As senior Andrew Natt watched the World Trade Center towers collapse on television Sept. 11, he had no idea that his father was in one of the buildings and his mother was in a hotel across the street.
Natt’s father had attended a conference in one of the lower floors that morning, and his mother had gone with him to the city. But until they called him at noon on the day of the attacks, Natt was unaware of his parents’ travel plans.
“I was sort of shocked because I didn’t even know they were there,” he said. “But I knew they were okay. They said it sounded like a big earthquake and then got out before the second plane hit.”
Although Natt didn’t know his parents were in New York City, some students struggled to contact family members and friends back east while others were left stranded in airports.
After nearly two weeks of watching replays of the World Trade Center’s 107 stories topple down through plumes of smoke, many people return to campus this week with mixed feelings about the event and what the country should do.
Yuko Tokuda had just reached the end of a trip to Peru when she saw the second hijacked plane plow into the N.Y. building on a television screen — the day before her scheduled flight back to the United States.
“We saw it on the news. But it was all in Spanish, and I had no idea what was going on,” she said. “I thought it was a science fiction film. All I knew was my flight was canceled, and I was stuck in Peru.”
The junior journalism major — whose native language is Japanese — went to an Internet cafe in the South American country and read both American and Japanese articles to learn about the terrorist attacks. After three days in Lima, the capital of Peru, she finally found a flight back.
Tokuda, an international student from Japan, said the attacks are tragic. But she added that it’s hard for her to connect herself to the event or think about how government leaders should respond.
“I feel like the U.S. is my home, and I care about what happened,” she said. “But I see the whole nation coming together, and I don’t really feel like I’m a part of that.”
However, the events have especially affected students who have loved ones in New York City.
After senior Kristen Grbavac saw the news, she immediately tried contacting her best friend from high school, who attends New York University and lives six blocks away from the Trade Center towers. It took two days to reach her.
“When she called I got teary-eyed and started crying on the phone,” Grbavac said. “She had seen both towers come down and people jump out of buildings. I had just been there in December to visit her. I can’t even imagine going back to the city right now and seeing nothing in the sky.”
Sophomore Mike Gonsalves was on his way back to Eugene from his hometown of Honolulu that day. But when his plane landed in the international terminal at the San Francisco airport and security officials began inspecting passengers, he knew something was wrong.
“I saw that everyone was watching the television screens, so I started watching and figured out what was happening,” he said. “I thought ‘Oh my god, I was just in the air, and I’m lucky to be here.’ I was really freaked out.”
Gonsalves added that although the United States should take some kind of action, going to war could lead to even bigger terrorist acts.
While many students heard about the attacks in the early morning, senior Sarah Watts didn’t know until about 3 p.m. because she was without telephone service or television. After calling her family in Portland, Watts, an education major, also discovered that her aunt worked in the World Trade Center but had safely escaped.
“I was completely shocked and devastated but not on a personal level until I heard my aunt was there,” she said.
Watts said people should think about how much freedom they are willing to sacrifice to ensure this won’t happen again.
“Right now, between security and privacy, I pick safety, but how far I’d go — I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t mind people tearing through my luggage, but what about tapping our phones and houses?”
She added that while she is unsure about what the country should do, watching people reach out to each other is inspiring. But she also wonders about what triggered the attacks.
“I have pride in my country — people working together and uniting as one, but I recognize that something happened to make this happen,” she said. “What made these people hate us so much? I have to ask what our country has done that I don’t know about.”
Beata Mostafavi is the student activities editor for the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reached at [email protected].