I remember, I was going to my class as an office aide. I walked in and everyone was clustered around the TV in there, which was never turned on. Nobody was talking. I kind of wormed my way through people, and saw the first tower with smoke coming out of it. I just thought "Wow, that's a nasty accident. Someone flying too low, I guess. I remember seeing those towers last year when I went on a vacation to Ireland and I left America from JFK."
Later, as I was walking through a room delivering something, (every class had the TVs on) I saw the second plane hit the other tower. At that point I thought "Ok, there is no way in hell that that could be a coincidence." Later came the news of Pennsylvania and the Pentagon. And finally, for a change of pace with footage other than two crumbled towers & the Pentagon, CNN would show Palestinians cheering for the attacks and burning American flags.
My school was right next to an Air Force base, and we had tons of military parents coming and checking out their kids that day.
I'm just preparing myself for when the next terrorist attack will hit. The London and Madrid bombings reminded me that there is still is still a chance that, one day, we'll walk into work or school and have another long day of silence, staring at the news.