I have met countless Alyssas before. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when I saw that another Alyssa was living in the dorm room opposite mine. Even though I had interacted with other Alyssas, I had never lived with one. I was interested – and a little nervous – to see how this would work.

Well, I now suffer from whip lash because of all the times I whipped my head back to answer someone who was in fact searching for the other Alyssa. It was aggravating for the both of us. We even have the same nicknames, such as “Lyss” and “Lyssa.” She got creative and fashioned me an original pet name one day. Out of nowhere, she called me “Halibut” because my last name is Fisher. It stuck. And that’s now, unfortunately, my identifier.

Even though it’s not the cutest nickname, I love it. We pretend to be snarky to each other, but that’s our bit. We both may have stormed into our newspaper class and ranted about how there’s room for only one Alyssa in the cherub program after stalking each other on Facebook, but I could not be happier that we met.

I think there’s a special bond between two people who share the same name. I know that’s true with Alyssa and me. We just understand each other. We talk to each other with our eyes and say random things at the same time. We are both skirt-loving girly girls who sometimes like to be edgy and mix it up with combat boots or a trendy cardigan. For the first time in my life, I’m able to walk into a friend’s closet and borrow shoes because we both have 8.5/9 sized feet, even though her feet are proportional to her body. When we smile, our deep dimples make us look sweet, even if we’re feeling bitter.

We definitely have our differences (I’m a neat freak and you can’t even see her dorm room floor). But we are practically twins. I can’t believe I’m going to go from living with her to having to make sure I’m calling at a decent hour because she lives across the country in California. I’m truly going to miss living with Alyssa.