Nine Years After 9/11
ine years passed, but I remember September 11, 2001 as if it was yesterday. I was a sophomore in high school, and that particular morning, the radio alarm on my stereo woke me up to a reporter announcing that a hijacked plane flew into the World Trade Center. Huh? Hijacked plane? Twin towers? Fire? I thought surely this was a joke, and almost brushed it aside until I realized - that’s strange - I never set my radio alarm to go off that morning, nor do I even use it at all. The world was trying to tell me something. So instead of finding some way to shut off the obnoxious alarm to get five more precious minutes of sleep, I sat straight up in bed, and listened.
I remember how surreal the rest of the day felt. Even though the attack happened thousands of miles away, it felt as if I lost someone I personally knew. Looking back, I realized that I went through a mild form of the grieving process during the next few months - the denial, the anger, the sadness, but I never got through the acceptance part. I remember scouring the news for stories, photos, anything - to help me understand what happened, and to fill a void that for some reason, I just couldn’t shake off.
Years later, I heard from others who visited Ground Zero that it wasn’t much to see, so I took their word for it and never got around to seeing it in person. But towards the end of our stay in New York, I finally gave into that tugging feeling inside of me that told me to just do it. I wanted to at least try to understand what happened, and to know that it wasn’t just a nightmare. (Image: New York Times)
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ights, sounds, smells - there’s so much I wanted to capture about New York, but it’s nothing like experiencing it first hand. What can I say, the city just feels so alive. It’s surprisingly quieter than I thought it would be; I was expecting more honking (like in the movies), more people talking on cell phones…but it’s almost quieter than it is back home. 
veryone seems to go to New York for shopping, but honestly, I’m not that big on it (well, except online shopping). We did make an exception though, to check out an antiques show and ginormous toy store. 
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