Episode 3 Abby and Brittany: Joined for Life

-My name is Abby Hensel.

-And I'm Brittany Hensel. We are 22 years old.

People have been curious about us since we were born

for obvious reasons.

We're identical twins who are conjoined.

But our parents never let us use that as an excuse.

While life as a conjoined twin sometimes has its challenges...

..we were raised to believe

that we could do anything we wanted, so we do.

We like to think that the most amazing thing about us is,

we are just like everyone else. We really are normal.

-But I'm definitely more normal than Brit.

-Whatever!

Anyway, this is the story of our normal, regular life.

Well, our normal, conjoined life.

This is our life.

We are going to Italy!

We are travelling with our friends, Erin and Becca.

We decided to go on a trip after graduation.

I'm so excited for pasta.

I had always wanted to go on a trip to Italy.

It's also a place that Erin has never been.

-What are you looking forward to most?

-Being outside.

-Peeing outside?!

-Being outside.

-Oh, being outside!

We decided that we would go to Venice first for three days

and then the last two days in Rome.

-We should practise some Italian. Buon giorno.

-Buon giorno.

Thank you.

I think it's right up there.

Let's go.

-Hi.

-Hi.

-We have two rooms.

Yes.

-Oh, wow!

-This is good.

-I want to look at this.

-You also have a beautiful terrace.

-Oh, my gosh!

Our hotel was beautiful. Very classy.

It was right off of one of the ports in San Marco, so it was kind of cool.

Well, let the adventure begin.

-Or continue.

-Or continue.

When we first got there, we got settled in the hotel

and then thought it would be fun to do a gondola ride.

-Are you excited about the gondola?

-Yes, I'm very excited. Are you?

Yes, I am. It will be fun.

We love doing our make-up.

It's definitely our favourite part of the day.

It's something we have down to a routine.

It's not something we discuss or talk about,

we just grab and go and get it done quick.

-Are you guys almost ready?

-Yes. I just need to blow-dry my hair.

It's going to blow up.

Just go quick.

Watching them do their hair fascinates me.

Brittany will start doing her hair and Abby will start adjusting it

and it's like, "How did you know that's what she's going for?"

I can't even always figure out how to do my own hair symmetrically

so I don't know how they do each other's so well.

OK, let's go.

-Ready for the gondola?

-Keys?

-Keys.

Here we go.

-This will be fun.

-This is going to be super great.

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Hello.

This is gorgeous.

This is a great way to see Venice

because there are so many hidden alleys and stuff like that.

This will be in their family photo album.

Here we go.

We held up umbrellas to kind of shield from the cameras.

Obviously, when we are filming, it has more of a draw to it

so we use umbrellas as blockers.

This is so great.

-Yes.

-Should I?

-Yes.

-No.

-You can do it.

-Yes.

-Do it!

You can do it.

It's only for a picture.

Welcome to my office!

Spaghetti!

Smile!

-This is so great.

-This is really cool right here.

I can't believe people live here.

The gondola ride was really fun.

It was actually really unique. It was a great experience.

It's a neat little ride.

-Prego.

-Prego.

On our second day in Venice,

we thought it would be fun to do a cooking lesson.

We had to take a ferry to get on to the correct island.

And then we walked down to her house.

This is absolutely beautiful.

-Ready to cook?

-Let's cook.

Wow!

Oh, my gosh!

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Nice to meet you.

Merica was the cooking teacher

and she owns her own catering business

and she runs a bed-and-breakfast in her home.

Very good.

It was really great. It was super, super Italian.

OK, so we are going to do some typical pasta dish, Italian.

And then we do the traditional tiramisu because I know you like it.

Yes!

Some olive oil.

OK. What you can start to do is squeeze this.

-Oh, wow!

-OK.

Just try and squeeze it now.

-Oh!

-OK.

So you don't want to over-squeeze it.

You have to get dirty!

Incorporate a little weight

and you will see that, little by little, it will hold together.

You look like you've made this all your life. You are doing very well.

-Thank you.

-OK.

-Too much?

-Maybe.

The hardest thing was probably making the gnocchi.

-The idea is to roll like that...

-Oh, wow!

..to make a kind of scoop.

This is the difficult part.

-I control the right side.

-I control the left side.

We are very coordinated.

We typically don't have a problem.

The gnocchi was hard for all of us.

It was crazy.

This is very flat. This is like a steak!

We made a joke out of it and moved on to the next thing.

Very good.

You keep going.

The girls were better with the complex, multitasking things

because they are so used to multitasking all the time.

That was kind of fun

that we each had our own thing that we were really good at.

We can do this.

I think the best part of cooking was we made it a team effort

and we all did a part of it.

Look how beautiful it is.

This has to be cold, espresso coffee.

Very concentrated.

-The easiest thing was probably making the tiramisu.

-Yeah.

You can't go wrong with dipping a cookie in

and then placing them on top of each other.

And then we create chocolate shave.

Brittany cut Abby's finger

when they were shaving chocolate for the tiramisu.

That was the first time I had seen one of them hurt each other.

They were still positive about it. They handled it well.

They washed it off real quick and jumped right back in there.

OK.

I'm starving.

Thank you.

Bon appetit.

-The food was incredible.

-Phenomenal. We enjoyed it so much.

The ravioli is still my favourite.

That's really good.

-I'm really picky.

-And I'm not. I like most things.

-I don't like it.

-Really?

-No.

I could probably eat kids' food all the time.

I like a lot of meat and potatoes and home-made food and stuff like that.

There's always something that each of us likes better together,

so we just compromise.

