Hi, my name is Hope and as you may know, I am one of the founders of this online magazine. However, what you may not know is that I am a twin. By the image above you can clearly tell we are not identical, although he may wish he has a face as pretty as mine. So a few quick facts about us:
- We are 20 years old. However, Max is one minute ahead of me since he came out first. Bear in mind, I’m pretty sure it was meant to be me that came out first.
- I am currently studying Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University and Max is studying Biology at Northumbria University.
- Finally, I’m the favourite!
What is the best thing about being a twin?
I would say the best thing is always knowing I have someone there for me. When we were younger, during our secondary school phase, we never got on that much. We were constantly fighting and being told off for our never-ending squabbling. However, during A levels, we became closer and started to get on a lot more. Now, with both of us at university, we are closer than ever and, almost, like two peas in a pod. I think we grew closer due to us both maturing and realising the fighting was just petty sibling behaviour that we needed to grow out of. Since we have become closer, I never feel alone because I know that despite being at different universities, I will always have my brother by my side.
What was your first twin memory?
As I mentioned in the last question, my brother and I never really got on so my first memory is not exactly a happy one. One day, when we were very young, we were playing in my brother’s room and we would usually play with his dinosaurs and toy soldiers. I cannot remember exactly what he did but I do remember being really angry with him for some reason. Now, I was always that sibling that if Max did anything wrong, even poked me in the arm, I would be a little snitch and tell my Mum. However, on that day I had woke up and chosen violence (close friends of mine will know that that is every day for me), and instead of going downstairs and explaining the situation to my Mum, I smashed his head against a radiator. He was unconscious for a couple of minutes and I remember freaking out hoping my Mum would not come up the stairs. Then, when he woke up, he went and told her what had happened. Whether she believed him or not I will never know.
Do you think Max and Hope are telepathic?
I get asked this question quite a lot when someone realises I am a twin. To answer truthfully, no we are not. However, I do have a weird story about this. So, when we were younger, Max was playing on the street on his bike and as he was going past a corner a car came zooming down the hill and knocked him off his bike. This was a long time ago so the details may be a little distorted but I am pretty sure that he had a massive cut on his neck from falling off. On the same day, I was sat in the living and got a strange pain-like sensation in my neck. Everyone gets weird pains around their body from time to time, so I just thought it was that. It took me a while to put the two events together and then I realised that the weird neck pain could have potentially been the pain Max felt when he was involved in the crash.
What are the perks of being a twin?
Like I said earlier, having a twin means I always have someone by my side and I am never alone. However, on a lighter note, the birthdays are sick! Although you would think I would be tired of having to share my birthday with my brother, I have never experienced a birthday alone so I do not know what celebrating alone feels like. It is nice to have days like that, that I can share with someone. Now, this may sound a tad rude but the people who know me, know I can be a little harsh sometimes but being Max’s sister gives me the protection of being hit on by the people he knows. Another one would be having someone to relate to, I have a younger brother and sister but they are too young to be on the same vibe with. However, having someone the same age, in the same house with the same sense of humour and hobbies, is the best thing in the world.
What do twins hate being asked?
I could go on forever about this but I will narrow it down for you. So the first question is: “Are you identical?” Does this boy nearly a foot taller than me standing next to me look like my identical twin? It has gotten to the point where, if I am on my own and someone asks this question, I just play along. The effort to correct every single person I come across and say: “No, it doesn’t stand for Maxine, he’s a boy!” is just too much. Another one is something I mentioned earlier: “Do you hate sharing your birthday with him?” I always put the fake smile on and joke around saying Max only gets the first minute of the day and then the rest of it is mine (as he is a minute older than me). However, I do not mind sharing because it is a yearly treasured memory that I get to share with someone. Also, it takes the attention away from me!
How does being a twin affect your friendships with others?
My brother and I have never really been in the same friendship group and we do not get in our friend’s business, so our friendships are never affected. Of course, Max has dated a few friends in his teenage years, but even back then he ended them in a friendly tone, and my friendships were not affected. As we both go to different universities, my university friends do not know him and his friends don’t know me, so our current friendships are not affected either. Recently, my brother and I, some of his friends, and some of my friends have formed a little friendship group because we all have one thing in common, gaming. I was a little worried at first that the two friendship groups would clash as they are both full-on, very different people. However, we all get on like a house on fire and the nights that we game on are the night I look forward to. There is even a night out in the talks for when everything is back to normal.
Do you have any rivalry? E.g. for grades, passing something first, etc
We used to back in our teenage years, we were always teasing each other about who got better grades. As much as it pains me to admit this, he has always been smarter than me so he would always get better grades and throw them in my face. However, this is something that we have grown out of and only have a rivalry in a joking way. For example, we frequently play Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch and the rivalry in the room could be cut with a knife. Since I have brought that example up, I am going to use this answer to tell a sick story. One time when we were playing Mario Kart, Max was ahead of me in the first position and I held onto a green shell until the very end, lined up our karts, and shot it right before he crossed the finishing line. Of course, I won and he has been salty about it ever since. Back to the question, there is no more rivalry because we now understand that we are two different people with different abilities, which does not make either one of us better than the other.
Do you often feel like you’re being compared to each other despite being non-identical?
I did when I was younger as I always felt like the less smart twin. However, in Max’s defence, he must have always felt like the twin that people looked over. I would get the extra attention from my parents for school work and he would be left to his own devices. However, I have never dwelled on it too much because as we grew up, started taking different classes and did different things, people saw us as individuals and not as a pair. It is not a nice thought to think that throughout my whole life people have put Max and me together and gone: “Which one is better?” Whatever people think of us, that is down to their own opinion. However, I know who I am and I know who Max is and that is all that matters.