Monday night, Kelley Minneci, an acting major at New York University, was able to stare out her dorm window at the sparkling Manhattan skyline.

Tuesday morning started out with a 6:30 a.m. fire alarm evacuation.

“We came back [to the residence hall] an hour later. We heard a huge plane fly over our dorm,” she said. “It was so loud, it was flying low.”

Minneci and her roommate had the clock radio on when they heard the news. American Airlines Flight 11 had crashed into World Trade Center No. 1, the North tower.

“Everyone thought it was just a plane crash,” she said.

As she walked to class uptown, Minneci could see the hole in the World Trade Center left by the Boeing 767.

“I got to Fifth Avenue and everyone’s staring, shaken up.”

NYU students gathered back at the residence hall and started taking pictures, she said. As Minneci and her friends got to Fifth Avenue, again en route to class, they had heard another plane — American Airlines Flight 77 — had hit the WTC No. 2, the south tower. They then saw a piece of history crumble to the ground.

“I heard the explosion — the rumbling — I could just see the whole building start to fall, the smoke,” she said. “We all started crying. We all watched it fall and started running to the studio.”

Administrators at NYU are trying to keep everyone in — they’re giving out free food in the dining halls to encourage students to stay in.

“Right now if you walk around New York, everyone is in a trance,” Minneci said. “The subways are closed down, there’s no way to get in and out of Manhattan.”

Minneci said she’s scared for Chicago and she’s scared to go to sleep.

“It’s just right outside my window. It’s like a scene from ‘Independence Day.’ People were screaming,” Minneci said. “They basically closed America down, and I don’t understand how that could happen.”