April 19, 1995 started as any other day in Oklahoma City. I’m sure my morning activities were uninteresting; getting up, showering, dressing, having breakfast in the cafeteria. (Probably cereal.) That is if I got up in time for breakfast. (Breakfast and I have this love/hate relationship.)

If I remember correctly, it was a Nice Day. For Oklahoma, that is. It was your usual spring day, which could mean anything there. But the sun was out, though it was a bit cool that morning.

A little before 9am I went to my first class, I Corinthians. I got there a bit early and chatted with people there. I remember standing near the front of the classroom with my back to the door. The door, of course, being in the back of the class near the corner.

Then I felt the room shake briefly. That was at 9:02.

I assumed it was the teacher coming in and slamming the door shut, but when I looked out the door, I saw him walking down the hall carrying his can of Diet Coke. All of us in the room just looked at each other and wondered what it was. (Earthquake, plane crash, what have you.)

We had class as usual; then I had to head up to the media center to have my picture taken for my International Student ID card. As I walked out, I saw people waiting for the next class in the hall talk a lot more than usual. There was definitely something going on.

It was a short walk to the Library Building, then the narrow staircase to the Media Center on the second floor. There, they had their big screen TV on and it was then I heard about the Murrah Building Bombing. It was hard to believe that something like that could happen. Not only happen, but happen 16 miles from where I was.

April 19, 1995 ended as a tragedy.