-Tiramisu.

-Here we go!

-Oh, my goodness!

-Wow!

Typically, we share a plate, just because we don't need to eat

two full servings because our stomachs are not two full sizes.

They are just a little bit smaller.

But she gave us two helpings of tiramisu.

-And you really can't pass that up.

-So we had two!

-That's really good.

-Like heaven.

They both love sweets so that was funny

because they'll eat one meal or one glass of water,

but when the dessert comes out, they'll both take their own.

I could eat tiramisu every day. Every day.

-Let's toast, I suppose.

-A toast to being good chefs and having fun.

So, Merica told us that her husband is a glass-blower,

and the business had been in their family for centuries,

um, and we thought it would be really cool to see that.

Merica's cousin, Mario, met us and walked us over there

and just kind of gave us a good tour of how it was actually made.

All the things you see here - those are ovens. OK?

So they put silicium in here - they put sand in here -

and it gets to a certain temperature and then they can work it.

One of the men... You see?

Oh, my gosh.

Wow.

That's so cool!

Because he uses the fire and his hand to model it.

Oh...my...gosh!

That's so cool.

We're super-artsy, so that stuff was super-fun to us.

And, like, fascinating, how they make it.

We loved to learn how they make it. It seemed just so cool.

Oh, my gosh.

Wow!

That's awesome!

After they make the vase - they should have put it here.

These are pieces of chandeliers we have.

This oven with the numbers? Those are the colours.

The touristy stuff is super-fun,

but I feel like you get more of the cultural experience

when you are out of the tourist area.

So it was super-neat to get, like, a behind-the-scene, um, tour.

All these are pieces of glass that we don't use any more.

The broken ones. You could re-use it, but the quality goes down.

OK, we can go on, I think.

We are this huge, loud family!

After taking our tour through the glass factory,

Mario took us to the actual shop that they have

where they displayed all of their pieces that they have for sell.

It was great that we could see the finished product.

-You see that it has, actually, some, like, bleeding.

-Ew. Yeah.

-Amethyst.

-This is awesome!

-I'm happy you like it, actually.

-I love it!

I love the black and white.

It was really nice.

It was great of him to just, um,... jump in and show us around, like that.

And he was our age, so it was kinda cool.

You did a great job. High five.

-Do you high-five here?

-Not that much.

-You pound it?

-Sometimes.

-Yeah!

-Sometimes, yeah.

-Whoa!

-Cool, actually!

I hope it was fun.

It was good fun, thank you so much!

We spent about three days in Venice and then we took the train to Rome.

So we had to haul all our luggage to the train station.

Almost there!

Almost there!

It was so hot! You just want to die!

-Come on, muscles! Go, Erin, go!

-We should have packed lighter.

The train ride was four hours from Venice to Rome

but it did not feel like that.

It was nice to just sit and relax.

We slept some of the way and just kind of veged.

What do you think Rome's going to look like?

I don't know.

You know what they say though...

-When in Rome...

-When in Rome...

..do as the Romans.

-That's the Egyptians, but it's OK.

-Oh!

Oh...! Epic fail.

Let's go get gelato!

-Finally!

-Can't wait!

So when we got to Rome we got all settled

and checked into our hotel and we said we wanted a gelato.

Because that's like what Italy's known for.

-Left or right?

-Straight!

-Straight!

-You know where it is?

-I think it's just down here.

Then we made it to Giolitti, the gelato shop.

We order from here.

-Hello!

-How are you?

-Hello.

The gelato place we went to, they had so many different flavours,

and we were trying to pick

different combinations so we could try each others' and it was fun.

-Thank you!

-That looks great!

Becca's looks phenom! Let's eat it!

-OK.

-This is so good.

We got orange.

And then we got pistachio, which Brittany wanted.

And then we got peach, because we're obsessed with peach lately.

That was really good. We really it a lot. We really like gelato.

-Please take.

-Oh! Oh, my gosh!

-Hi!

-Hi!

-I'm Abby.

-I'm Brittany.

'So the Giolitti store is very famous,'

and big-time actresses and actors and important people were there.

-This is me.

-That's you!

-Ben Stiller.

-This is Ben Stiller!

Ben Stiller!

And the owner was showing us the book that all these famous people signed.

-Michelle Obama!

-Yes.

Wow!

-And this is Cameron Diaz.

-Wow!

-Sharon Stone.

'And it was funny, because Becca was trying to ask him questions.'

OK, so we have a question for you.

-What makes gelato different than ice cream?

-Huh?

What makes gelato different from ice cream?

'And he was so proud of his book that he completely, like,'

-didn't even acknowledge it.

-And we thought that was hysterical.

It was so funny.

He was great!

-Thank you so much.

-Thank you for the visit.

-Have a good day.

Bye.

-Oh, wow!

-Well, this was fun.

-This was so cool!

After we ate gelato, we went to Trevi Fountain.

Um...it was gorgeous!

This is really beautiful.

This is gorgeous.

Super-chaotic, though. A lot of people.

-Excuse me, would you take a picture of us?

-OK.

Thank you! Thank you.

We don't mind crowds so much,

but obviously a camera crew draws attention

and we draw attention in ourselves, so that doubled the attention!

And we don't like attention.

Maybe not right here?

I'm amazed at how it doesn't get them bogged down.

And they're still so courageous to go to new places.

And so brave.

And just kind of let a lot of things slide off their back

and don't think twice about it.

-Shall we make a wish?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

It's just something they've grown accustomed to

and kind of deal with it as it comes.

