Seeing double, seeing double, seeing double

If you think you are seeing double around Wesleyan, it is probably because you are. In case you were confused, there are three sets of twins on campus. You are not going crazy.

Twin brothers James and Ryan Monastra from Woodbridge, Va., are roommates in Smithdeal Hall.

“It’s the same as living at home,” James said.

The boys said living together was easy.

“We only had to bring one of everything,” Ryan said. “Trust was an issue we did not have to deal with either.”

Sophomores Wes and Chris Lyons did not actually plan to live together their freshman year.

“We weren’t supposed to, but the compatibility test we took for the type of roommate we wanted showed that we were so similar that the school matched us together as roommates,” said Wes.

Freshmen identical twin sisters, Jill and Taylor Boyd also room together.

“I wanted to because I didn’t want to get stuck with some crazy roommate,” Jill said. “It would be cool just going to school and having your best friend with you.”

And that is exactly how each set of twins feels: they each have their best friend with them at college and as a roommate.

Each set of twins came to Wesleyan for different reasons.

Wes and Chris came for the sports and location.

“We were recruited for tennis and we wanted to go south near the beach,” Wes said.

Ryan and James also came with the intention to play soccer. Ryan is a goalkeeper and James is a forward for the men’s soccer team. James and Ryan claim to get along for the majority of the time, but they agree there are things that can cause confrontation.

“You’re messy and I’m not,” James said. “I like to put my stuff in drawers.”

“I have a pile of dirty clothes and clean clothes,” Ryan said.

Jill and Taylor fight about similar things.

“If she wants to play music and I am trying to study I yell at her to turn it off,” Taylor said.

Besides the stereo being too loud the two fight over clothes, food, and expenses.

There is one common bond between all three sets of twins, and that is that each of them is competitive with the other.

“We’ve competed over girls, tennis, any sport, and especially grades,” said Chris.

“We are basically competitive over everything,” said Wes.

“There’s always some type of competition” when it comes to him and his brother, says Ryan.

“She is part of my motivation,” said Jill. “ If she scores a point in the game, it makes me want to score more than her.”

With all this information it may still seem hard to tell the twins apart, but here a few helpful hints.

According to Wes and Chris the only real difference is Wes wears a gold necklace.

“Our mom is the only one that can tell us apart in pictures when we were younger,” said Chris.

“She can also tell us apart on the phone, sometimes she messes up, but it’s rare,” Wes said.

When it comes to Ryan and James, Ryan has a longer face and is more likely to wear jeans and a t-shirt when he goes out.

“Because I am blunt and sarcastic, people often label me as the “mean twin”,” Ryan said.

James is more of a polo shirt and khaki pants type of guy.

“I like to look nice because you never know who you will meet,” James said. “I am also more trusting of others.”

The girls agree that there are definite personality differences between them.

“Taylor is beautiful inside and out,” Jill said.

“Jill is unpredictable, hard to read, a good listener, and a leader,” Taylor said. “It’s easier to tell us apart if you get to know us.”

Each twin is an individual.