Twins find ways to deal with transition into college

Sophomore Crista Huber gazes at a blue-eyed, curly haired girl identical to her – without looking into a mirror. What sounds impossible at first makes sense when you realize she is looking at her twin sister.\nIt might seem that the strong, lifelong bond that twins share would be difficult to let go of once college becomes reality and the two must choose among different majors and goals for the future. But for the most part, twins find ways to adjust.\n“Our parents wanted us to go to the same school, and we applied to the same ones, but she wanted small, and I wanted big,” said Crista Huber, whose twin sister, Carrie, goes to the University of Evansville, where fewer than 2,700 students are enrolled.\n“I don’t like being away (from my twin sister), but it’s not miserable,” she said. “We talk on the phone a lot; we IM, Facebook and visit. If I go three hours without talking to her, I freak out.”\nShe said that a hard part of attending separate schools was the process of separating their clothes – and bargaining for the pieces of clothing they had once shared. \nOther twins might find that it is easier to go to the same school. But if they don’t share the same future plans, it may be challenging to say goodbye.\n“(My twin sister is) an art major. I’m a business major, but we’ve been best friends forever,” said senior Kelsey Owen of her twin sister, Brett. “We’ve never been apart because we have apartments next to each other, but she’s in Arizona now, teaching. This is the first time we’ve been apart. I was sad when she left.”\nEven though Brett is in Arizona this semester, she said that she wants to live within driving distance from Kelsey after graduation. \nTwins who both go to the same school, such as IU sophomores Leslie and Jessica Gehring, might find the transition between home and school a little easier by having a familiar face around.\n“Our freshman year, we lived together and that made it easier,” Leslie Gehring said.\nThis year, Jessica Gehring is in a sorority, Alpha Xi Delta, while her twin is not.\n“We’re better friends now that we don’t share a room and live together,” Jessica Gehring said, “because we don’t fight over clothes and stupid stuff.”\nLeslie Gehring said having her own personal space is a welcome difference that has come with college.\n“We shared a room at home all our lives, and here I could have my own room and decorate it how I wanted to,” she said.\nHaving their twin nearby also makes it easier for the women to play jokes on those who don’t know they are twins.\n“We tricked people in high school and switched seats in class for teachers who couldn’t tell us apart,” Carrie Huber said. \nAbove all, twins share a certain kind of connection whereby they do not need to explain themselves to each other – they say they know immediately what the other one is thinking about.\n“I like being a twin because I’m never bored by myself,” Carrie Huber said. “She’s always there with me.”