Five years ago, I was living with my sister and niece (in the house where I'm living alone...I eventually got my own apartment, my sister built a new house for herself and daughter and I moved back into that house, where I am now living, but not for long). All I remember is very early in the morning, around 6:30 or so, my sister yelling quite loudly, "OH MY GOD!" over and over. I very quickly woke up and went out to the living room to see what was going on and she had the TV on. She filled me in on what had happened up to that point and we just watched the TV until we both had to go to work. People at work were listening to radios and reading Internet news all day and all week. Being so far away from New York, things got back to normal fairly quickly.
My then-boyfriend was terribly affected by everything. I don't know if it's because he wasn't born here (he's from Pakistan) or if he knew many people who lived there or what, but for more than a year, every time he saw a picture of the WTC, he would tear up and literally feel for the people who lost their lives and for those who lost friends or family.