Of course, Kat has already been through the exact emotions I’m feeling right now. She also chose to come to the University of Southampton, graduating last summer on a swelteringly hot day, which made Highfield Campus’s many green spaces the perfect place to celebrate her achievements. It was such a lovely day and having just booked a place at this year’s graduation myself, I will be hoping for equally good weather!
A lovely summer day for my sister’s graduation.
When I tell people my sister graduated the year before I will, people automatically assume that she is the older sibling. However, I am actually the older sibling, beating her by ten minutes. Yes, ten whole minutes!
This meant we came to Southampton in the same year (on the same day in fact) and have been able to be a part of each other’s student lives. We both attended the same Freshers' Welcome Party and Ball in 2011 and, were it not for my sister having to start her graduate job immediately after finishing term, we were both going to go to last year’s amazing Graduation Ball.
The beginning of our lives at University!
I’ve found that people are always fascinated when they find out I’m a twin. Their first question is always “Are you identical?” which I respond to by letting them know that we’re different genders! Rather worryingly, I’ve had people who knew who both of us were and still asked if we were identical!
People then tend to ask about twin-telepathy and whether we can somehow communicate silently between ourselves or whether we know what the other one is thinking. Whilst that would have some amazing advantages (including a very cheap phone bill), sadly we do not have this ability…or at least we don’t know how to unlock it yet!
Twin-telepathy? No. Twin love? Yes!
However, we do often say things at the same time, which I think is a result of having identical upbringings and hence similar thought processes. Although, saying that, we did vastly different subjects at university, as Kat read History, which is a world away from the equations and derivations of Physics that I study.
Despite our different academic passions, we do both share similar motivations and aspirations. Last week when I went to visit her, it was because she was helping to prepare me for my upcoming interview. Having a head start on me in the world of work and also receiving training on how to interview people meant she was the perfect source of information to make sure I was fully prepared. We did several exercises to help me improve how I structure and communicate my interview answers and I walked away feeling very confident indeed!
In addition to this it was lovely to see her again; I’m still not used to her not being around the corner in Southampton! We are meeting up again this week to have early birthday celebrations (I mentioned in a previous blog how my family like to move celebrations), before I go back to Southampton and embark on my final term, before graduating in the summer just as my twin did last year!
James
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