I broke into a house to get a better view of the tower falling.

I was living outside the U.S. at the time, about 8 hours away from NYC by plane. Still, I remember waking up early, pulling out my computer and seeing the tower get hit and I didn't think much of it. I figured a small plane crashed and I went on to start my day. I worked as an intern for a tech firm and I remember coming in late and my boss telling me the second tower had been hit. I was traumatized immediately. I spent the rest of the day just switching between news channels. I remember giving the TV my full attention when I heard they were going to bring it down. I was in shock but didn't realize it. The day before classes were supposed to start, me and a few friends decided we had to go to Manhattan and see the damage. We took a train and then a bus and walked all the way to downtown. I think we called my mom before we left to tell her what we were doing and she was not pleased. I didn't care. I was mad and sad and I felt like I had to see it for myself. I remember we hitched a ride and slept in a car. I think we arrived at around 11 and made it to the downtown area around 2. I remember seeing a sign that said "shelter" and we went in to see if we could help. A lot of the volunteers were sleeping, some were catatonic. They were understaffed and had been receiving donations. They handed us some food and we stayed as long as we could but I told the volunteers we came to see the damage, not help. So we left and we didn't know where we were going, we just walked. We saw a lot of sad things, mostly on flyers and missing posters. We walked around for hours, I think we stopped at a bar and had a drink. I don't remember how we got there but we ended up at a park that I think was directly across from the building. There were a lot of people but it seemed to be centered around one hotel. I think we decided to go up to the highest floor to get a better view. I don't remember why we couldn't go to a windows facing the tower but we couldn't. It was a long elevator ride and when the doors opened, two men were standing in the doorway. One had a key card and I think he took us up to a floor that was empty or abandoned. He let us in a stairwell and he told us to take the stairs up to the top. I think we went up two floors and we were in a hall with doors and windows. I think we waited for two hours and they blew the tower up. It was surreal and I started to shake. We took the stairs back down and I think we hitched a ride to a nearby town. We slept in a parking lot for three hours and took a bus back. I never told my mom what I did and I haven't told anyone until now.