There was also that odd time between the first plane and the second. You hear "a plane hit a building in New York" and you think it's a tragic accident. Then a little later you hear about the second and you realize immediately it's something else.

That event changed everyone I knew as well. Everything because about America. The nice Syrian family down the street became an object of suspicion, more than they already were.

9/11 wasn't just that September either, I remember that general unease and media coverage lasting at least until September 2002.

Agreed. Lived it from a Nordic European perspective and we were similarly glued to our televisions.

But I do remember we were actually terrified of what the US will do to the world because of this. Will they start a world war over it. It wasn't at all about the spectacle of it alone, but mostly the fear of what Bush will do (everyone saw him as unhinged). I remember how we sighed from relief after he did the speeches after it and did not bring about nuclear winter.

This was pretty much the most common reaction in my family and friends. Also the whole way in which the world police finally got to feel a bit of what it does all over sure was mentioned, nobody was honestly surprised.

Sympathy for the civilians of course, but I can't claim there was any love for Murica the nation at the time or all the warmongering.