One, two, three!

So we saw it, got our pictures and enjoyed it and then...headed out.

-Let's go.

-Back this way. Come this way.

Can't tell what you wish for

otherwise it won't come true.

Where's Erin?

So we knew that we didn't have much time in Rome,

so we decided to take a Vespa tour,

just to get around the city really fast and see everything.

-Hi, Abby. Hi, Brittany.

-Nice to meet you.

-I'm Annie.

'Our guide was Annie and it's a small world

'because she is actually born and raised in Minnesota

'which is where we live.'

-So it was really cool.

-And she was really cool.

So, let's go. Let's get you some helmets.

There you go.

You're going to see a lot today on the tour.

You girls love helmets!

Here we go!

Yeah!

'We'd never ridden a Vespa, so we didn't know what to expect.'

Um, we know that traffic in Rome is very...crazy.

Oh, my goodness!

We don't like motorcycles and jetskis - or, I do -

but Brittany doesn't!

So, we don't go on 'em too much.

So we were a little nervous at first, but we got used to it fast.

Whoo-hoo!

THEY CHEER

So our first stop is the Coliseum,

which I believe is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

We're basically facing the centre of Ancient Rome.

The Coliseum was gorgeous. Like, the architecture is amazing.

And just, like, the ancient aspect of it was so cool.

And this is where they had the gladiator games.

The wild beast fights, musical and religious events.

Um...all the games were free,

it just depended on your class in society. OK?

-You want another photo here?

-Yeah!

-I'll do more of a close-up.

-Perfect.

Looking good, ladies!

-All right, back on the Vespas?

-Yeah.

-Sure!

-OK.

'The Vespa tour was probably, at least, my favourite event of the trip.'

When in Rome!

'We were kind of each able to just experience Italy in a new way'

that was fast-paced, just as the girls are!

This is the mall.

The Vatican.

GIRLS WHOOP

But that had a little more protection and shield to exposure to other people.

So this is the Garden of Oranges.

Annie moved there seven years ago because she studied abroad

and fell in love with it so much that she permanently moved there.

She knew a lot of facts about Rome and Italy in general.

So it was great to have her as our guide.

This isn't technically a fontanella,

but there's another one out there that's an nasoni

which I will tell you about.

But this has the lupa, the she-wolf.

So you do this.

It's fresh, clean, pure aqueduct water.

Getting the water to be the right pressure

was definitely weird, at first.

If you pushed too hard it went up your nose,

if you didn't push hard enough it didn't come out.

Abby and Brit didn't quite get that so they got sprayed in the face.

That was kind of funny to watch them try that.

There you go!

I'll stick with the bottle.

The Vespa tour was probably the highlight of the trip for everyone.

Just because it was something unique

and different that none of us has ever done.

So we really enjoyed it.

-It was so fun meeting you.

-Thank you so much.

It was so fun showing you.

-Go Minnesota!

-Whoa!

ALL: Ciao! Thank you!

Thank you.

-That was awesome.

-That was so much fun!

That was so cool.

'That night we had our, like, final dinner.

'Kind of like chatted about the trip

'and reminisced about favourite parts.'

-So much fun stuff. Mm-hm.

-We really did.

It's going to be fun to look through all the pictures.

'I think the trip was a good bonding experience for all of us.'

And we became closer, and that's a memory that we'll have for ever.

'I definitely feel closer to Abby an Brit after this trip.

'Just seeing how they always stay so positive,'

gave me even more respect for them than I already had.

That's one thing I like about Europe that it's so full of culture.

'All in all it was a wonderful trip. It's good to get away for a while.'

We've a lot to do back home -

finding a job, finding a house, and getting somewhere with that.

'It was great that we could all take this time and go have fun.

'It was such a great experience.'

-To safe travels and good friends.

-ALL: Cheers! Ciao!

Ciao bella!

-What are you doing? Taking pictures...

-Taking pictures down.

-And then, do you want me to take these off the mirror?

-Yes, please.

Summer is winding down and it's going to be the time

where we have to pack up and start moving into our new house.

We should maybe get like a box together

-to do the stuff on the bookcase.

-OK.

'We're going to be living with some of the same roommates that we had our senior year.'

But we're still getting interviews and looking for jobs.

-Do you need instructions, girls?

-No, I have it done already.

Do you need instructions, Mom?

'We've kind of being prepped like there aren't a lot of jobs,'

so don't expect a whole lot.

I think maybe three or four of our classmates have gotten jobs,

which is not really a great number.

-Empty. Empty.

-Garbage.

Throw all this away.

You girls are like pack rats.

When they're empty, throw them out.

'We're going to be looking for full-time teaching jobs'

through September and as far as we can find openings.

But in September, October maybe, we'll look more at subbing

versus getting a full-time job.

Because the chances are less likely to get a job

'as a full-time teacher in like October, November.'

-We should probably start.

-OK.

Do you want to mark this "nightstand stuff"?

'Mom came along, cos she's an excellent packer.

'She's great at organising things and we don't like to pack too much.'

So she keeps us moving and getting stuff done.

Oh, this is chaos!

-Did you ever clean?

-Yes, Mom, we've cleaned.

'Mom was a big help,'

because it'd have taken eight times as long, cos we're just so like...

THEY SING

..and procrastinate all the time.

All those transcripts.

This is the transcript? No, just like...extracurricular.

Remember this?

'I'm definitely more of a pack rat.'

I definitely like to keep everything. Yeah. All the time.

But I'm like, "Throw it away, we don't need it any more."

Why do you need this? Cos it has a good certificate.

