I was working at a private langauge school at the time as well as studying. I had a class with a bunch of guys from Reuters (believe it or not) during the attack. When I got back to my apartment is when a friend phoned me to tell me about the attack, I saw the towers collapse live.
Of course I tried to phone my sis and brother in law (she was working in MidTown Manhattan at the time) and could not get through for hours. I finally got through and talked to my brother in law, they had been married since the start of 2001, who let me know everyone was ok, my sis had to walk across a bridge to get back to Queens. Then phoned my parents in Canada to let them know everyone was ok.
The most chilling thing for me was when I went out to meet some friends to watch the news together that night, I saw a fellow I guess of North African descent. I was parking my bike to go into my friend's apartment while he was getting ready to go out on his scooter. He then said something (in French) about "well done in the USA, Allah akbar" then drove off. Just a guy who was sharply dressed to boot. I heard second hand sentiments like that even from others Latin Americans and in front of me by a guy from Geneva I felt like killing. This type of hate is more than anything else what led me to reject conspiracy theories.
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