Experiencing college life with your twin

You would think that having a sibling attend the same university as you would be annoying, but having a twin is a whole different story.  Having a twin gives you the chance to have someone beside you your whole life. It’s someone to grow up with and experience the world together at the same time. College is one of those experiences.

Having a twin brother can be difficult though, since we aren’t completely alike. We both have different interests and don’t like to do the same things. We fight a lot and almost always disagree. But at the end of the day, I can always say that he is by my side and there for me, even if he doesn’t always want to be.

We both win sometimes, though. Since we both are in the Erivan K. Haub School of Business, it’s easier to help one another out because we’re usually doing the same thing. Going into freshman year was a struggle not knowing how to do laundry. We would sit in the laundry room yelling and trying to figure it out together. It usually resulted in me doing all the work; he’s lucky I didn’t turn everything pink.

So far, sophomore year has been tough, especially when he tries to cook mac-and-cheese and can’t figure out why the pot is boiling over. So, of course, I feel bad and try to make dinner for the both of us.

However, it’s always good to know that we both have someone we can always count on nearby when we need it the most. For example, last year he was there to help me when I got locked out of my room, more than once, and I was there when he cut his finger and had to go to the hospital.

I couldn’t imagine my life without my twin, but that could have easily happened since we were both born 11 weeks premature, with him weighing 1.7 pounds and me three pounds. As different as we are, we do have those twin moments where we both ask the same questions, not knowing that the other one also asked the same thing or when we both happen to get hurt minutes apart.

Overall, having a twin is more special than just having a sibling, because we both grew up together not having older siblings who think they know better, or younger siblings that haven’t gone through what we have yet. It’s like having your second half with you every step of the way, together on this amazing journey that I wouldn’t want to experience with anyone else.