When they're undecided about something

or they each have a different perspective

of how they want it to go,

then, they look for somebody that'll break the tie.

Shall I tape or do you want to...?

Let's test out your skills.

Abby and Brit like to be in charge.

Look what you did!

'Abby definitely is the more vocal one'

and Brittany is more reserved

and, at the end, she'll tell you everything she thinks.

-This is a disaster.

-No, it will be OK.

'Everyone is so excited about the new house.'

Katy had just texted us today and it was like, "I can't wait to move!"

Here are our pretty ducks!

'We're a bit crazy.'

We're girls, girls are crazy!

OK.

Let's go.

We decided we're going to live with our parents for, like, three weeks.

Um...and a friend was coming into town from London,

so we decided to pick him up.

-How are you?

-Good, how are you?!

-Come on in.

-OK!

-Do this!

First stop pub, yeah?

-Yeah, right?

-Yeah!

-All right, now, don't crash.

-I'm not going to crash.

-You already confessed how bad your driving is.

-I did not say that!

So we met Richie in England, one of the times we were there.

'And he's never been to the States, he's coming to America'

and thought it'd be fun to make a stop at our place.

-How do we get home?

-You're asking me how to get home.

I have no bait at all.

God help me.

Drive and laugh...is hard at the same time.

I met Abby and Brit on one of their trips to London.

'You know, it's not something you see every day, conjoined twins,

'it's pretty unique.'

They're just like two average girls.

They're really, really funny, really, really warm and a really good laugh.

Oh, I think we're lost.

You're lost!

You're lost.

You're lost as in geographically embarrassed lost?

A little bit...

This is your town!

'Out trip got a lot longer'

because I wasn't paying attention to where I was going

so...we missed a few turns.

-Does anybody have a GPS, because... Wait.

-Hang on.

Wow!

'It blows my mind, actually, to be honest,'

you know, you have to use sort of every part of your body

and you have to, you know, keep your eyes on the road.

'I kind of look at it...

'If I was sitting in the driver's seat with a friend'

and I drive with one hand and, you know, they drive with the other,

how well we'd get on?

'Try to equate that with Abby and Brit.

'I suppose they've been doing it so long'

that it's just second nature to them.

I think we have a long journey.

Yeah.

They were properly lost.

What is she doing? She can't even see!

I have a great advantage here.

-Two eyes on the road!

-I know.

-To be honest, you can't argue with that, can you?

-No, you can't. No.

-Well, this is Minnesota.

-Yeah.

You just want to see as much of Minnesota as you can.

-I do, yeah.

-Yeah, so take it in, buddy.

I'm taking it all in, I'm like a sponge, I'm absorbing it.

When we did actually find our way back and realised where we were,

the girls took me through their home town where they grew up.

-So...

-I feel like I've just walked in a Western.

THEY LAUGH

This is the high school.

-Was it a happy time at high school?

-I loved high school.

-Did you enjoy every minute of it?

-I loved high school.

-I hated high school.

Oh, I loved it! I had...I had such a good time.

That's where I used to live, right there.

-Oh, cool. So that one with the curved roof?

-Yeah.

It was really, really nice to get that insight into their home life

and where they grew up.

So we have some time before we can move into our new house,

so we decided to stay with our parents

for the next couple of weeks.

-What a nice house!

-Thank you!

I'm on best behaviour, no swearing in front of Mum.

No swearing in front of Mom.

Hello! How are you doing, Patty?

-How are you?

-Lovely to meet you.

-Me too.

Since it was the end of summer, we were having a Labor Day party

with our friends and just get everybody together.

-You've got a few people coming round today?

-Yeah!

When we found out that Richie was coming,

we decided to go crazy and make it an American-themed party.

-Oh, my... Is that a flapjack, right, no?

-A flapjack?

-A bit like a flapjack.

-That's a pancake.

-A flapjack is like a bar.

-No, a flapjack is a pancake.

In America, you're in America!

All right, all right. My bad, my bad.

-So are you going to give me the grand tour?

-Yes, here it is!

This is the living room.

HE LAUGHS

Check the cheesy grins out.

Yeah, we were all crying...

They made you take that family picture. When was that taken?

-Oh, you're at that age when all your teeth are falling out.

-Yeah.

What's that for?

That's us in Life magazine.

We were going up the stairs and there's a huge photo of them

on the cover of Life magazine.

And that was the kind of first time I realised that, actually,

they've been in the press quite a bit since they were younger.

-That's real, like, we were in Life magazine.

-Ah...

'Since the girls turned 18,'

it seems like people aren't quite as sympathetic towards them

and I don't mean people, public, I mean people like journalists maybe

and I don't want to classify them all in the same category

by any means.

But it was almost like after they turned 18, they were like fair game.

-It's like MTV Creeps.

-I liked it!

Yeah? You've got like the best rapper accent.

-THEY RAP:

-Yo, yo, yo!

-Yo! You've got a food bowl.

-THEY RAP:

-That's a food bowl!

-That's where the magic happens.

'That's probably been the hardest thing for me,'

it's to... I can't control that.

No, do this one. You can do this one.

'The girls don't see themselves as famous at all.

'And, you know, seeing that front page spread

'is like, you are actually famous.'

You've got your own show. But the girls are adamant, you know,

they're not famous, they don't want to be famous.

-This is our room.

-This is your room?

-Yeah.

-This is a pad.

-Yeah.

-Banished downstairs cos you don't behave.

-Downstairs everywhere...

