Thousands of people experienced the disaster in New York City firsthand. Two with close connections to Penn State contacted The Daily Collegian yesterday. These are their stories.

'A mass exodus'

Penn State graduate Anthony Mauer was in a sales meeting yesterday morning when the second plane crashed into the World Trade Center.

"It completely shook everything," Mauer said, who graduated in August. Just three weeks ago, he started working for UBS PaineWebber, which he estimated to be 80 yards away from the Trade Center.

While exiting PaineWebber, 140 Broadway, as the first of two trade center towers fell, Mauer could only run to avoid being trampled to death.

"I realized that there was no way to outrun the cloud of smoke and debris," Mauer said.

He decided to take refuge under a hotdog stand and wait for the cloud to pass. He held his breath, closed his eyes and waited for what he said seemed like an eternity.

"After I opened my eyes, it was pitch black. People were screaming, 'God help me!' and 'We're gonna die,' " Mauer said.

Mauer ran into the Chase Manhattan building with throngs of other people who also were trying to find refuge from the rubble of the falling buildings.

"I was trying to keep people calm, giving them water and helping them vomit from the inhalation of debris," he said.

For about four minutes, Mauer said there was complete darkness. When the sun filtered through the cloud of debris, everyone was gray, covered with dust and smoke, he said.

Along with many others, Mauer made his way in the direction of the Brooklyn Bridge, running for safety. He walked for three hours, trying to find a way out of the city.

"There was a mass exodus of people trying to find buses, but they were all full," Mauer said. "People were directed to go to the Brooklyn Naval Yard and then were sent to a local school for protection and care."

People were both scared and shocked, including Mauer.

"I always thought I was tough," he said. "But today I thought for sure I was dead."

Mauer, who has lived in New York City for just over a month, said this was the first time he has seen strangers in New York rally together.

"People were going out of their way to help one another," he said. "It is crazy it took something like this to create unity in the city."

'It was chaos'

Penn State student John C. Raynar huddled over a neighbor's computer wearing a respiratory mask in the shadow of the devastated World Trade Center yesterday.

The senior telecommunications major painted the chaotic scene for a reporter the only way he could — via AOL Instant Messenger.

"This morning, I was laying in bed just waking up when I heard what sounded like a very low-flying military plane," Raynar typed. "Then I heard a huge explosion. I looked out my window and saw scores of people running . . . away from the explosion. I then looked up and saw it was in flames."

Raynar woke up just one and a half blocks from the Trade Center in an apartment building on John Street. He's in New York City on a pair of internships with MTV and The Howard Stern Show.

Yesterday was supposed to be his day off.

"All of what were once bystanders began fleeing. It was chaos: People were pushing one another over just to get away from the explosion," Raynar said.

About half an hour after the second plane exploded into the Trade Center, he decided to jump in the shower to prepare to escape uptown, away from the tip of Manhattan.

But he didn't get the chance to leave.

"That's when they collapsed . . . It was like Ghostbusters: The entire sky turned pitch black," Raynar said. "Unfortunately, my windows were left open."

Dust and debris from the collapse piled up about three inches thick around Raynar's apartment building, and came in through the open windows, he said.

"As a matter of fact, as I am typing this, I am wearing a protective mask, so I don't inhale too much of it," he said.

Raynar said a group of police officers and someone from the American Red Cross came through his building to pass out the masks.

A friend of Raynar, Mike Walsh (senior-English), calling from his apartment in State College, told The Daily Collegian that Raynar was contacting friends via online messaging and e-mail.

Phone and cellular service in downtown Manhattan were not working at the time, Raynar said.

Raynar was staying yesterday afternoon with a neighbor, who was letting several other tenants stay with him, including a pregnant woman.

This is not the only time the Penn State senior has braved disaster this year.

During spring break in March, Raynar was attacked in an alleged gang-related incident in Miami. An assailant gouged his face with a broken beer bottle and Raynar lost his right eye.

"This has been a crazy year, man," he said. "I guess I have nine lives."