Twins at U Prep speak of their pet peeves and experiences.

Some twins seem similar, while others appear to be opposites. Juniors Claire and Holly Christensen are very close because of the many activities that they participate in together. However, due to their differences in personality, senior LaJhaya Lewis-Harrell and her twin do not always have fun doing so many things together.

“We do everything together and we just want to have our own things that we can do separately,” Lajhaya Lewis-Harrell said.It’s hard to generalize the relationship between twins, because every pair has a different dynamic. Similar to other siblings, twins vary in the degree to which they get along.

“I like [being a twin] because you always have a best friend and someone who’s there for you that’s the same age as you,”Junior Matthew Glazer said. Many twins spend a lot of time together because they participate in the same activities.

“I think growing up with [my twin] and always being with her in the same grades and doing the same extracurricular activities made our relationship stronger,” Junior Claire Christensen said. Because they are in the same grade and most likely managing similar homework loads, it seems as though it could be helpful to have a twin when facing school work. However, this is not necessarily the case.

“I don’t really study with [Claire] because we just get into an argument or get distracted and talk about something else,” Junior Holly Christensen said. Claire Christensen agrees with her twin sister, but said that, “if [we are] confused about an assignment, like what pages do you read for history, then we’ll ask each other.”

One tendency that affects twins is the comparison of them. Whether it’s themselves or others, it becomes an easy habit to compare twins because they appear so similar. “It’s a natural thing for people to compare us, even if they don’t mean to. And I think we kind of do the same thing subconsciously,” Holly Christensen said.

For some twins, this comparison can create competition. “We both try to be better than each other at everything. We always share our test scores and see who does better,” Justin Glazer said.

Many identical twins look so similar that their peers and teachers have trouble identifying who is who. It seems as though making an effort to get their names right is much more appreciated than avoiding saying it altogether.

“It kind of gets annoying after awhile. When people just don’t say your name, they just call you by your last name. You can tell when people are trying not to get your name wrong,” Holly Christensen said.

Her sister, Claire, agrees. “If you don’t know, guess. I would much rather be called ‘Holly’ than have someone not say my name at all or be awkward about it or rude because honestly I don’t really care.” she said.

There are many studies about twins who were separated at birth and then tracked down each other later, to find that they are living extremely parallel lives. A CBS News story talks about a pair of identical twins, Paula Bernstein and Elyse Schein, who were separated at birth. The two met after 35 years of living apart, realizing that they grew up to be quite similar; both going to film school with a passion for writing.

However, this kind of story is very rare. “That’s not true for all twins.” Claire Christensen said. “Those [studies] make it seem like we’re different or special. But there’s so many people in the world and it’s inevitable that something strange is going to happen. People sort of latch on to that and use that to assume that all twins are telepathic.”

Although the Christensen twins do not identify with any of these study results, they have noticed a few independent choices that they have made similarly. “Sometimes we’ll find out that we sit in the same seats in the same room. That actually happens a lot. I don’t know why,” Holly said. “And sometimes when we’re shopping we’ll show up with the same clothes, because we like similar things.”

Due to their similarities in appearance, the Christensen twins have experienced a few funny situations. Once, the two were at a party and had switched name tags. “We were talking to someone who told us we should switch name tags, because that would be funny,” Holly said. “So we were just laughing the whole time because we had already switched them.”

By: Annie Cohen