'We don't see ourselves as being famous'

or this cool thing, like, we live our lives normally

as everyone else does in an everyday way

and so, like, we just don't need that or want that.

We want to live normal day-to-day lives just like everybody else.

People have to know that the stuff that they read

isn't always really what is the truth.

And some people like to make it sound as good as they can

or as bad as they can just because of...

It may make them more money, actually,

at somebody else's expense. And that's what's sad.

-Where is this? Is this in college?

-That was in college.

-What's this?

-That was my graduation invitation.

We don't appreciate like magazines

taking our story and making it theirs

or rumours of engagements or stuff like that, crazy stuff like that.

There's not many pictures of you when you were a kid,

apart from that one upstairs when you're kids.

-Apart from this one.

-Yeah.

I know Abby and Brit get over it far better than I do,

you know, as the mother,

you get real furious about that kind of thing.

And they're your kids and...

I don't know, people...

The hard part for me is that people don't have to be accountable.

-There's Santa Claus.

-Did you get everything you wanted that year?

-I don't remember.

-No?

'They deal with the hand they've been dealt and they just get on with it.

'I think it'd be really, really easy for someone to just go, you know,

'"We're conjoined twins, I'm just going to shut myself away

'"and I'm not going to get involved in anything

'"and I'm going to care about what people think about me."

'Whereas the girls are like,'

"You know, what? We're just going to get on with life and try anything."

And they won't let anything stop in their way,

least of all sharing a body.

Mom, look at this!

That's hilarious.

-How are we doing, ladies? All right?

-This is Richie.

-How are you?

Nice to meet you. Did you guys coordinate this, did you?

How are you doing? Nice to meet you.

Our roommate, Kayla, had texted us previously

that her and Ali were matching.

And we come to the house and I open the door...

And we had the same outfit on they did. Quite the roommate moment.

We were screaming. It was pretty funny.

It's the roommates in us, you know? I don't know what happened to you.

Cari Jo is looking hot, is what it is.

LAUGHTER

Put your hand on your heart and repeat after me.

-I pledge allegiance.

-I pledge allegiance.

-To the flag.

-To the flag.

-Of the United States of America.

-Of the United States of America.

We had him do the whole shebang. He is now an American.

-..United States.

-Is better than.

-Is better than.

-England.

-China!

-What's this?

-Happy Labor Day. Come on, let's play.

-Come on, let's go and play ball, then.

-Let's play volleyball.

-How about Richie and Alex against us girls?

-Sounds good.

-You're going to get smashed.

-No, we're not.

Hey, Cari Jo, go. Sorry.

Whoo!

It's not your ball.

We've played volleyball for... since we were in fifth grade.

All of a sudden, we're playing properly now, are we?

All of a sudden, there's rules.

Till, like, ninth or tenth grade, and then we coached for two years.

And then we played intramurals in college.

You want to wallop it.

Ohh!

-Oh, it's coming back.

-Nice. I feel like I'm in Top Gun.

That was a beautiful pirouette.

I just caught the wire out the corner of my eye.

-Out.

-Ohh!

-What are you on about? It was out by a mile!

Let's play football, see how you whoop them.

Yeah, girl. Out.

That volleyball match, I was adamant that Alex and I would win.

I think, if we really looked at it,

we probably didn't do as well as we thought.

Oh. Oh!

Oh, he was so confident himself, but we definitely destroyed him.

-Oh, wow!

-Playing against the girls, I was really impressed.

They were like Olympians. They were so good.

You kind of forget they are in communication with each other

constantly, sort of subconsciously.

But to watch them sort of run and spike the ball

and stuff like that constantly, impressed.

Are you ready for this one?

They are actually pretty good, to be honest.

I didn't think they'd be that good!

-You know, Richie is a little rough.

-Kind of flailing everywhere.

-Kind of trips and falls and stuff.

-But he's pretty scrappy.

We've got to be prepared.

Doing pretty well. Lucky for them, we're not keeping score.

-Lucky for them, we are in dresses.

-Look at what we've done to them.

They are in the woods!

Are there snakes in here?

We played easy on them because we were in skirts and dresses.

And we still beat them.

How they get on is just totally in sync.

The girls probably don't feel any different towards it.

It is what it is.

They've lived with it since birth, so it's no different to them,

but as an outsider looking in, you tend to forget that,

actually, they are two separate people sharing this body.

Go.

Yes!

Wow! It's meant to be just a friendly game at a barbecue.

No, not her. She wants to just smash the life out of it.

My favourite moment was when Cari Jo...

..went up to spike the ball...

..and both Alex and Richie's faces were like...

just scared out of their minds. It was so funny.

And so Richie did try very hard,

but the girls definitely beat the boys.

Our best friend Elle, her family owns a cabin.

We've been best friends with her since high school.

We always go up to her cabin, play around on the water and relax.

We're going to swim right around here.

I'm Elle, and I've known Abby and Brittany

for eight years now.

I went to high school with them, we had lockers next to each other.

I just love you so much!

-BOTH SQUEAL, ELLE GIGGLES

-Elle!

-It's so cold, isn't it?

-RICHIE:

-It's all right once you're in.

-We do love swimming.

-We love being on the park too and just relaxing

and getting tanned and listening to music.

Mom put us in swimming lessons, like, right away, so...

-We're really good swimmers.

-And we love being in the water.

It's cold! ELLE LAUGHS

-You'll be fine!

-It's like shark cam!

BOTH: Agh!

EXCITED SQUEALING

It's cold!

