First-Year Floormates on Carman 9

Carman 9 was buzzing yesterday morning as first-years bustled to and from the elevator, carrying textbooks, overstuffed backpacks, and coffee cups to their first college classes ever. Floormates reminisced about their first week on campus: orientation, disorientation, roommates, and twins. Seeing double has become a Carman phenomenon in the last two years: the Cohen girls of '06 and the Sullivan sisters of '07 have effected a dynasty. The Sullivans maintain that they're alike--but different.

So, how was your first week on campus? Did you meet a lot of people? Was it overwhelming? Pretty laid-back? Not what you expected? Exactly what you've been waiting for?

Elyse Pultz, CC '07: It was exactly what I expected. You party all night, and you meet hundreds of people, and then you sleep all day. And then you do it again.

How was the first day of classes? Did everything go well?

Martha Todd, CC '07: I had Physics 1601. It was so fun! Half my floor is in the class.

What's your University Writing professor like?

Tricia Ebner, CC '07: She's a little weird. She already gave us a crapload of work.

You have a great room here in Carman. What do you think of the view?

Geoff Kelly, SEAS '07: It's nice, if you like looking at brick buildings.

On a scale of one to 10, what's your general impression of Columbia? Is it a 10, like this is the best day of my life, or a one, like you'd rather die than sleep in this room one more night?

Kelly: I'd say it's about an eight. I really like it here.

How's your roommate?

Carly Sullivan, CC '07: We get along really well. We bought a turtle.

Where do most of your friends live?

C. Sullivan: I'm good friends with a couple of people on my floor. Also, I have a twin sister who lives in this building.

Really! The Class of 2006 has a set of twins who received a lot of publicity last year. The Cohen girls shared a double on Carman 11 last year, and they're living in McBain together this year. They took all of the same classes, had the same textbooks, wore matching white winter coats...

C. Sullivan: It's not like that for us. She lives on Carman 11. Apparently there are two other sets of twins in Carman, too.

It's very unusual that three sets of twins would be admitted here--and all choose to matriculate--in one year. Tell me how you and your sister decided to come here. Did you choose a college completely independent of one another? Did you discuss it a lot?

Hilary Sullivan, Carman 1107B, CC '07: Well, I applied Early Decision and got in. She applied Regular Decision, and she was trying to decide between here and Berkeley. I guess she thought that Columbia was the better choice, so we both ended up here. People would always ask us if we were planning on going to the same place. It was never really like that; that definitely wasn't our intention. It just sort of happened.

Do you spend a lot of time together?

H. Sullivan: It's nice to have her close by, and we hang out sometimes. It's just like having a good friend in the building.