Students hit hard by attack on nation

Eight freshmen from the East Coast sat entranced by the 13-inch television in McNutt Quad Crone 200, completely unaware that a ninth had wandered in with an armful of food in an attempt to lighten the somber mood. \nThe large pile of snacks sat untouched in the center of the floor, as their appetites seemed unimportant compared to watching the coverage of Tuesday's terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.\nLeaning closer to the television, which was filled with scenes of the wreckage and chaos in the cities, Jillian Kahn, a freshman, tersely asked her friends to "please not talk right now." Her eyes did not drift away from the television screen as she voiced this request. \nThe dull ring of a cell phone disrupted the silence in the room and they all reached for their phones to ensure they remained in constant contact with their family and friends. It turned out to be a reporter's cell phone on TV. \nShaking her head and rubbing her temples to ease her swelling headache, Kahn said, "It's a relief to hear my family is OK, but the city you live in is in destruction. I just wish I was home right now."\nLainie Goldstein, a freshman, said she is worried about what's going on at home, but she's relieved to be in Indiana during such an emergency.\n"To be honest," Goldstein said, "I feel safer here than anywhere else."\nThe tension in the room and the dried tears on the faces of these freshmen is evidence that IU's student population that originates from New York has been left in shambles because of this tragedy.\nDownstairs in McNutt Bordner Ground, sounds of news anchors filled the hallways, as almost every room had their television tuned to remain up-to-date with the situation on the east coast. \nCharlie Geier, a freshman from Richmond, Ind., sat alone in his dorm room, strumming his guitar while watching the World Trade Center emit billows of thick smoke.\n"(Playing guitar) is a way to ease my mind because this is just so crazy," Geier said, the pleasant guitar chords a sharp contrast to the grave sounds coming from the news broadcast. "It's obviously devastating. It makes me angry, makes you want to just enlist and help out. I think most guys feel like that."\nHis neighbors sat quietly in their room, the glow of the television the only visible sign of electricity. Joel Riethmiller, a freshman from Fort Wayne, said he was in complete shock upon learning of the World Trade Center situation but didn't quite understand the magnitude of what happened.\n"Walking out of here and seeing people in tears with their cell phones -- that's when it started to hit me," he said.\nIt was lunch time several blocks away in Wright Food Court. Though many students appeared to be talking casually -- eating pizza and drinking coffee -- at least 30 people were crowded around the big-screen TV, mindlessly chewing their food while digesting the latest news update of the terrorist attacks in New York.\nSophomore Greg Stamm sat alone against the wall, seemingly unaware of anything around him except the television broadcast.\n"My mind automatically assumed it wasn't as bad as it initially appeared to be," Stamm said. "But after watching for a couple hours, it dwarfs anything else I've ever seen on TV." \nEarlier in the day, the Greek community was just waking up to the news that America was under attack. It was unusually quiet in Alpha Epsilon Pi and news broadcasts echoed through the hallways. Pajama-clad fraternity members and their girlfriends crowded on the couches of a room on the second floor, their eyes squinted from a mixture of sadness and sleep. \n"I'm pretty disturbed," sophomore Justin Gurney said. "The way I see it, this is by far the craziest thing that's ever happened. Here I am, worried about a test, and these people just died…I can't put it into words."\nDown the hall, New Jersey native Mike Levy was curled up in a blanket while shifting his attention from his cell phone to the television. The sophomore said he was immediately terrified because both his parents work in the City -- he confirmed they're both OK. \n"One of my brothers came to wake me up, and I've never been more scared in my life," Levy admitted. "I've been trying to call everyone, and my friend in D.C. said everything there is out of control. Their classes have been cancelled and they're just sitting around trying to figure out what to do."\nSeven-hundred miles from the tragedy, IU students are also experiencing uncertainty.\nDown the street in Alpha Epsilon Phi, girls had come home from their first morning class to watch the news surrounded by the support of their friends. Five girls are sitting on the bed in such bewilderment they all begin speaking at once when asked what they're feeling.\n"My God, how could anything like this happen in our lifetime," junior Lindsey Deitchman exclaimed. "You can't express it in words, you can only feel it -- the aching, the disgust."\nCassie Feldman nodded her head in agreement, her red hair pulled back from her tear-stained face. \n"My best friend lives in the City, but it's not really a question of her safety as much as how horrifying it must be to be there," Feldman said. "It's on American soil and it's terrifying."\nThey are interrupted by sophomores Stephanie Isaacs and Alissa Feldman who wander into the room in mid-conversation. Isaacs had a cell phone up to her ear as she said, "My legs are numb right now."\nAlissa Feldman added, "The world will never be the same again."\nEven on campus, students found ways to access a television. On the mezzanine floor of the Indiana Memorial Union, students were silent. The usual lunchtime chatter was muted as students gathered around TVs in the Commons and stood on chairs straining to see above the crowd. The e-mail stations were also crowded, long lines forming as students craved e-mail updates from home.\nJunior Kelly Gwin was waiting to e-mail friends working in downtown NY, and has not heard from them yet.\n"I've been on campus all day so I haven't heard much, but it's awful," she said. "I just want to talk to my friends."\nSenior Dave Fingerhut woke up in his off-campus apartment this morning to news of the assault on the World Trade Centers, incapable of pushing a growing fear out of his mind.\nFingerhut is from New York City, and his parents still live and work there. He tried to get in contact with his parents, and at first was unsuccessful, but eventually reached his mother, who had made it back home safely and also learned that his father was safe in his office building downtown. While Fingerhut plans on staying here in Bloomington instead of going home, he doubts that this is the end of this event.\n"I think this is going to result in more deaths and swift political retribution," he said. "This is a major wake up call for the U.S., and will have huge political repercussions. Things are never going to be the same."\nStaff reporters Holly Johnson and Brian Longly contributed to this story.