'On the lake swimming, you know, something that we all

'take for granted once we learn when we're younger,

'and I suppose, in some respects,'

it's the same for the girls, but again, it's two separate people

sharing a body and they work totally in sync in everything they do.

-Have a diving competition.

-Go ahead.

-Who can do the most elaborate dive?

I rate that a two.

-I don't like jumping off things.

-I don't like heights.

I'm going to jump right off.

Dive!

Whoo!

One and a half points. Yeah.

-Whoo!

-Don't you one-and-a-half me!

-Are you enjoying your time on the lake?

-No, are you?

-Are you enjoying your time?

-I'm having a fabulous time!

I'm having a good time.

-So who's going first?

-I'll do it first, and then you can...

-It's up to you guys.

-You can see what to do.

-I don't think so. I'm going first.

-And what not to do.

-I'm going first.

-I've tried a wakeboard...

-Once.

-..and it was unsuccessful.

-We'll try it again.

-We'll try it again.

-You can do it.

-I don't like wakeboarding very much.

-I don't like that stuff at all.

Um, because we're too competitive to be bad at something.

I don't know about this!

Don't pull, I can do it myself.

BOTH: I hate you all!

-So let's go.

-Quick.

-No.

-Keep your knees bent.

-Oh...

-Ready?

-We love you.

ENGINE REVS

The first time you see them, you're just like, "Whoa!"

And then, you get to know them

and you just see how beautiful they are and so amazing,

how they can work together and how they have to work together

and some people may be like, "Oh, that's weird," but it's just...

It's so cool, like it's just so amazing, it just blows my mind!

-Wakeboard 1 and...

-Abby and Brittany 0.

It's hard, don't worry. It just takes practice.

RICHIE LAUGHS

Elle's a champ out there. She's very good at skiing.

So, she is a very good coach, cos she knows what she's talking about,

she knows how to critique you

and help you fix whatever you're doing wrong.

-OK, try it one more time.

-One more time?

-One more time.

-OK.

Gotta do it.

And she makes you stay out there.

Yeah, she does make you stay out there.

SQUEALING

LAUGHTER

This was our second time wakeboarding

and we definitely did better this time than the first time.

So it's a work in progress.

I'm hoping that I'm going to be better than you.

-Good luck, have fun.

-Gee, thanks!

-Yeah.

-Oh...

-I don't feel bad any more.

I think I should have kept my mouth shut.

Richie gave it a fair shot too. The first time was hilarious.

-It's just kind of trial and error.

-More error than trial, innit?

Such a good sport. I'd be so mad right now.

-You WERE so mad!

-I was mad.

-I got crabby.

-Brittany was not happy.

-Here we go. Good job.

-ALL: Yey!

-Good job.

We decided to have a bonfire and chill out for a little while.

So what are we doing? Ready to do marshmallows?

-You want two, Ab and Brit?

-Yeah.

What the hell have you done to yours?

-LAUGHTER

-That's properly cooked.

-Do you both like them that burnt?

-I didn't burn it, but I'll eat it.

-LAUGHTER

-Poor Brit hasn't got a choice.

-No.

Abby's like that, "Leave it in there longer!"

"We'll get food poisoning! Cook it longer, cook it through!"

Mm-hm.

Well, why don't you take it out when you want it, Brittany,

and take one off and then stick it back in?

-I got one already before she watched that.

-Yeah.

'We tend to forget that the girls... They don't know any different.'

We look at it from our point of view as sort of an individual person

and...and the girls, as far as they're concerned, they are...

That's them, the two of them, that is them.

Richie, when you're done, say, "I want s'more,"

-cos it's a s'more.

-I want s'more.

-'We're really glad Richie could come.

-It was fun to see him again.'

-You guys want another one?

-I'm good.

-No, thank you.

What I find about Americans is they are really, really positive, um,

and I think...the girls' attitude...

I think they have that attitude, because they are American.

Their outlook is very, very positive and they're not going to let,

you know, the fact that they are conjoined

stop them in anything they do. I think it's a brilliant attitude.

This summer's gone fast. It's been a great summer.

We've done a lot of travelling.

And it's full of transitions and stuff like that, but it's...

-'Definitely exciting and fun and...

-Next week...

'We're going to move into our house. It's going to get busy.

'It's going to get busy.'

Do you have a guitar you could play for us?

-Kumbaya?

-I can't play anything.

# Kumbaya, my lord... #

You sing and I'll just stamp like that, keep time.

LAUGHTER

Yey, teachers!

-So, we got a job.

-Which is really exciting.

'We are fourth and fifth grade math specialists,

'so we'll have two classes of math.'

Um, it's part-time, which is nice,

so we'll be kind of transitioning into the teaching world.

Getting the job was... Actually, it was really quick.

There was three interviews in one week,

which was pretty crazy, but it was fun.

-Oh!

-That could be...

-A fun mat!

'After Cari Jo found out she got a job, we decided to go

'shopping together to get some school supplies for our new rooms.'

-We need these!

-Yeah, you need...

-So do you!

-ABC apples!

-Yeah.

-Because we're teachers!

Most of our friends have got jobs.

Some are still in the interview process, so we're all very lucky.

"Includes practice for standardised test."

-Oh!

-And then, fractions.

-I think I'll take this.

-There's a lot of stuff you need...

-When you're a teacher.

-Obviously.

-We didn't know what we were going to need.

-Or like get.

-Or whatever.

-But we just went, um...

-Just to at least get started.

There's so much stuff! Do we really need this stuff?

'We've always wanted to be teachers, since we were little, I think.'

'Um, we played school and would give them like worksheets

and then, corrected them and, um...

