Eight in the morning sharp, a large group of students accompanied by the well-known Miss Topping and Seferian boarded the bus. The student group was composed of the AP Human Geography class and the SWS class studying 9/11. Mr. Clarke joined us mid-way through, before arriving at the World Trade Center.
Comprised fully of white walls and windows, I learned that the World Trade Center was an extremely odd building. It was cool, but I’m glad we didn’t stay long because the columns and fully uniform color of everything made it feel very liminal.
As we stepped outside, we were greeted with the overwhelming beauty of New York City. Its amazing architecture and variety of views down each street made it hard to keep calm, especially from the fact that we had a wonderfully warm autumn day ahead of us.
The first site we visited on our path to the 9/11 museum was the breathtaking Delta Fountains, with the names of every person who died in the building’s collapse etched into the marble on the rails. The surfaces shone, and the depth of the pools of water reflected the magnitude of the situation onto us.
By escalator, we ascended seventy feet below street level into where the tower’s final resting place was. The air in the main exhibit grew colder, and heavier with emotion. We met our tour guide, Lily, and she explained the stories behind crucial surviving pieces that remained from the tragic day.
“NO DAY SHALL ERASE YOU FROM THE MEMORY OF TIME,” echoed the quote on the wall–a resounding quote that left you breathless upon it being one of the first things you saw. It was accompanied by a massive art piece on one of the walls, a mosaic of squares with different shades of blue. The tour guide suggested that the meaning of the different shades represented how, on that day, everyone saw a different shade of blue in the sky–and experienced widely different events that impacted them for the rest of their lives.
The second exhibit that we visited was a massive piece of the satellite towers that stood on top of the North tower. This is where our tour guide told us that the brave broadcast workers working on that tower stayed up there to maintain the signal for as long as they could, because they knew there was simply no way down alive. Their contribution to maintaining phone signals and TV footage from that day will not be forgotten.
The third exhibit spoke to firefighters, and common people who rushed in the buildings to save people that day. The exhibit showcased a bruised and battered fire truck that most likely had been beaten by the massive debris falling from the building. Our tour guide told us a story of a sixteen year old who helped out that day, and saved a multitude of people–but ultimately did not make it out with those that he saved. He was a civilian, a student, and also a hero. 9/11 was the biggest loss of rescue personnel in an event in all of America.
We then walked towards an open room with the last column, which was the last column that remained standing after the collapse. On it were stickers, graffiti, proof of its life from its first construction to its deconstruction.
The tour finished, and we were allowed to explore other exhibits on our own for thirty minutes. I broke off with a few of my friends, and we went for the inner exhibit. Inside, you could hear phone recordings of the last phone calls and people crying for help, see maps and statistics, and items left over from the wreckage. These scenes were very shocking, because they revealed the blunt reality and humanity of every single person who passed away in this event.
There were details of the planes that self sacrifice, the plane that hit the south tower, and the plane that crashed into the pentagon.
Our time in the museum concluded, but the corroded pieces of metal and the burnt newspapers from that day will never be forgotten, and the people’s lives will not be erased.
The group went to eat at ‘Hudson Eats,’ at ‘Le District’ which had a very interesting dining style because there were different stands, where you could buy different meals. All of the food was prepared in front of you, and the chefs worked very diligently. My friend rated her burger a 10/10, and my meal was pretty good too!
The group sat facing the Hudson river, where we got to people-watch the citizens of New York City and take a glance at Lady Liberty from across the way. It was a beautiful and warm autumn morning, and the experience was plain gorgeous.
The last thing we saw was the Irish Hunger Memorial, a short walk from our brunch. This tribute had old architecture in the middle, displaying a scene that felt bare–bringing awareness to the famine in the 1850s.
We were then on our way home, almost missing our train, however Mr. Clarke dove headfirst into the doors, securing our way home, and not missing any students. It was there that we assumed the “subway stance,” coined by one of my friends. It was also one of my first times taking the subway so that was exciting!
I rate this trip a 10/10, especially with the fact that the day was beautiful and all the sites glistened with history and light. Everything we saw that day was impactful, especially in the middle of such a vibrant city.
