I was a college student in California at the time of the attack. I remember going to my university that Thursday morning at 6:30am, and as I entered the Student Commons building to grab some breakfast before heading to my first class, there was a guy lying down on one of the benches in front of the Student Commons entrance, crying. I hadn't watched the news that morning, so I didn't know what was going on. I thought, "whatever he's crying for, it can't be that bad" and I walked past him into the building.
I went to my first class at 7:30am (Advanced Japanese), and about an hour into the class, there was a university-wide announcement about the attack on the WTC. We were instructed to turn on the TV and tune in to CNN, so class ended early that day. Two hours later, another university-wide announcement came on the PA system that the entire school would be closed down for the rest of the week. The announcement said that "all non-essential personnel were to be evacuated immediately."
I was researching the effects of vitamin D3 on cancer cells back then. I started my research back in March 2001. I had been using the same cell line for half a year, changing the cell culture media (nutrients) every day to keep them alive. The announcement to evacuate meant that I couldn't go into the lab to work on my research that day. That was fine, but the problem was that I still had to go into the lab to change the culture nutrient media so my cell line wouldn't die. As soon as the announcement to evacuate was made, I immediately headed to the lab. I just wanted to change the media really quick and then I'd go home. But when I got to the science building, all the lights were off. The elevators had been shut down, so I ran upstairs to the 5th floor where my lab was. I swiped my card key through the card reader by the door, but the LED on the card reader said "Invalid ID." I swiped it again and again, and kept getting the same message. They had already begun to lock down all the buildings. So basically I was locked out of the lab. I went home, hoping that my professor would still have access to the lab so that she could change the nutrients for all the cell lines.
It turned out that my entire university was shut down until the following Monday, and no one was allowed into any of the buildings for 4 days. That meant that not even my professor could get into the lab. When I finally was able to go back to the lab, all the cancer cells I was working with had died. So the 9/11 attack had indirectly destroyed 6 months' worth of research that I was working on.
At the time I was really pissed off that I had wasted half a year on research that ended up getting wiped out, but that was nothing compared to the loss of so many other people. I finally knew why that guy was crying on the bench that morning. He probably had a relative in one of those buildings or on one of the flights.