We like the organisational part of being a teacher.

-Oh, it's a grade book!

-And lesson plans.

-And lesson plans.

'When they were five, I remember'

one wanted to be a pilot and one wanted to be a dentist

'and that was short-lived.'

-A pointer?

-It's expected.

-"Don't you do that!"

-In my classroom!

LAUGHTER

But since, you know, their young teens, I think

they've probably thought something along the lines of teaching.

Big dice! We use these in my classroom!

Oh, yeah, that'd be sweet! How about foam counters for math bingo?

'Abby wanted to do more...'

-Math.

-..education and I wanted to do more of the pre-primary,

which is, um, birth to sixth grade.

'If we did two separate majors, we wouldn't get done in four years.'

-BOTH: So...

-We had to find a compromise

and math is changeable, so...that's where we're at.

I'm so nervous!

-I'm not!

-We're, like, more excited than nervous.

But I am nervous as well, just cos it's like this is a huge transition.

Well, if you get it, you win a prize.

Give 'em a reason to show up every day.

They're fourth and fifth grade. They'd better show up every day.

-Now it's like...

-"You earned this."

"You earned the spot and have to go get it" kind of thing.

I think it's going to go well for them,

because they've just always had

'a knack with kids and kids have always kind of been drawn to them.

'You know, maybe it started by curiosity,

'but then, once their simple questions were answered, they...'

they still just are drawn to Ab and Brit, for some reason.

I learned today that the biggest number is googolplex, so...

'We're really excited just to start, like,

'this new teaching stuff with Cari Jo.

'We can, like, talk through our days and, like,

'bounce ideas off each other and get advice.'

It's just someone to relate to and who's doing the same thing you are,

so it'll be nice that we're together and doing that.

I don't know. I am so nervous and overwhelmed.

I mean, the closer it gets, the more nervous I am.

-It's just, like, we're ready for it to be here.

-Yes.

-We're tired of waiting. We're ready to do it.

-Ready for the next thing.

Whoo-hoo!

BOTH: Thank you!

Oh, my gosh!

The first day of school's coming up and we needed to get

some lesson planning done to be prepared for the kids.

-20 ounce ice with a shot of caramel, please.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-Thank you!

-We went to a nearby coffee shop...

-To get some work done.

-There you go.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome. That'll be right out.

-OK.

OK, let's go to the back.

-What are you doing here?

-How are you guys?

BOTH: Good! How are you?

And we ran into our favourite teacher!

-What's up?

-Not much.

-'He was our teacher in high school.

-Our English teacher.'

-He was definitely...

-Definitely our favourite teacher from high school.

And probably the reason we want to be teachers.

-I've heard about your new job.

-BOTH: Yeah!

So are you nervous about, er, teaching or not?

-I have bad dreams.

-Bad dreams?

-BOTH: Yeah!

That the kids are going to be, like, running around everywhere.

-You'll always have to deal with stuff.

-Yes.

-They'll try it

and they're going to test you that way.

-There's two of us.

-That's true.

-How's that going to work?

-Double or nothing.

-Have you figured out

-how you're going to discipline with the two of you?

-Yeah!

-Full force right at 'em!

-Ha-ha!

-I thought you might be the full force one.

-No, I am.

-You are?

-Brittany's so mean.

-Really?

-Yeah!

-That I would not have guessed.

-The quiet one.

How are you going to teach things?

-We did, like, a "What did you like about Abby and Brittany?"

-Yeah.

And they said they liked when we talked at the same time.

Sometimes, that will work and sometimes that won't with the kids.

-But you'll do it.

-I'll just rock it.

-I'm not worried about that.

-I'll be calling you.

-Help me! Help me!

-And I'll answer.

-You can't do math.

-Oh, I won't help!

-Oh, shoot!

-A cellphone calculator.

-Yeah!

-That's the best I can offer.

-I told you, math's not important.

-It is!

-It's reading...

-I can read.

-It's ready and speaking.

-You can't read!

-Oh, I can read.

-Not very well, she can't.

-She can, but she had you to rely on.

-She did!

-Who knows better than us, right?

-Yeah, exactly.

But you still passed her.

-I didn't want to have Brit another year!

-Oh...that's so...

-Ha-ha!

I didn't want to take it another year.

And let's be honest, it'd be really hard to pass one and not the other.

BOTH: I know, it'd be awful!

-Someone would have to feel bad.

-But you'd like having me another year.

-I'm the good one!

-You are the hard worker of the bunch.

He was a hard teacher, really hard, and never accepted anything

-but the best.

-And I think that was...

-Great for us.

-Because it, er,

motivated us to do well, knowing he was a hard grader and so, um,

his high standards pushed us to meet his high standards.

Best advice I got when I first started teaching was,

"Keep your mouth shut, listen to everybody who knows better and then,

"as you get better at it and you understand what's going on,

"then you can kind of take off."

'He's an experienced teacher and someone we look up to,

'so we take what he says to heart and run with it.

'So we got a job in a school just north of the city.

'School's going to be starting in a few days,

'so we have the weekend'

to move and get settled,

'so we decided to paint one day and then move in the next.'

-Ooh, nice!

-We have a couple of things, so I need a new bedspread.

-'Tammy is...

-One of our mom's best friends. She's helped us before'

with painting, so we asked her and we also asked Erin.

-They leave all these curtains?

-Yeah.

-I love the convenience of this.

-It's really nice if they left it.

I really want a new bedspread, like, purple.

Now I have purple!

-Perfect!

-I know!

-It just all works out!

-I know, right?

