Campus Cutie Best Friends: Ari & Catie

Name: Ari Fustini

Class Year: 2018

Hometown: Ledyard, CT      

Major/minor: Education

Name: Caitlyn Opfer

Class Year: 2018

Hometown: Somers, NY

Major/minor: Business, double-minor in Economics and Studio Art

HC: How long have you been best friends?

AF: We were great friends because we were on the same team, but really started to get close during winter break and going into the spring semester.

CO: Towards the end of fall semester we started to realize our friendship potential.

HC: Tell us about your “how we met” story.

AF: All four incoming basketball players were meeting in the summer at Saratoga to work the basketball camp. It was around 7 on a nice sunny day and I was walking past Dominos on Washington Street, and that’s when I saw her beautiful face for the first time. She had her classic Caite headband, grey v-neck tee, jean shorts, tan satchel, and birkenstocks. That was when the seed of friendship was planted, which with time and love became a blossoming flower of friendship.

CO: Well, Ari and I were both basketball commits coming into college in the same class year. So, all athletic teams have a week long summer camp for local kids, and for basketball usually all of the freshman work the camp to see the campus and get to know their incoming classmates/ new teammates. Ari and I, along with our other two friends were all able to work the camp July going into freshman year, so the first time we met was then. I had got to campus before she did so I was hanging out with some of the upperclassmen on the team and we were going to meet her for dinner with a bunch of our new teammates. Some of the girls and I were waiting outside the basketball apartments and Ari was parked outside across the street. I remember her wearing a spirit jersey t-shirt from Martha’s Vineyard, with khaki shorts and her Sperry’s. I even remember her holding her turquois-green Vera Bradley wallet. Weird memory but I can picture it so perfectly. We immediately got along really well and seemed to connect, so romantic if ya ask me. 

HC: What do you both enjoy doing together?

AF: The reason Caite is perfect for me is because she is always on the go and constantly partaking in different activities, in result I join in and end up having so much fun. We love going to different events on campus together, i.e. we went to the drag queen show last year at case, and also attend lectures together. She is more artsy which I love because she motivates me to see the creative and amazing parts of Skidmore.

CO: Honestly I can’t think of one actual thing. In a weird way we plan our days a bit around each other. We do homework around the same time, usually, and we have classes at the same times so mostly all of our free time is spent together. When it was nice out we went to the rope swing basically every weekend, and we love to go to all-you-can-eat sushi on Sundays. But I think we really love to socialize together. We both like to do the same thing and have all the same friends so it’s super easy to be around her and to have a lot of fun no matter what we’re doing. We somehow always end up dying laughing no matter what we’re doing.

HC: What is something that you both have in common that people wouldn’t expect?

AF: Our moms are actually pretty similar. They both love food, cooking, and new healthy recipes, however my mom, Ann, does not have an impressive bee hive in the backyard like Mary, Caite’s mom.

CO: Something people wouldn’t expect that we both have in common is our… honestly I can’t think of anything. We don’t eat the same things, we dress completely different and we don’t even like the same music! Anything that we have in common I feel like it’s obvious. One quirk we both have though would be that when either of us wears lipstick we feel the need to not smile with teeth. If you look at pictures we rarely smile when we wear lipstick, not sure why it’s a thing but it is! 

HC: What’s your favorite best friend moment?

AF: Caite and I have so many great times together it is hard to pick one. The funniest one would have to be our first fight. We were just getting back from being out one Saturday night and I overstepped my mothering of her. I was trying to push my thought process onto her and she was not having it. Lying in our beds across from each other with multiple friends in the room trying to console us. I shot up in my bed and start yelling how much I love Caite: “more than trees like bark, more than the sky loves clouds, more than grass loves dew,” I thought I was talking like Shakespeare and killing it. That was until Caite sits up and yells “I love you more than I love raisins!” Everyone starts praising her saying aw Caite that’s so nice of you, wow yay you guys are friends again, then I respond “she HATES raisins!” Caite does hate raisins a lot, she even makes her own trail mix so she won’t have to suffer through eating the dried up fruit. Even though she basically shot me down, we both start giggling because we knew the fact that we were joking meant that balance was restored and we were friends again. Now instead of saying ‘ily’ before we fall asleep, we both say raisins.

CO: Hmm… my favorite best friend moment would have to be when we went to a Lee Brice concert in NYC. The last week of school I went home on a Tuesday and Ari was planning on leaving on a Friday. I randomly got tickets to the concert in Time Square and told Ari on a whim to come to my house for the weekend. We spontaneously went into the city and after the concert Ari and I were running around Times Square asking every hot dog guy to give us a free hot dog. We made it a game to see who could get a hot dog first. I lost unfortunately and Ari won. But we happily ate our hotdog on the train ride home. 

HC: Tell us a fun fact about the other person.

AF: Caite will one day be one of the most successful people I know no matter what she ends up doing in life, even though she will without a doubt be the brains behind the hottest fashion company in NYC.

CO: Fun fact about Ari is that she watches her volleyball highlights from high school on YouTube all the time. She was wicked good at volleyball, but it’s just funny that this a reoccurring thing. She’s low-key really good at all sports, she’s also crazy smart.  She’s going to kill life after college. 

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