11 attack would affect my life here in the U.S. as an International/F1 Student. You see, before then, it was easy for F1 students to get work permits so that they could get jobs and be able to pay their tuition. After the attack tight restrictions were put on International students' work permits, we could no longer work anywhere we pleased and were only permitted to work for our schools which had limited jobs which first went to American citizens on financial aid(rightfully so). It really sucked for thousands of students. So alternative arrangements had to be made to pay for school or some just went back home because they did not have the support needed to afford school. That is just one of the aspects of International student life that the 9/11 attacks affected. I won't be getting into the rest because none of that can compare to what the people directly affected had to go through and are still going through. 

Once again, R.I.P. to those people lost on and later because of September 11, 2001. 


5 comments:

  1. I was working in the largest Federal building in Chicago. You know I was scared. There wasn't a TV in the fitness center in the basement so by the time I left the towers had already fallen down. It was a sad day especially for the families of those on the planes, in the Pentagon and in the twin towers.

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  2. I can only imagine how you felt girl. Thanks for stopping by. :)

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  3. I was in 8th grade and they had us all report back to our homerooms to watch the news.
    I was hysterical because my uncle was working at the Pentagon at that time and my mom literally had to pick me up off the floor to get me to calm down.
    Thanks be to God that he was away on business that day because the plane actually ended up in his office!
    I remember that day like it just happened, and I will never forget.

    oneand20.blogspot.com

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  4. Great to know your uncle wasn't hurt Brittney.

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