By Ian Proano | Echo
Some people come to Taylor with their best friend or significant other. But other times, they come with their twins. Being a look-alike can mean a whole lot of fun and double trouble when both are on campus. But looking so similar can have its drawbacks.
"Coming in as twins, you get called the other person's name all the time, and so I always get called Caitlyn," junior Faith Warren said. "So it's kind of annoying."
Freshman Jacob Graves and his twin, Jared, shared similar frustrations.
"You can't blame them for being annoying, because they're just asking a simple question," Jacob said.
But when it comes to choosing a dorm on campus, some twins choose to put a bit of distance between their similar faces.
"Caitlyn lives on Third West, and I used to live on Second West Olson . . . but now we're in two different dorms," Faith Warren said.
Caitlyn feels the effect the distance has between them now.
"But now it's like . . . we're a little bit distant, I guess," Caitlyn said. "We still hang out, but it's just the space thing. We're trying to create space to make it more our own identity than the same one."
Senior Emma Heyen had a similar experience living apart from her Elise.
"We've always had different roommates," Emma said. "We were both in Olson freshman through junior (year) but had different roommates. And different wings."
While choosing to live in separate dorms worked for the Heyens, Warrens and freshmen Yuri and Yuna Seo, the Graves twins chose differently.
"Being with Jared-it helps cause we're also majoring in the same thing, so we can do our homework together," Jacob Graves said. "The negative factor would probably be being too close to each other for too long of a time. We do need our space."
Personal identity is a priority when it comes to deciding how much each twin wants to be involved in his or her sibling's life.
"We both have very different friend groups. A lot of times we don't hang out with each other, which is fine," Elise Heyen said.
Having such a close identity, though, does bring a closeness that only twins can understand.
"If anybody knows how I'm feeling or what I'm going through in a situation, Emma would know, because we literally think the same," Elise said.
Along with a special bond comes double trouble only twins can tap into; sometimes these twins can have fun with their striking similarities. Yuri Seo described a time when she was sick and couldn't go to class.
"(My sister went) instead of me (to) the COS 104 class," Yuri said.
While twins have to be intentional about establishing their own identities, having a built-in best friend to navigate college with is worth the extra effort.
