Siblings. Some people hate them, for others they are their other half but either way you have to put up with them. You had to deal with them as toddlers when you would fight over which one gets the good swing, you had to deal with them when they say things like “Well I am older so I am in charge”, or even when your little sister or brother keeps coming into your room to bug you. No matter what relationship you have with your sibling we have all been through it. However, it comes to a point where it should stop, right? When do you get away? When do you not have to be in charge of or be told what to do by your sibling? For me, I thought that was college.
I have one older sister named Megan. We are two years apart and get along fairly well. I had always had the tendency to follow in her footsteps. We both did drama club, choir, piano, dance, tennis camp etc. If Megan did it, I would probably be up next, however this was never a problem. We enjoyed doing the same things together and just happened to enjoy the same things as each other. But after a while I had this need to be doing something different than her. So, when it came to choosing schools, I was not going where she was going, no way! I wanted to spread my wings and fly in my own direction. That didn’t end up going to plan and I was enrolled in the same university with the very same major as my sister…go figure right? Even though I was against this choice originally, it was probably one of the best decisions I could have possibly made.
We became extremely close over the two years going to the same college together. I have always been close to my sister but when she went away, we couldn’t relate to each other like we used to. I was wrapped up in my world of being a high school upperclassmen and she was wrapped up in her new college life. However, it all changed when I came to Illinois State. She was my sense of family when I got here. I remember it was the first week being away and I was extremely home sick. I was walking around with my roommate and I ran into Megan by coincidence. She smiled at me and was all excited because this was the first time, we ran into each other in this new environment and I just started to cry my eyes out. At the time it was a little sad, but looking back it was so nice! I was able to talk about how I was feeling to someone who knew me and not my poor roommate who I had only known for a day. She understood and was always someone to lean on and I was a person she could lean on as well. I would hit her up for rides to the store and she would hit me up for my meal plan. I began to hear the words I would always hate in the past: “Are you Megan’s sister?”. However, this time it was something nice to hear. If I was going to be compared or recognized by a person, I would want it to be Megan (my now and forever college buddy).
After her graduation last year, I look fondly on those two years we had together. So, there you have it. Going to the same school as your sibling might not be as bad as it seems. Don’t rule it out, because for me, I could not be happier that we went through that experience together.