We all went out into the hallway, where there was a TV with CNN or maybe one of the local networks on. And we stood there and watched as the 2nd plane hit on live TV. We continued to watch, until the first tower collapsed, and then the second. At that point, the instructor said, “I think everyone should go home.”
I returned to my apartment, just outside New Brunswick, NJ. My apartment was on the 20th floor, facing northeast to Manhattan, about 30 miles away. I watched the smoke stretched for miles out to the east for the rest of that day, and for many days after.
One of the things I remember most, was the eerie absence of planes over the next few days. My apartment was right under the flight path into/out of Newark International Airport, and I was used to planes constantly passing over. The other thing I remember is my shock at how long smoke continued to rise from the site. For days and days, maybe even weeks, I could still see the smoke rising and drifting out to sea, from 30 miles away.
To be that close that you could see the smoke. I imagine that when the smoke dissipated, the absence of those buildings was also chilling.