-With your first pay cheque.

Oh, there comes the reality of it all.

I said she accustomed us to use her money for 22 years.

I think it has to be, like, a slower process...

until...until we're married.

I said that we're their responsibility until marriage.

-LAUGHTER

-No.

No. I'm getting you health insurance.

-Hey, help us.

-Actually, that's huge.

LAUGHTER

Everyone was moving in that day and we were all excited

-to be living together again...

-And have our own place again.

The goal is to carry as much as you can.

-Oh, this is not that heavy. How are you doing?

-Good.

Oh, it is? Whose is it?

Oh...

THEY SQUEAL

Hold on! Go like this.

OK, OK, hold...

-Got it.

-Good.

Phew!

Cari Jo, I honestly can't get this.

THEY SQUEAL

OK, you can just set it down anywhere.

That chair maybe in the corner right there.

And then you could kind of make this

-into a living area with the two couches.

-Yes!

OK, is that where the TV's going to go? I'm handling...

Yeah, and then it's...

-Oh, my gosh!

-Where's the thing for this light going to go?

It was a long day and we're all very tired,

but we finally got moved in and settled and unpacked.

SO sick of unpacking!

We decided to go to our classroom and start putting stuff together,

kind of getting it set up to feel a little bit more homey.

Have this be a little spot...

This is so cute.

'We really had fun at this interview process.'

The first one was a phone call from Mr Good, the principal.

They came to our school

and sat on the table with myself

and four other teachers,

and after the interview,

I ushered the girls out to the front door

and I came back into the room and before I even sat down,

one of the people said, "Run after them, hire them, give them the job."

Felt like we connected well with the staff

and it was just really good.

It was a good interview. A good fit for us.

There were, like, I think 175 applicants for the job

that we did indeed hire them for.

I was looking for a very excellent candidate, and they had all that.

Obviously their exuberance, their math knowledge,

their ability to problem solve.

Just their excitement.

I like fourth and fifth grade,

because I think they're more independent,

and their personalities are, like,

starting to come out a lot more and I think that's really fun.

It was kind of uncharted territory.

And so that's why I called...

"Hello, HR, what can we do? How does this all work?"

And so forth, and we did have a meeting with them. I mean, HR did.

Just to kind of determine how they were going to deal with...

cos the reality is they are starting to work for teacher retirement.

We have two contracts, but we're only part-time,

so obviously we don't get full salary.

But, um, what they're doing is just splitting it in two

and giving me half and Brittany half, so right now, that's good.

-Hello!

-Hey, ladies! How are you doing?

-Good! How are you?

-Good!

-What do you think?

-Oh, I think you're ready for students right now.

-All right!

-I'm excited.

-Yeah?

-I can't wait.

-Yeah, well, it's coming along here.

-I know!

-Well, OK, I just wanted to stop by and say hi.

-Thank you!

-If you have any questions, don't hesitate.

You've got my email and phone and stuff

-and don't hesitate.

-Absolutely.

Hey, well, take care.

-See you later.

-Bye!

-Bye!

OK!

SHE KNOCKS ON DOOR

Good morning!

Girls! Happy first day of school!

The first day of school finally arrived,

and we were so prepared and ready.

We were excited about it. We could barely sleep the night before.

-There's coffee for you.

-This is so weird!

'We're, like, really bad at, like,

'just laying down and falling asleep.'

Normally, Abby falls asleep first

and then I fall asleep shortly after.

What time is it? Like, nine?

It's nine-something.

Probably should get ready to go, huh?

-Are you excited?

-Yeah!

We don't have to be at school until ten o'clock,

so we can sleep in a bit, which is nice.

-I hope you have a good outfit picked out.

-Oh, we do!

-It's going to look fab.

-First day, you need to make good impressions.

OK, well, let me get dressed before I come out.

We're so excited to start.

We've been planning and preparing for a long time.

We're ready to get there and get the kids and get started.

It'll be fun to start teaching,

because we've been preparing for it for a long time.

'What I like about Ab and Brit is they don't let the dust settle.'

They're always on to the next thing.

You know, we all have things in our life that we wish weren't,

but they've just decided to work with what they've got and they do.

And they do a very good job.

Ta-da!

'I've learned so much from Brit and Abby,'

and I think a huge thing is being grateful for what you have

and just learning how to work together

and just being sisters in a really beautiful way.

Together, they're just...they're always encouraging one another,

like, if one person doesn't want to do their work or something,

it's like, "Come on, we're almost done. We can do it.

"Let's just push through this last part."

I feel like as they've matured individually,

as they have grown into more of a mature outlook on life,

they've really kind of grown together

and I can say probably without a doubt

that they love who each other are.

Right, let's go!

I don't think there's anything that they won't try

or something they couldn't be able to do if they really wanted to.

And to bring that to children,

especially kids who might be struggling, that's very special.

That's learned through lived example.

I think we just take things day by day, as things come.

We aren't looking forward to, like, ten years down the road.

We want to do well and we want to learn and grow as a teacher.

OK, we're heading out!

-Have a good first day!

-Thank you!

-I can't wait to hear about it!

-I can't wait to tell you!

-I love you!

-I love you!

-See you later!

-Have fun! Don't be nervous!

-Have a good time.

-Bye!

-Bye!

'Like every mom would hope for,'

you want them to be successful

and to be happy and healthy

as they're being successful.

And that's what I want.

We're excited to continue our teaching career

and see where life takes us, whether that be moving somewhere

or doing something new or just whatever, we're excited.

Let's do it! Here we go!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd