by Xochitl Campos
Daily Lobo
Double-takes have always been common for the Bacca twins.
"It is fun to see people's reactions when they find out that I have a twin sister," Darlene Bacca said. "People are usually surprised, and you can always tell when we are walking together. You can see people's heads moving back and forth from one of us to the other."
Darlene said she and her twin sister Christina, both UNM students, are always together.
The sisters are from Raton, N. M., and the pair agrees that moving from a small town to Albuquerque was a difficult transition.
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Christina said having a twin helped overcome issues such as loneliness and homesickness that other new students may encounter.
The two said they sometimes sharing a dorm room was difficult.
"Sometimes we need a little break from each other," Christina said. "Living in the dorms was difficult. We really just needed to have our own space."
Their friends at UNM agree the sisters are more than close, although they have their own personalities and differences.
"I met them when they were together, like usual," Megan Michalczak said. "They are both pretty different individuals, and they have different personalities. Christina is pretty quiet, but she has a sarcastic sense of humor once she gets to know you. Darlene is more outspoken. She is also very sensitive."
Both twins agree they are content with themselves as individuals. Neither one has a problem with being compared to the other, Michalczak said.
"We don't really strive to show off our different personalities," Christina said.
One friend who went to high school with the two said have changed in their first year of college.
"In high school, they were kind of quiet," said Marc Gonzales, also of Raton. "They were good friends. In college, they are more open. I have known them since pre-K, but I have never really gotten to know them until we got to college."
Their older sister Jennifer agreed, saying the twins have become more individualistic.
Jeremiah Armijo, a friend of the twins, said each one has to have a different color of hair.
"If one has blonde hair, the other has to have brown hair," he said.
The two insist looking different has never been an objective. Any dissimilarity is only based on personal preferences, they said.
"We don't dye our hair to be different," said Christina, the younger of the two. "She dyes her hair because she likes to have blonde hair, and I like to have brown hair."
But she admits it is more fun when they look the same.
Their friends describe them as committed to each other and to the rest of their family. The two live with their older sister.
"Some people spend their whole lives looking for their soul mate, and we were born with ours," Christina said.
