Berlin ­— Today I took four trains to two flea markets, three cafes and an open mic night at a club with upside-down furniture. People were chatty; the few restaurants and shops normally open on Sundays were still open; and newspapers discussed German dissent with the euro and the upcoming local elections.

Sept. 11 here is a normal day.

There were no American flags, no moments of silence, no parades or barbecues or memorials on the streets. The first time I heard any mention of the anniversary was on the news program my roommate listens to when he cooks dinner, and dinner wasn’t until 7 p.m.

But every German, Hungarian and Englishman I’ve talked to remembers the attack vividly.

Attila Áron Nagy, a 22-year-old graduate of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, was 12 years old in 2001 and heading to tennis practice when he heard the news.

“I remember every second,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine that (the attacks) could happen to the USA. … It’s seen here like a superpower.”

Kit Naughton, a 20-year-old from England, remembers his mom bursting into tears at the sight of people jumping from the towers.

“It scared people … that because it happened so easily in America, it could happen to Europe too,” said Dalila Berneburg, a 17-year-old student from Berlin.

Views on the attack’s aftermath, including the Iraq War and the increase in U.S. security policies, are as varied as they are in America.

When the U.S. decided to invade Iraq, Berneburg remembers people being fairly supportive, despite the fact that Germany decided to stay out of the Middle East. Germans didn’t think America was at fault or that innocent people should have died, she said.

But in Hungary, Nagy said people were – and remain – skeptical about U.S. intentions.

“Everybody talked about how the U.S. needed more oil, and that is why it would attack Iraq,” he said. “When the U.S. (feels it) has to make war to get oil, then there will be war, no matter where or how.”

Naughton said a majority feel similarly in the United Kingdom.

“A lot of people think (the war) was unnecessary and a waste of life,” he said. “(The U.S. government) claimed it was to find the (weapons of mass destruction), which did not exist … and now Iraq has been massively destabilized.”

Along the same lines, conspiracy theories seem to be more influential in Europe than in the United States. Popular ones, like the idea that the U.S. government was behind the attacks, are frequently considered and discussed.

Regardless of personal beliefs, everyone I talked to agreed that 9/11 changed the way America interacted with the world – and not for the better.

With more restrictive work and travel visas that often take months to process, many students said the U.S. seems to have closed itself off to the rest of the world.

Bruin reporter Elizabeth Case is living in Berlin, Germany, reporting on life abroad while taking classes at Humboldt Universität. This biweekly column is a collection of tips and insights from a student traveler. Email Case at ecase@media.ucla.edu and follow her on Twitter.