4-16-07
This is my account of the day and some reflections...
The night before, Sunday night, I went to the Hillsong United concert in VA Beach with some IV people. It was a great adventure and a great time, I was praying for a revolution/revival on Virginia Tech. I can't help but think this might be it. I got home at 4:30am and was thinking about just staying up until my 9:05 class, but decided to sleep for a little. I ended up waking up at 9:10 and rushed to class because I had things to do. I got to class at 9:30 (the Norris 911 calls came in at 9:40), my class was in Derring, a couple buildings away from Norris. Class let out and me and a friend, Mike, were going to finish up some homework. I get a call from my roommate, Brittany, that there has been a shooting and she is locked in her class in Holden (right next to/attached to Norris). We tried to walk to another building but were informed by another student that there were cops with shotguns telling people to get inside. So we were in the basement of GBJ (a small student center) with some other students a little confused. Me and Mike try to do this homework that needed to be done in an empty classroom, Mike's friend comes in and we talk and pray for the situation we were not too sure about. Not soon after that they evacuate the building and tell us to leave, the campus was going under lock down, this was probably around 10:10/10:15-ish. We decided to go back to my apartment since it would have been hard for Mike to get back to his dorm. As we are leaving we hear an announcement on a loud speaker we thought was a police car driving around but was probably the emergency system, this is probably around 10:15/10:20.
At my apartment we try to do finish our homework, and I turn on the tv and we realize what has happened. We watched as the numbers climbed, when I heard that at least 20 people died I broke down, cause I couldn't help thinking that I knew someone. I was also trying to call Brittany cause she was so close to all of this. She's ok and came back around 12:30. For the rest of the day I was stuck to the tv and facebooking and calling around making sure people were ok and letting people know I was ok. I cried and didn't know who I was crying for. I was scared to go to sleep but did and got some good rest.
This was only to wake up to learn that people from the Civil Engineering department died because there was a graduate class in Norris. A great Professor, Dr. Loganathan, and my favorite ta and former coworker, Brian Bluhm. Me and Brittany went to the convocation at Cassell Coliseum, which was really good especially at the end with an English professor's poem and a hokie chant. It was nice that the governor and Bush was there, but what really stuck with me was that someone said, "take care of yourself" and "go to where you get the most love." After the convocation we went to my friend Elsa's dorm, she's an RA and lost a resident, but there we were looking a list on facebook and I learn that 3 more ta's died in that civil class and I had another breakdown. Me and Brittany got some Five Guys and went home to relax, then we went to Candlelight vigil on the Drillfield and I met up with Liz. The Candlelight vigil was nice, I used that time to say goodbye to all the Civil people I knew (though I would like to go to their funerals/memorial services, I probably won't be invited) and I wrote them a message on the memorial boards they had up. Now I just want to relax and press forward, I know I will still be sad for a long time but I want to focus on what is to come.
The night before, Sunday night, I went to the Hillsong United concert in VA Beach with some IV people. It was a great adventure and a great time, I was praying for a revolution/revival on Virginia Tech. I can't help but think this might be it. I got home at 4:30am and was thinking about just staying up until my 9:05 class, but decided to sleep for a little. I ended up waking up at 9:10 and rushed to class because I had things to do. I got to class at 9:30 (the Norris 911 calls came in at 9:40), my class was in Derring, a couple buildings away from Norris. Class let out and me and a friend, Mike, were going to finish up some homework. I get a call from my roommate, Brittany, that there has been a shooting and she is locked in her class in Holden (right next to/attached to Norris). We tried to walk to another building but were informed by another student that there were cops with shotguns telling people to get inside. So we were in the basement of GBJ (a small student center) with some other students a little confused. Me and Mike try to do this homework that needed to be done in an empty classroom, Mike's friend comes in and we talk and pray for the situation we were not too sure about. Not soon after that they evacuate the building and tell us to leave, the campus was going under lock down, this was probably around 10:10/10:15-ish. We decided to go back to my apartment since it would have been hard for Mike to get back to his dorm. As we are leaving we hear an announcement on a loud speaker we thought was a police car driving around but was probably the emergency system, this is probably around 10:15/10:20.
At my apartment we try to do finish our homework, and I turn on the tv and we realize what has happened. We watched as the numbers climbed, when I heard that at least 20 people died I broke down, cause I couldn't help thinking that I knew someone. I was also trying to call Brittany cause she was so close to all of this. She's ok and came back around 12:30. For the rest of the day I was stuck to the tv and facebooking and calling around making sure people were ok and letting people know I was ok. I cried and didn't know who I was crying for. I was scared to go to sleep but did and got some good rest.
This was only to wake up to learn that people from the Civil Engineering department died because there was a graduate class in Norris. A great Professor, Dr. Loganathan, and my favorite ta and former coworker, Brian Bluhm. Me and Brittany went to the convocation at Cassell Coliseum, which was really good especially at the end with an English professor's poem and a hokie chant. It was nice that the governor and Bush was there, but what really stuck with me was that someone said, "take care of yourself" and "go to where you get the most love." After the convocation we went to my friend Elsa's dorm, she's an RA and lost a resident, but there we were looking a list on facebook and I learn that 3 more ta's died in that civil class and I had another breakdown. Me and Brittany got some Five Guys and went home to relax, then we went to Candlelight vigil on the Drillfield and I met up with Liz. The Candlelight vigil was nice, I used that time to say goodbye to all the Civil people I knew (though I would like to go to their funerals/memorial services, I probably won't be invited) and I wrote them a message on the memorial boards they had up. Now I just want to relax and press forward, I know I will still be sad for a long time but I want to focus on what is to come.